R.I.P., Cicero

Today is the anniversary of the assassination of Cicero (formally Marcus Tullius Cicero), the great Roman statesman and orator. Among Latin scholars he is probably known best for the text of his eloquent speech in favor of the natural law right to self-defense. David Kopel penned an article a few years ago in Chronicles where he looks at the political lessons which America’s Founders drew from Cicero and other Romans. Among the conclusions: the Founders saw how Rome had degenerated from a Republic to a military dictatorship, and traced the degeneration to the moral decline of the Roman citizeny. One of the causes of the decline was the replacement of the militia by a professional standing army.