Cicero's dialogues De oratore (On the Orator) and De re publica (On the Commonwealth), composed between 55 and 51 BCE, examine two topics central to Roman public life: the role of the orator in society and the importance of honorable statesmanship for the preservation of republican government--which came to an end in Rome with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar only a few years later. The two dialogues are closely related to one another in Cicero's choice of Plato as a literary model, in the selection of Roman public figures of the two generations before Cicero as speakers, and in their intertwined arguments about the values of civic life and political engagement. The Lost Republic provides the first detailed analysis of these two dialogues taken together. It demonstrates how carefully they complement one another and, in addition to explaining their arguments and their place in the history of rhetoric and political theory respectively, reads them as the first examples of literary dialogue in Latin. Cicero, as James Zetzel demonstrates, uses Platonic models as a means to question the value of Platonic ideals, just as he uses an idealized portrait of Roman aristocrats of earlier generations both to praise and to interrogate the virtues of the Roman past. The two dialogues create a complex and subtle argument about the relationship between the traditional values of Rome and the new approaches to both ethics and rhetoric brought by Greek philosophy. By treating these dialogues as masterpieces of literary imagination shaped to present a compelling vision of the intellectual and moral underpinnings of civil society, Zetzel makes an original and important contribution to our understanding of Cicero and of the world in and about which he wrote.

About the Author
James E. G. Zetzel is the Anthon Professor Emeritus of the Latin Language and Literature at Columbia University and the author of numerous publications, including, most recently, Critics, Compilers, and Commentators: An Introduction to Roman Philology, 200 BCE-800 CE.

Reviews
Cicero's two 'Platonic' dialogues, De oratore and De re publica, represent the summa of his political and moral thought. Now they have found their ideal reader in James Zetzel, whose Lost Republic distills his decades of engagement with Cicero's writings. It is a brilliant work of immense learning, and a triumphant achievement. * Robert A. Kaster, Princeton University *
The knowledge of Cicero's Rome that has gone into this book is extraordinary, but what is exciting is the idea for it. Zetzel reads Cicero's first two dialogs as complementary experiments in which vividly imagined Roman aristocrats of the not too distant past try to reckon with political institutions that are crucial to their way of life but slipping out of their hands. * Peter White, University of Chicago *
A great book, and one that will quickly become essential reading for Classical scholars. * Dr. Cliff Cunningham, Sun News Austin *
The Lost Republic will be required reading for all students and scholars who are interested not only in the dialogues themselves, but also in Cicero's compositional techniques, the late Roman Republic, its oratory and politics, as well as the relationship of Greek learning (and particularly philosophy) with Roman intellectual life of the era. * James M. May, Religious Studies Review *
All readers will learn from Zetzel's insistence on probing the works with questions old and new... His book offers a signal contribution to our understanding of both these great Ciceronian dialogues. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9780197626092
Author James E. G. Zetzel
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 164mm * 240mm * 30mm