Ciceros Staatsschrift und die philosophische Tradition der Verfassungsdebatte bei Cassius Dio und Philostrat

Abstract

In the tradition of the political theory established by Plato and Aristotle Cicero asks for the best constitution and gives the answer in his work On the state. In a fictional dialogue, dated to the political crisis of the Gracchi in 129, Roman politicians led by Scipio Africanus come to the result that either the mixed constitution of the Roman republic or the monarchy is the best constitution for the Roman state. It is shown that with the form and contents of this fictional dialogue Cicero, in all probability, becomes the literary model for similar constitutional debates in the works of Cassius Dio and Philostrat.