Yesterday we looked at what Aristotle had to say about private property
Dr. Andrew Stephenson, in the first page of his academic treatise, “Public Lands and Agrarian Laws of the Roman Republic,” writes that the early Romans were noted for their good “agriculture and stock raising,” and that “This character, joined to the spirit of order and private avarice, which in a marked degree distinguished the Romans, has contributed to the development among them of a civil law which is perhaps the most remarkable monument which antiquity has left us. This civil code has become the basis of the law of European peoples, and recommends the civilization of Rome to the veneration of mankind” (Stephenson. 1891, 1). As he documents in the rest of his research paper, and as we shall see throughout the rest of history, the Romans did, indeed, leave us with a legal system in which landowners do make the laws that benefit only themselves and perpetuate their power, in spite of all subsequent normative philosophizing about democracy and equality.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 B.C.E.), was both a historian of the classical Age and a philosopher in his own right. He followed in the tradition of Plato and Aristotle of writing political philosophy. Copying Plato’s style, Cicero wrote in dialogue form; his main character, Scipio, assumes the part of Plato’s Socrates; and like Socrates, Scipio was a real historical figure.
But living, as he did, in a time when the Roman republic had devolved into a corrupt empire, he did not approve of the power of the oligarchies. Like Plato, he valued an aristocracy, or meritocracy, of educated and talented rulers, but “As for those ’aristocrats’ who have not been granted the title by the people’s consent but have appropriated it through their own electoral assembly, who could endure them?” (Cicero [46B.C.E.?], 23).
From Ancient Roman times to the present, laws written by property owners have always favored property owners. But, as Cicero himself points out, part of the blame rests with the uneducated people in a democracy who elect rich and famous people to office. “When, as a result of this vulgar misconception, a few with money, not worth, have gained control of the state” (Cicero [46B.C.E.?], 23 - 24). Like both Plato and Aristotle, Cicero has written about what he believes to be the ideal state, but as a political scientist, he also compares political philosophy to political reality. Sadly, Cicero was not a fan of Julius Cesar’s and “was murdered at the insistence of Antony” (Cicero 1998, title page).
Monday: "Thomas Hobbes Hedges His Political Bets."
My rants on racial identity began on July 9th
My rants on private property began on July 14th
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