Cicero's Social and Political Thought

X. The Art of Politics

C H A P T E R T E N The Art of Politics 1. Nature oj Politics Cicero is the only important political thinker who devoted a life to politics and attained the highest governmental office. We might, therefore, expect that in addition to his discourses on justice, law, and the state, he might convey in some form to his readers the wisdom and insight gained in the actual conduct of weighty political affairs. Given his brilliant intellect, superb rhetorical ability, keen analytic mind, and unrivaled experience as a practicing politician , he surely must have something of value to impart on the activity to which he was so dedicated. Little or no attention has been given to the matter. Commentators usually single out Machiavelli , a public official for fourteen years in Renaissance Florence, for the honor of being the first great political realist, and even the founder of the modern science of politics. Machiavelli, so the common interpretation goes, by his forthright compilation of arcana imperil in The Prince, turns inside out the humanistic "mirror of princes" literary tradition which advises rulers to be morally virtuous. Since Cicero's On Duties was a decisive influence on this ethical approach to statecraft, he is starkly contrasted to Machiavelli, almost as Christ to anti-Christ. Yet this sharp distinction between Cicero and Machiavelli blurs if some of the Roman 's lesser-known writings—among them his political orations, forensic speeches, and correspondence—are searched for perceptive thoughts on the nature of political activity. The result is that Cicero, no less than Machiavelli, comes across as a hard-headed realist, well versed in the pitfalls of power, the complexities of 176 The Art of Politics 177 manipulation, and the uses of violence. Furthermore, Cicero goes beyond Machiavelli in his concern over questions of economic policy in politics. The Cicero characterized in this chapter, therefore , will sometimes seem strange to those who rely solely on the Republic, Laws, and On Duties for an understanding of his ideas. He is a master of the practical art of politics who would have had little to learn from Machiavelli about the acquisition, conservation , and increase of power. In order to highlight the less familiar picture of the shrewd and highly accomplished practitioner of the political craft, let us begin very briefly with the best illustration of the stereotyped Cicero as the supreme political moralizer: his view of the ideal statesman. He distinguishes politics, res riviles or res publica, and political science or the art of statesmanship, ratio civilis or scientia civilis, from other branches of knowledge and other skills.1 Statesmanship is the highest calling, or, as he affirms in the Republic: the procuratio atque administratio rei publicae is the "supreme art" (maxima ars).2 In the past, he claims, statecraft has produced the highest virtue in some of those who pursue it and has attracted individuals of unsurpassed genius. Cicero's ideal statesman is far removed from the politicians of his own day, who are driven solely by cupidity and libido dominandi. The common good is his only object: For just as the aim of the pilot is a successful voyage, of the physician, health, and of the general, victory, so this director of the state [moderatori rei publicae] has as his aim for his fellow-citizens a happy life, fortified by wealth, rich in material resources, great in glory and honoured for virtue. I want him to bring to perfection this achievement, which is the greatest and best possible among men.' Unfortunately, much of what Cicero says about the ideal statesman in the Republic has been lost. Nevertheless on the basis of the few remaining passages on the subject and remarks in other works, we are able to catch a glimpse of Cicero's vision. Because he uses the terms rector (ruler), rector rerutn publicarum (ruler or director of public affairs), moderator rei publicae (governor of the state), and princeps civitatis (leader of the state) to denote the ideal statesman, some commentators argue that Cicero is thinking of a supreme lawgiver and ruler—possibly in anticipation of the principate founded by Augustus—as an integral institutional feature 178 Cicero's Social and Political Thought of the ideal state of the Republic.4 If this is indeed his intention, there is no mention of a rector in the constitutional provisions of the Laws. More than likely, however, Cicero employs the conception in the...