compare and contrast platos and ciceros political ideas

Plato 's and Cicero 's life and Political Ideas

Between 429-347 BCE , were the period of Plato and his ocean of philosophical dispositions and carried the most deep-seated political social and intellectual thoughts . His questions raised the consciousness of intellectuals , students and general people making them think every aspect of their life from new and fresh perspective . As said by Alfred North Whitehead , All Western philosophy consists of footnotes to Plato (Garvey 7

Plato was a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle , and naturally in his works there is a

reflection of Socrates thoughts and ideologies But while remembering , Plato we should not forget Cicero , 106-43 B .C who was himself part of many of the political developments of his time He was not only a philosopher but also an orator , lawyer and politician He laid more importance to politics over philosophy . His philosophical works came about only in the period when he was forced to refrain himself from politics . Though he was neither considered as exceptional thinker nor we can see any originality in his works yet his thoughts on various aspects of philosophy exerted tremendous influence on many thinkers after many years to come . His popularity rose in 19th century

There is no comparison between Plato and Cicero as they were both of different ages and had their own distinct attributes , yet if we give deep thoughts into their philosophical works what we get is what we call slight deviations in their thoughts on Politics

Plato was born in Athens during 428-7 B .C .E but there is no certainty about this date because according to Diogenes Laertius , Plato was born in the same year when Pericles died . He was also considered to be six years younger than Socrates was and his death came when he passed the youthful years of his life-at the age of 84 . If according to Apollodorus ' version , the death date of Plato is correct then his birth date should lie between 430 or 431 but Diogenes put his birth in 429 Diogenes further said that if Plato was the twenty years old at the time of Socrates murder in 399 then his year of birth should be 427 . These years between 429-347 B .C .E is considered to be very appropriate whereas , Cicero was born on 3rd January 106 BC in Arpinum , as Arpino today . It is a hill town situated 100 kilometres towards south of Rome This small Italian got Roman citizenhsip in 188 B .C . and began to speak Latin rather than their language Volscian before they were enfranchised by Romans . The assimilation of nearby Italian communities into Rome laid Cicero 's future as a Roman statesman , orator and writer . Though he had a great mastery over Latin rhetoric and composition but Cicero would never from him heart considered himself as a Roman ' and he was aware of this fact through out his life . During this period of Roman history it was considered as cultured to able to speak both...