Res publica

:For the Estonian political party, see Union for the Republic - Res Publica.

Res publica in Ancient Rome

Already in Ancient Rome Res publica is a mixed-bag concept, maybe even more than the derivative "Republic" would become many centuries later.

Related Topics:
Ancient Rome - Republic

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The ancient meaning of the expression is clarified with some definitions and quotes.

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Basic meaning(s)

"Public property"

Res publica usually refers to a thing that is not considered to be private property, but which is rather held in common by many people. For instance a park or garden in the city of Rome could either be "private property", or managed by the state, in which case it would be (part of the) res publica.

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"The state" - "The Commonwealth"

Taking everything together that is of public interest leads to the connotation that "the" res publica in general equals "the" state. For Romans this equalled of course also the Imperium Romanum, and all its intrests, so Res Publica could as well refer to the Roman Empire as a whole (regardless of whether it was governed as a republic or under imperial reign). In this context scholars suggest "commonwealth" as a more accurate and neutral translation of the term, while neither implying republican nor imperial connotations, just a reference to the state as a whole. But even translating res publica as "republic" when it clearly refers to the Roman Empire under Imperial reign occurs (see quotes below).

Related Topics:
Imperium Romanum - Roman Empire - Republic - Imperial reign - Commonwealth

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"The (Roman) Republic"

Roman authors would also use the word res publica in the sense of the epoch when Rome was governed as a republic, that is the epoch between the Roman Kingdom and the Roman Empire. So in this case res publica does distincly not refer to the Roman Empire, but to what is generally described as the Roman Republic.

Related Topics:
''res publica'' in the sense of the ''epoch'' - Roman Kingdom - Roman Empire - Roman Republic

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"Public affairs" - "state organisation system" - "politics"

Res publica could also be used in a generic meaning, referring to "public affairs" and/or the general system of government of a state. In this usage res publica translated the Greek concept politeia (which originally meant the state organisation of a city-state).

Related Topics:
Politeia - ''city''-state

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Also, for a Roman politician engaging himself in the res publica, a translation can often be the even more generic being occupied in "politics".

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More connotations

Even when limited to its "political" connotations, the meanings of the term res publica in ancient Rome are diverse and multi-layered, and differing from the Greek politeia in many ways (that is: from the several interwoven meanings the word politeia had). It is however from this meaning that the modern name of Plato's The Republic comes.

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In some contexts the "state organisation system" meaning of res publica derives into something like "constitution", although "constitution", properly speaking, is a much more modern concept. Ancient Romans would use the expression "Twelve Tables" instead of res publica, when referring to their constitution at the time of the "republic", and the "inalterable laws installed by the divine Augustus", for their equivalent of a constitution in the era of the early Empire.

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Quotes

The translations of the quotes below are copied without alteration from existing non-copyrighted material. Other translations might differ, but they all serve to illustrate the many aspects of the res publica concept in Ancient Rome. The Latin original texts are given concurrently with the translations, in order to show that only the context of the text allows to interpret the res publica concept in each instance.

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From these examples it also follows that probably there was also a gradual shift of meaning of the res publica concept throughout the Roman era: the "(Roman) Republic" connotation of res publica is something that rather occurs with retrospect to a closed period (so less appararent in Cicero's time, who never knew the era of the Emperors, and could only compare with the epoch of the Kings); on the other hand the translation of the Greek "politeia" concept appears to have nearly completely worn of in late antiquity.

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Cicero

Cicero's De re publica, a treatise of the 1st century BC in Socratic dialogue format, takes the res publica as its subject. The differing interpretations and translations of the title of that work are discussed in the "De re publica" article. The expression res publica is of course used several times throughout the work too. The quotes below aim at demonstrating that within any translation of Cicero's work differing English translations of the term res publica need to be used, according to context, in order to make sense. The quotes are taken from the Latin text at "The Latin Library" (chapter numbering follows this text), from C. D. Yonge's translation at gutenberg.org (2nd column) and from Francis Barham's translation at "The Online Library of Liberty" (3rd column).

Related Topics:
Cicero - 1st century BC - Socratic dialogue - De re publica

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When Cicero refers to the Greek authors (pointing at the "politeia" concept):

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When pointing at the Roman context:

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The translation shows that the meaning of res publica can differ even within the same paragraph...

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Pliny the Elder

When Pliny dedicates his Naturalis Historiae to his friend Emperor Vespasian in the first century, he uses the word res publica (Latin from LacusCurtius website / 1601 Philemon Holland translation from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/index.html / 1855 John Bostock translation from the Perseus website):

Related Topics:
Naturalis Historiae - Emperor Vespasian - Philemon Holland

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When under an Emperor, that is Vespasian or his predecessors, Pliny was not talking about the Roman Republic, but used "commonweale"/"republic" in the meaning of "the state". Of course the ambiguity of Rome still considering itself formally, or just "pro forma", a republic throughout the era of the principate, when a monarchic rule had already de facto been established, adds to the complexity of translating "res publica" in this context.

Related Topics:
Roman Republic - Principate

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Tacitus

As another example of the complexities of the meaning of the word res publica one can cite Tacitus, who in the early 2nd century described in his Annals how the first Emperors, like Tiberius in the year Augustus had died (AD 14), sought to preserve all institutions of the Res publica completely intact (Latin and translation as available at the Perseus Project):

Related Topics:
Tacitus - 2nd century - Annals - Emperor - Tiberius - Augustus - 14

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... while Tacitus complained in the same writing that at the same time the res publica went astray for good because not a single soul seemed to care any more:

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The least that can be said is that the two quotes above (like so many passages in Tacitus' writings) are a translator's minefield:

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• In the first quote above Tacitus qualifies the res publica he intends as "vetus" (the "old" res publica) - which implies he knows another, not "old", "re(s)public(a)", while Tacitus' dense writing style would usually avoid redundancies. Nonetheless in the second quote, actually preceding the first in the text of the Annals, "res publica" does not have such qualifier, while in the context it is clear he meant the then lost republican form of government.
• "imperandi", litt. "to command", is translated as "being emperor" - while the "emperor" concept (which in fact did not yet literally exist in the time Tacitus describes here, and so could not be assigned to Tiberius as an intention) was usually indicated as "princeps" by Tacitus.
• "tribunicia potestas" is translated as "title of Tribune", while the "tribunicia potestas" is more about excercing the power of a tribune without actually being a Tribune, and had been an invention of Caesar Augustus (compare to Holland and Bostock translations for the same concept in the Pliny quote above: "sacred authoritie of the Tribunes" and "the tribunate", respectively).

Nonetheless it can only be admired in Tacitus how, with some judicially chosen words, he most poignantly and to the point describes the transition from "(overdue) remnants of the republic" to "actual Imperial reign, already established in the minds of people".

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Augustine

Augustine of Hippo uses the word res publica several times throughout his work The City of God, in which he comments, in the early 5th century on several Greek and Roman authors. Again, the standard translations of the expression "res publica" are multiple throughout the work. Examples taken from the Latin text at "The Latin Library", English translation from the version available at "New Advent"

Related Topics:
Augustine of Hippo - The City of God - 5th century

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Meaning "the (Roman) state" in general:

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Note that in this quote Augustine does not use the expression imperium Romanum ("the Roman empire") as a synonym to "the era when Rome was governed by emperors". Compare also to the 2nd quote from Tacitus above: there an expression different from res publica and imperium Romanum is used for referring to "the (Roman) State" in general.

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Meaning "the Roman Republic" as era with a distinct form of state organisation, from the same book:

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Note that Sylla (Lucius Cornelius Sulla) lived in an age of civil wars, receiving the official Roman Dictator title for limited periods.

Related Topics:
Lucius Cornelius Sulla - Civil war - Dictator

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