Oh, the times! Oh, the morals! Marcus Tullius Cicero began his legal practice and subsequent political career in tempestuous times: the Roman Republic was actively failing, critically hit during the civil wars between Marius and Sulla, attempting to salvage itself thereafter, and then finally succumbing to Caesar and his nephew, the future Augustus. Lawless Republic examines Cicero’s legal career against the background, showing how Tully’s course cases demonstrate the attempt to short up law and legitimacy after the civil wars, and then demonstrate the failure of that (and the weaknesses in Cicero’s character) as he backs down from Caesar. The cases range from administrative abuse and widespread corruption to out-and-out murder on public highways. All of these featured have political implications, either by directly concerning the re-establishment of the rule of law, or because they involve political actors. Unfortunately, despite Cicero’s promising start in attempting to restore order, his zeal for the cause led him to act outside the law. This is most obvious in the case of Cataline, who was threatening rebellion and whose co-conspirators were executed without trial. Political actors trying to settle things by “any means necessary” spurred on more violence, culminating in the assassination of Julius Caesar, and a following war that would ultimately lead to the rise of Octavian, soon to be Emperor Augustus. At the end Cicero becomes a fence-sitter, trying to figure out which way the winds were blowing: ultimately, his association with Caesar’s assassins, in addition to his speeches against Marc Anthony, would lead to Cicero’s being murdered by agents of Anthony following a momentary truce between the two contenders for Caesar’s throne. Lawless Republic is an interesting look at the last years of the Republic, illustrating the power of Law and what happens when its awe is diminished by political manipulation. If the law is viewed as the mere application of power, and not obedience to an order that transcends men’s whims and politics, then the law of the jungle quickly establishes itself until a new force capable of inspiring awe establishes itself, like the imperial cult that rose from the civil law’s ruins.

Lawless Republic will be published in January 2025.