Description
Book SynopsisMontesquieu and the Spirit of Rome argues that the eighteenth-century French author Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755) developed a novel, comprehensive account of Roman history that framed his new political science and grounded his political teachings. Rome’s legacy in early-modern thought turns on the work of Montesquieu, and through Rome Montesquieu articulated the strengths and weaknesses of the modern state—the moderation that can distinguish it and sources of extremism that must haunt it.
This book is the first to unify Montesquieu’s Roman thoughts; it is the first to reconstruct the Rome that was one of his most powerful legacies in the 18th and 19th centuries. Montesquieu and the Spirit of Rome restores Rome to its proper place at the peak of Montesquieu’s thought and Montesquieu’s thought to its proper place in the history of classical study. It treats Montesquieu as what he claimed to be—a jurist, a poet, a historian, and a political writer of the first rank, and it revives his hard-nosed defence of moderation.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Note on Citations
Introduction
Chapter I: Moderating the Enlightenment: Montesquieu’s Considerations on the State of Europe
Chapter II: The Roman People and the Virtuous Republic
Chapter III: The Grands Hommes and the Republic: The Roman Elite
Chapter IV: Roman Law Reconsidered: Montesquieu’s Historical Jurisprudence
Chapter V: Tyranny and Legitimacy: Rome and the Social Contract
Conclusion
Bibliography
