Kneeca Joy Serdena

AB-Political Science 3A

Cicero is the only political writer who has exercised enduring influence
throughout the ages. He is a lawyer and statesman whose works are reflections on
politics rather than on political theory. While Aristotle and Plato said that affection
was the genetic source of the growth of political association, Cicero, by contrast,
sees that the foundation of the law in our natural inclination to love our fellowmen. Moreover, Ciceros mixed constitution has bees particularly strong in the US
in the framing of the Constitution. His view of the state as a community of laws
seemed to provide answer for the framers by creating answer to the growing
problem of developing one nation out of people who had come from the New World
from all parts of the old world, people with distinguished backgrounds, languages,
religions, and customs. The ideas and influences of Cicero were based from the
living writings derived from The Republic and The Laws.
One of the topics discussed in The Republic and The Laws is not to possess
virtue, as if it were an art of some sort, unless you make use of it. Virtues existence
depends upon how it was used; and its noblest use is the government of the State.
On the other hand, the duty of the citizens to defend their country at all times.
Doing their own duties that compelled with the law is another must pertain to their
Civic Responsibility.
There are three main types of the state as identified by Cicero namely
kingship, aristocracy and popular government. Though he recognized these kinds of
government, Cicero favors nothing and still considers the best type among all is
the well regulated mixture of the three. He identified kingship as a type where there
is a small share in the administration of justice and in deliberation while in
Aristocracies, the masses can hardly have their share of liberty and when the power
is the popular government, even though they exercise ruling with justice and
moderation, the resulting equality itself is inequitable since no distinction in rank.
Because of these reasons, it is deemed that if the mixture of these three is not
followed, greed and injustice will grow.
The whole universe is one commonwealth of which both gods and men are
members. these means that there is a law valid for all nations at all times
regardless if youre a god or a man. Human beings, distinguished by the supreme

God, have been given the share in reason and thought and since reason exists both
in man and god, one of the common possession of God and man is reason. And
since right reason is Law, we must believe that men have the common Law with the
gods. Therefore, those who take part in Law must also share Justice; and those who
these are to be considered as citizens of the same commonwealth.