greek-politicsfeatured in 30 works

The Commonwealth

The republic is 'the people's affair' — a commonwealth bound together by shared interest and agreed-upon justice.

The commonwealth (res publica, 'the public thing') is the Roman idea of the state as the common property and shared good of its people. Cicero gave it its classic form in De Re Publica (1st c. BCE), defining a people as a community held together by agreed law and common interest — his way of adapting the Greek notion of the common advantage to Rome's republic. The idea is the root of the very word 'republic' and of later commonwealth and common-good political thought.

How it traveled

Histories
Thurii (Magna Graecia) · -425
applies
Against Callimachus
Athens · -402
applies
History of the Peloponnesian War
Athens · -400
explains
On His Return
Athens · -390
explains
On the Mysteries
Athens · -390
applies
Menexenus
Athens · -386
explains
Panegyricus
Athens · -380
explains
Funeral Oration
Athens · -380
explains
Defense Against a Charge of Subverting the Democracy
Athens · -380
applies
Against Philon
Athens · -380
applies
Republic
Athens · -375
explains
Archidamus
Athens · -366
explains
On the Peace
Athens · -355
explains
Areopagiticus
Athens · -355
explains
Hellenica
Athens · -354
explains
On Organization
Athens · -354
applies
Ways and Means
Athens · -354
explains
Against Androtion
Athens · -354
applies
Cyropaedia
Athens · -354
explains
Memorabilia
Athens · -354
explains
Hiero
Athens · -354
applies
On the Navy-Boards
Athens · -354
explains
Against Aristocrates
Athens · -353
explains
For the People of Megalopolis
Athens · -353
applies
First Philippic
Athens · -351
applies
Exordia
Athens · -349
explains
First Olynthiac
Athens · -349
applies
Laws
Athens · -348
explains
Third Olynthiac
Athens · -348
explains
Letters
Athens · -348
explains

Key passages(20)

Origin Anchor — gr-common-good↗origin

Fragments & Testimonia · Cicero