Roman Political Thought

Abstract

AbstractFor many Polybius (ca. 200–118 bce) serves as the entrée into Roman political thought: a Greek theorizing about a Roman political system that had already achieved empire. For Polybius, Rome's ability to attain power while also preserving liberty lay in large part in its political system, which contained aristocratic (the senate), democratic (the people), and monarchical (the consuls) elements. We know Rome politically through its institutions. But ultimately what held the system together was an abiding sense of tradition. It is in this historical and cultural context that we can locate the conceptual core of Roman political thought. For the Romans, the human artifacts that surrounded them provided a foundation by which they related not just to those things, but also to each other. What makes Roman political thought so interesting is that it does not seek refuge in an ideal state but attempts to make sense of and recognize again the political world the Romans inhabit.