Lawless Republic

The Rise of Cicero and the Decline of Rome

Josiah Osgood

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Hardback

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English

Basic Books
30 January 2025

Ancient history: to c 500 CE

'A vivid, visceral and crucial read for our times' BETTANY HUGHES

'Wonderful and insightful' ADRIAN GOLDSWORTHY

The collapse of law and order in the last years of the Roman Republic told through the rise and fall of its most famous lawyer, Cicero.

In its final decades, the Roman Republic was engulfed by crime. Cases of extortion, murder and insurrection gave an ambitious young lawyer named Cicero high-profile opportunities to litigate and forge a reputation as a master debater with a bright political future. In Lawless Republic, leading Roman historian Josiah Osgood recounts the legendary orator's ascent and fall, and his pivotal role in the republic's lurch toward autocracy.

Cicero's first appearance in the courts came shortly after the end of a brutal civil war. After leveraging his fame as a lawyer to become a consul, he ruthlessly crushed a coup by suppressing the liberties of Roman citizens. The premiere legal mind of Rome came to argue that the pursuit of a higher justice could sometimes justify sweeping the law aside, laying the groundwork for Roman history's most famous act of political violence - the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Lawless Republic vividly resurrects the spectacle of the courts in the time of Cicero and Caesar, showing how politics trumped the rule of law and sealed the fate of Rome.

By: Josiah Osgood
Imprint: Basic Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 164mm, Width: 238mm, Spine: 36mm
Weight: 580g
ISBN: 9781399811552
ISBN 10: 139981155X
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 30 January 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Josiah Osgood?is professor of classics at Georgetown University and holds a PhD from Yale University. A winner of the Rome Prize, he is the author of six books on Roman history including Uncommon Wrath: How Caesar and Cato's Deadly Rivalry Destroyed the Roman Republic. He lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews for Lawless Republic: The Rise of Cicero and the Decline of Rome

A wonderful and insightful account of Cicero's career in the courts, which at the same time is highly revealing about the breakdown of Rome's Republican system. Highly recommended -- Adrian Goldsworthy, author of ROME AND PERSIA The last bloody decades of the Roman Republic offer a veritable catalogue of crime. Josiah Osgood examines this rich material with the insight of a skilled historian and the keen scrutiny of a true crime detective. Even Cicero does not emerge unscathed. The result is a fresh look at one of history's most compelling eras, more relevant to Americans today than ever before -- Steven Saylor, author of DOMINUS Josiah Osgood draws us deep into Cicero's methods and psyche as he rose to some of the greatest challenges a lawyer has ever faced. A razor-sharp analysis of the most fraught yet fascinating time in Rome's history -- Daisy Dunn, author of THE MISSING THREAD