A History of Greek Political Thought

356 Pages·2009·16.696 MB·English

by  T. A. Sinclair

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:

POLITICAL SCIENCE

A HISTORY OF GREEK

POLITICAL THOUGHT

9780415555746
A HIST GREEK POL THOUGHT MINI-SET
Size: 234 x 156mm Spine size: 22 mm Color pages: Binding: Hardback

A HISTORY OF GREEK
POLITICAL THOUGHT
By
T. A. SINCLAIR
Volume 34
R
~~~!~;~~;,.
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1951
Second edition first published 1967
This edition first published in 2010
by Routledge
2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USAand Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor &Francis Group, an informa business
©1967 D. Sinclair
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechan-
ical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 10: 0-415-49111-8 (Set)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-49111-2 (Set)
ISBN 10: 0-415-55574-4 (Volume 34)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-55574-6 (Volume 34)
Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of
this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original
copies may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and
would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable
to trace.
A HISTORY
OF
GREEK POLITICAL TI-IOUGHT
by
T. A. SIN CLAIR
Professor of Greek in the Queen's University
of Belfast
ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL LTD
Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane
London, E.C.4
First published 1951
Second impression 1959
Third impression, 1961
Second edition, with an
additional chapter on
The Ear!J Roman Empire
© D. Sinclair Ij6J
ry
Printed in Great Britain
Lowe & Brydone (Printers) Ltd
London, N. W. xo
CONTENTS
Preface page vii
Introductory: Preamble to the subject page I
r. Homer page xo
II. Hesiod, Solon, Heraclitus. Discontent promotes the growth
of political thought; the people and the individual page 9
I
III. The new freedom. Equality or Order? Herodotus and
Aeschylus page 33
IV. Protagoras, the first great political thinker; man's responsi
bility. Other Pre-Socratics. Democritus. The background
of Socrates page 43
v. Antiphon and others. The right of the stronger and the
future of the polis. Socrates, Euripides page 69
VI. Thucydides and statesmen of his time
VII. The aftermath of war. Federal and monarchical ideas.
Plato's early life, Crito, Gorgias, The Academy. !socrates/·
page 15
I
vm:. Plato's Republic page 143
rx. Xenophon. Plato's Politicus or Statesman. Plato and Syracuse
page 169
x. Plato's Laws page x86
xr. Aristotle page 2.09
XII. Alexander the Great and the effect of his conquests. Hellen
istic monarchy and Hellenistic cities. Philosophical schools,
old and new, and their relation to politeia page 2.39
v
vi CONTENTS
XIII. Greek political thought at Rome. Polybius, Panaetius, Posi-
donius, Cicero, Philodemus, Lucretius page 269
XIV. Hellenistic Monarchy again. Jewish influences. Monarchical
writings of obscure date and origin. Philo of Alexandria
page 287
xv. The early Roman empire page 303
General Index page 329
Index of Greek Words page 341
PREFACE
I
WISH to thank those friends and colleagues with whom I have
discussed various parts of this book-K. . M. T. Chrimes (Mrs
Atkinson), E. D. Phillips and W. H. Porter (Cork); to thank
also Frances Hume and others who typed it, and D. R. Bradley
and D. A. McAlindon for help in proof-reading.
The notes at the end of each chapter are intended primarily to
indicate the ancient sources for that chapter; for the book should
be read as it was written with these at elbow. They also serve to
supplement the footnotes and to give a sm.t}ll selection of modem
works. It would have been easy to compile an extended biblio
graphy for the whole work, but it would have been misleading
and of no practical value. There are many well-known histories
of philosophy, books on political science, books about the Greek
authors here utilised, but there are very few that deal with
the development of Greek Political Thought. I mention here:
(1) Ernest Barker, Greek Political Theory: Plato and his Predecessors
(1918, 1925, 1947)-a book so well known that I thought it ad
visable not to consult it too often when writing my own; (2.) Hans
von Arnim, Die politischen Theorien des Altertums (1910)-six very
fine lectures; (3) A. von Verdross-Drossberg, Grundlinien der
antiken Rechts- und Staatsphilosophie, Vienna, 1946, 1948-mainly
concerned with Plato. To these I add, though it only reached me
just as this book was going to press, and is less general in its scope,
(4) Heinrich Ryffel, METABOAH llOAITEI!JN, Der Wandel der
Staatsverfassungen, Bern, 1949 (Noctes Romanae Nr. 2.).
The translations from the Greek are my own except for one
quotation from Philo on page 299. For it I have to thank Messrs
W. Heinemann & Co. for permission to use the Colson-Whittaker
translation in the Loeb Library.
vii