Journal Article

THE TRAGEDY OF THE REPUBLIC

Manent, Pierre

2017

Overview

The republican idea seems so near and familiar to us, it envelops us to the point that we would experience it as a kind of impiety to hold it at a distance in order to describe and judge it; its \"value\" paralyzes us. [...]we are heirs to a very long history, in the course of which different political bodies have grown and declined under the same name of \"republic.\" What now limits our political interest in the experience of republican Rome is the well-founded feeling that there is a qualitative difference between ancient and modern republicanism. Since representative government is the great invention of modern politics, what would be the point of seeking useful teachings in an ancient, that is, non-representative republic? Far be it from me to minimize the importance of the question of political representation. Representative government has over time been adopted in all European countries and many more besides, not from love of representation for its own sake, but because, in their experience, the representative has seemed to be the best form of republican government. Shakespeare's Roman plays thus make available to us not, of course, a historical document, but an interrogation or inquiry into the motives of the actors of the Roman Republic, the regime that left the deepest mark on the history of Europe and of the West.

• Publisher: Institute of Religion and Public Life
• Subject: Citizenship / Literary criticism / Political representation / Politics / Republicanism / Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)