I’ve posted a review of Philip Freeman’s book, How to Run a Country on the Municipal Machiavelli site, here:
ianchadwick.com/machiavelli/how-to-run-a-country/
Freeman’s work is a short (132 pages in a small format) book with a mix of English and Latin content derived from the writing of Marcus Cicero, thematically chosen around the topics of governance, politics and war. It’s billed as a sequel to his “How to Win an Election”, but I didn’t feel it lived up to that title.
However, I hope it can help introduce an audience of modern readers to the Roman writer Cicero and spark some interest in reading further and deeper. Certainly it’s an easy read – probably no more than an hour’s effort to get a peek into one of the sharpest minds in classical times.
There’s one good line in the book worth sharing, from the section “On Leadership” (p.12):
The ideal state is one in which the best people desire praise and honor while avoiding humiliation and disgrace. Such citizens are not deterred from wrongdoing by a fear of punishment as laid out in the law as much as by an inborn sense of shame given to us by nature itself that makes us dread the thought of justified criticism.
As a local politician who understands the effect of unjustified criticism, I understand this sentiment.
