Political Philosophy

First page of Vat. lat. 5757, a palimpsest manuscript from Bobbio

De Re Publica

Reading companion and full text of Cicero's De Re Publica (On the Republic), translated by Clinton W. Keyes — a dialogue in six books examining the best form of government, the nature of justice, and the duties of the ideal statesman, culminating in the celebrated Dream of Scipio.

Title page of Vol. 3 of the 1781 edition, containing the General Observations.

General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West

Edward Gibbon’s celebrated postscript to Chapter XXXVIII where he synthesizes the primary causes of Rome’s decay and reflects on the future of European civilization.