How to Run a Country

An Ancient Guide for Modern Leaders

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philip Freeman

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781400846207
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Political Philosophy

Timeless political wisdom from ancient history's greatest statesman Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest statesman and orator, was elected to the Roman Republic's highest office at a time when his beloved country was threatened by power-hungry politicians, dire economic troubles, foreign turmoil, and political parties that refused to work together. Sound familiar? Cicero's letters, speeches, and other writings are filled with timeless wisdom and practical insight about how to solve these and other problems of leadership and politics. How to Run a Country collects the best of these writings to provide an entertaining, common sense guide for modern leaders and citizens. This brief book, a sequel to How to Win an Election, gathers Cicero's most perceptive thoughts on topics such as leadership, corruption, the balance of power, taxes, war, immigration, and the importance of compromise. These writings have influenced great leaders—including America's Founding Fathers—for two thousand years, and they are just as instructive today as when they were first written.Organized by topic and featuring lively new translations, the book also includes an introduction, headnotes, a glossary, suggestions for further reading, and an appendix containing the original Latin texts. The result is an enlightening introduction to some of the most enduring political wisdom of all time.

HOW TO RUN A COUNTRY

NATURAL LAW

In the surviving passages of his book On the State, Cicero provides a systematic discussion of political theory, including a famous passage on the idea that divine law underlies the universe and is the foundation on which government should be built. Cicero follows the Greek philosopher Aristotle and earlier Stoic teachers in upholding the idea of natural law—an idea fundamental to the founders of the American Republic regardless of their religious beliefs.

True law is a harmony of right reasoning and nature. It applies to everyone in all places and times, for it is unchanging and everlasting. It commands each of us to do our duty and forbids us from doing wrong. Its commands and prohibitions guide good and prudent people, but those who are wicked will listen to neither. It is not right to try to alter this law. We cannot repeal any part of it, much less do away with it altogether. No senate or assembly of the people can free us from its obligations. We do not need anyone to explain or interpret it for us.

There is no such thing as one true law at Rome and another at Athens. There is no change of such law over time. It applies to all people everywhere—past, present, and future. There is one divine master and ruler over all of us who is creator, judge, and enforcer of this law. Those who disobey him are fleeing from themselves and are rejecting their own humanity. Even if they escape human judgment for their wrongdoing, they will pay a terrible price in the end.

In his book On Laws, Cicero invents a dialogue between himself, his brother, and his best friend, Atticus, to lay out his plans for an ideal government. In the following selection, Cicero discusses why government is necessary and how it should function in accord with natural law.

You realize, of course, that the job of a leader is to govern and to issue commands that are just, advantageous to the country, and in keeping with the law. The laws of a state rule over a leader just as he rules over the people. Indeed, we could say that a leader is the voice of the law and the law is a silent leader.

The rule of government should be in harmony with justice and the fundamental principles of nature, by which I mean it is in agreement with law. Without such government, no home or city or country nor indeed the human race, the natural world, or the universe itself could exist. For the universe obeys God just as the seas and lands obey the universe, so that all humanity is subject to this supreme law.

BALANCE OF POWER

To Cicero, the ideal government was one that combined the best qualities of a monarchy, an aristocracy, and a democracy—as was the case in the Roman Republic. The influence of his writings on the subject features prominently in the mixed constitution created by the American Founding Fathers.

Of the three main types of government, monarchy is in my opinion by far the most preferable. But a moderate and balanced form of government combining all three is even better than kingship. This sort of state would have an executive with preeminent and royal qualities, but also grant certain powers both to the leading citizens and to the people according to their wishes and judgment. This kind of constitution first of all offers a great degree of equality to citizens, something free people can scarcely do without for long, but it also provides stability. When one type of government alone rules, it frequently decays into the corresponding degenerate form—the king becomes a tyrant, the aristocracy turns into a factional oligarchy, and democracy becomes mob rule and anarchy. But while a single form of government often turns into something else, a mixed and balanced system remains stable, unless the leaders are unusually wicked. For there is no reason for a government to change when each citizen is guaranteed his own role and there is no underlying debased form into which it might slip and fall.

LEADERSHIP

Marcus Cicero loved to give advice, especially to his relatives and particularly to his younger brother Quintus. When Quintus was appointed governor of the important Roman province of Asia (on the western coast of modern Turkey) in 61 BC, Marcus couldn’t resist sending him not one but two lengthy letters telling him how to do his job. Quintus was a perfectly capable administrator who would later serve bravely in Gaul under Julius Caesar, but he did have something of a temper and was prone to fits of melancholy. Although Quintus may not have welcomed the unsolicited advice from his brother, the first letter contains wise counsel for anyone facing the trials of public office.

So then, what I ask of you most of all is that you don’t give in to despair or become discouraged. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by a great flood of responsibilities. Rise up and face the difficulties that come your way or even go out to meet them. Fortune does not rule over your leadership in government. For the most part, your success depends on your own intelligence and hard work.

If you were thrown into some great, dangerous war and your term of office were extended, I might worry more that the winds of fortune could blow you about. But as I said, chance has nothing or at least very little to do with how you carry out your duties to your country. It depends much more on your own courage and thoughtful moderation. I don’t think you need to worry about an ambush by enemies, fierce battles, being abandoned by our allies, running out of money or food for the troops, or that the army is going to mutiny against you. Such things do happen occasionally even to the wisest men, who are no more able to overcome misfortune than the best helmsmen can master a violent storm. Your job is to steer the ship of state smoothly and steadily. Remember that a helmsman who falls asleep can wreck a craft. Still, if you stay awake, you might enjoy the voyage.

Five years after Cicero’s consulship in 63 BC, he was exiled from Italy by his political enemies on trumped-up charges. One of the few friends who stood by him was Publius Sestius, who was later unjustly charged by these same enemies with inciting public violence. Cicero defended him on his return to Rome and took the opportunity of the trial to outline his vision of a true leader and how citizens should respond when faced with threats to their freedom.

What destination should those steering the Republic keep their eyes fixed upon and by what course should they guide us there? The answer is what the most reasonable, decent, and blessed people always desire, namely peace with honor. Those who wish for this are our best citizens, those who make it happen are our best leaders and are considered the saviors of our country. These people who govern us should not be so carried away by their own political power that they turn away from peace, but neither should they embrace a peace that is dishonorable.

The founding principles of our Republic, the essence of peace with honor, the values that our leaders should defend and guard with their very lives if necessary are these: respecting religion, discovering the will of the gods, supporting the power of the magistrates, honoring the authority of the senate, obeying the law, valuing tradition, upholding the courts and their verdicts, practicing integrity, defending the provinces and our allies, and standing up for our country, our military, and our treasury.

Those who would be guardians of such important principles must be people of great courage, great ability, and great resolve. For among the crowds are those who would destroy our country through revolution and upheaval, either because they feel guilty about their own misdeeds and fear punishment, or because they are deranged enough to long for sedition and civil discord, or because of their own financial mismanagement they prefer to bring the whole country down in flames rather than burn alone. When such people find leaders to help them carry out their wicked plans, the Republic is tossed about on the waves. When this happens, those helmsmen who guide our country must be vigilant and use all their skill and diligence to preserve the principles I mentioned above and steer our country safely home with peace and honor.

Gentlemen of the jury, I don’t deny that preserving the safety of our state is a steep, difficult, and dangerous path to tread. I would be lying if I said I haven’t known and experienced the perils of this road more than most. The forces that attack our Republic are greater than those that defend her. Reckless and desperate men need only a small push to urge them to move against our country. But unfortunately, decent people are usually slow to act and ignore dangers until a crisis erupts. They are sluggish and willing to abide with peace without honor, but their own inaction causes them to lose both.

In his treatise On the State, Cicero lays out his plans for an ideal government. Though the latter parts of the book are poorly preserved, the fragments that do survive present an inspiring vision of what a leader should be.

The ideal state is one in which the best people desire praise and honor while avoiding humiliation and disgrace. Such citizens are not deterred from wrongdoing by a fear of punishment as laid out in the law as much as by an inborn sense of shame given to us by nature itself that makes us dread the thought of justified criticism. A true leader also encourages this natural feeling among others by using public opinion and enhances it through institutions and education so that shame encourages good citizenship no less than fear of legal penalties….

Just as a helmsman desires a successful voyage or a doctor works for the health of a patient or a general plans for victory, so the leader of a country should strive for citizens to lead a happy life with financial security, abundant resources, good reputations, and honest virtue. This is what I yearn for from our leaders, for it should be their greatest and most noble goal.

Cicero began his political service to Rome in 75 BC as a quaestor supervising part of the province of Sicily and was posted to the town of Lilybaeum on the western coast of the island, far from the better-known Sicilian city of Syracuse. He performed his duties fairly and conscientiously, winning the praise of the Sicilians, who were accustomed to abusive officials intent only on looting the province for personal gain. Cicero was certain everyone in Rome must have been talking about the fine job he was doing and looked forward to basking in their praise when his term was finished. In a court speech from many years later, the older and wiser Cicero reflects on his experience as a young man returning to Italy as a much-needed lesson in humility.

Gentlemen of the jury, I hope you won’t think I’m boasting if I speak of my experience as quaestor. It was certainly successful, but after all, I have served in many higher offices since then and don’t need to seek glory from that time long ago. Still, I will say that no one ever had a more popular or praiseworthy term of service. By Hercules, I believed back then that all of Rome must have been talking about nothing except the marvelous job I was doing in Sicily. I managed to ship large amounts of grain to Rome in the middle of a critical food shortage. I was courteous to all the businessmen, fair to the merchants, generous to the tax collectors, and honest in my dealings with the natives. Everyone there thought I had done a wonderful job handling my duties, and the Sicilians honored me like no previous quaestor. I departed the province hoping and believing that the people of Rome would fall all over themselves in praising me.

I left Sicily to make the journey back to Rome during the summer, and by chance I stopped at the resort of Puteoli, where many of the best Romans were vacationing at the time. I was thunderstruck, gentlemen, when someone I met there asked me on what day I had left Rome and if there was any news from the city. I answered him rather curtly that I was making my way back from a year abroad in my province.

“Oh yes, by Hercules,” he said, “from Africa, I believe.”

I was greatly annoyed and answered him disdainfully:

“No, I’ve just arrived from Sicily.”

Then some know-it-all standing nearby butted in:

“What? Don’t you know the fellow has been a quaestor in Syracuse?”

Why should I say more? At this point, I gave up and joined the crowd ...