Rome and the Republican Imagination.

Catalog description

The Roman Republic's success - and the dramatic failure of its institutions - has shaped political imagination for over two millennia. This course examines Rome not only as a historical polity but as a recurring ideal in Western political thought. We consider the tensions between republican virtue and imperial expansion, constitutional stability and civic decay, and the uses and misuses of Roman precedent in later political contexts. Readings focus on key moments: Cicero's defense of the Republic, Machiavelli's revival of Roman politics, Shakespeare's dramatic interpretation of Roman character and civic breakdown, and the American Founders' selective appropriation of Roman models.