Roman equivalent of 'Republic' before Cicero's 'Res Publica'

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hellenist
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Roman equivalent of 'Republic' before Cicero's 'Res Publica'

Post by hellenist »

While reading on the concept of the Roman Republic, and seeing that the word Republic originates from Res Publica (public thing/affair), I also noticed that this term first appears by Cicero (in De re publica, 50 BCE) as a translation of the Greek word Πολιτεία, a term that Plato used (in Πολιτεία/Republic, 375 BCE) in order to refer to the administration system of a city (regardless of whether it's monarchy, oligarchy, democracy etc). But given that the Roman Republic was instituted in the late 6th century (509 BCE) after the fall of the last Tarquin king, there is quite a large gap of 459 years between the start of the Roman Republic and Cicero's Res Publica.

So my question is, what were the Romans calling their goverment system before the appearance of Cicero's Res Publica? The closest I've come to seems to be Civitas (body of citizens, citizenship) but this seems to be a property of a system rather than the system itself.

It should also be mentioned that, SPQR/Senātus Populusque Rōmānus (Senate and People of Rome) apart from being a title specific to Rome rather than a title/description of a goverment system, also suffers from very much the same time gap, as it seems to be first attested in the 1st century BCE.
Γηράσκω δ' ἀεὶ πολλὰ διδασκόμενος.

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Antonius Calvus
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Re: Roman equivalent of 'Republic' before Cicero's 'Res Publica'

Post by Antonius Calvus »

I think they called it res publica long before Cicero, even though there might not be any surviving works predating him mentioning those words. The term is found in several later works quoting speeches once made by earlier Romans. That is of course not proof that the term was actually used in those same speeches (quotes by ancient authors are, as we know, notoriously unreliable). But then again: we know that speeches made by famous men were already being written down and preserved for posterity in the 2nd century B.C.

Livy mentions a tablet hung up in the temple of mother Matuta in the 170s B.C. to celebrate the victory of Tiberius Gracchus (father of the two tribunes), and appears to be quoting the text directly:

eodem anno tabula in aede Matris Matutae cum indice hoc posita est.: “Ti. Semproni Gracchi consulis imperio auspicioque legio exercitusque populi Romani Sardiniam subegit. in ea provincia hostium caesa aut capta supra octoginta milia. re publica felicissime gesta atque liberatis sociis, vectigalibus restitutis exercitum salvum atque incolumem plenissimum praeda domum reportavit; iterum triumphans in urbem Romam redit. cuius rei ergo hanc tabulam donum Iovi dedit.” sardiniae insulae forma erat, atque in ea simulacra pugnarum picta.
(Ab urbe condita 41.28)
Fures privatorum furtorum in nervo atque in compedibus aetatem agunt, fures publici in auro atque in purpura.

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Re: Roman equivalent of 'Republic' before Cicero's 'Res Publica'

Post by hellenist »

Many thanks, the tablet's text is a nice clue. Actually, it made me dig a bit more and I was also able to find re publica used in one of Plautus' (3rd century BCE) poems as well (T. Maccius Plautus, Amphitruo on Perseus, line 40) as
et ego et pater de vobis et re publica
, which makes me very happy to see as in most of the texts I've been reading the examples cited are from Cicero onwards, and the general impression -that I at least acquired- is that this term originated in Cicero.

As for the difference between res publica and re publica, Latin is not at my strongest yet, but I take it that the difference is that res is in nominative and re in ablative, so it indeed means the same thing but just in a different case.
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Re: Roman equivalent of 'Republic' before Cicero's 'Res Publica'

Post by Antonius Calvus »

hellenist wrote: Mon Jul 25, 2022 7:37 pm As for the difference between res publica and re publica, Latin is not at my strongest yet, but I take it that the difference is that res is in nominative and re in ablative, so it indeed means the same thing but just in a different case.
That's exactly the case, yes. :wink:
Fures privatorum furtorum in nervo atque in compedibus aetatem agunt, fures publici in auro atque in purpura.

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Re: Roman equivalent of 'Republic' before Cicero's 'Res Publica'

Post by cb »

Hi, I highly recommend you read pages 74–79 of Hankins' Virtue politics, which discusses these terms (both res publica and Aristotle's Greek term) in detail, e.g. how res publica is not aligned with the Republican period as we designate it, the terms to describe what we call the Republican period (e.g. libertas), the terms that Romans used to describe themselves in treaties, etc.:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Vi ... er&pg=PA74

Cheers, Chad

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Re: Roman equivalent of 'Republic' before Cicero's 'Res Publica'

Post by seneca2008 »

I also recommend "Libertas and Res Publica in the Roman Republic: Ideas of Freedom and Roman Politics" Catalina Balmaceda (editor) Brill 2020.

Chapter 6 "The Notion of Res Publica and Its Conflicting Meanings at the End of the Roman Republic" by Claudia Moatti :

"Res publica has a long history: under the Republic and the Empire it was used to refer to the Roman city as well as to local communities; and, in Medieval Ages, the partisans of the Emperor, the communal movement, the Christian community, and the lay local powers all used it too. However, all through these centuries, res publica never designated the Roman Republican period (509–27), nor did it indicate a “Republic” as opposed to a monarchy. It is only in the 15th century that the notion acquired its familiar double connotation, when Leonardo Bruni translated the Aristotelian idea of the best regime, politeia, into respublica, in one word – later translated as Republic or commonwealth. Bruni literally invented the “Republican” tradition, even if before him, as Skinner has tried to show, a number of thinkers, like Marsilius of Padova, Bartole di Sassoferrato or the dictatores had already thought about civic liberty."

I quote this because I couldn't get Chad's link to work.
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