A History of Political Ideas from Antiquity to the Middle Ages

Preface
General Introduction: Anthropology and Politics
Prestate Societies. Sacred monarchies of the ancient Near East. The Greek City.

Part One: Ancient Greece

Chapter 1. Political Ideas in Greece before Plato
Homer and Hesiod. From Solon to Cleisthenes. The “Great Generation of the Open Society.”
Chapter 2. Plato
The Republic. The Statesman. The Laws.
Chapter 3. Aristotle
Man: A political animal. A theory of slavery. Political economy. A criticism of communism. Forms of government. Laws and decrees. Politics of moderation.
Chapter 4. Xenophon, Isocrates, Demosthenes
Chapter 5. Political Ideas in the Hellenistic Age: Cynicism, Stoicism, Epicureanism

Part Two: Rome

Introduction: Roman Law and Western Humanism
Chapter 1. The Historical Context
The founding of Rome and monarchy. The Republic. High empire: “Principate.” Late empire: “Dominate.”
Chapter 2. Roman Political Institutions
The magistracies. The people. The senate. The emperor and imperial government. Territorial administration. Social classes.
Chapter 3. Private Law
The actions of the law. Formulary procedure. Extraordinary procedure.
Chapter 4. Political Ideas under the Roman Republic
Polybius. Cicero. Lucretius.
Chapter 5. Political Ideas under the Empire
Virgil. Augustus: Res gestae. The jurists. Seneca. Tacitus. Pliny the Younger. Aelius Aristides. Dio Chrysostom. The Neopythagoreans. Eusebius of Caesarea. Themistius. Synesius.

Part Three: The Christian West

Introduction to Part Three
Preliminary Chapter: The “Political” Ideas of the Bible
History of the Hebrew people. “Political” ideas in the Old and New Testaments.
Chapter 1. Christianity and Politics at the Time of the Roman Empire
The political attitude of the Christians under the Roman Empire. The political doctrine of Augustine. The birth of canon law.
Chapter 2. Early Middle Ages (Fifth to Eleventh Centuries)
The historical context: “Political Augustinism.” Jonas of Orleans, Agobard of Lyons, Hincmar of Reims. Development of canon law.
Chapter 3. Feudalism and Sacred Kingship
Feudalism. Royal anointment. The symbols of French monarchy.
Chapter 4. The High Middle Ages (Eleventh to Thirteenth Centuries): The Papal Revolution
The historical context. Papal revolution. The doctrine of the two swords.
Chapter 5. Saint Thomas Aquinas
Nature and grace. The law. Justice. The state.
Chapter 6. The End of the Middle Ages (Fourteenth to Fifteenth Centuries): Toward the Modern Concept of the State
The state in abstraction. Secularism. Dante. Marsilius of Padua. William of Ockham. Sovereignty. The French national saga. The rise of absolutism. Representative institutions. Canonist corporate theory. Conciliarism.
Chapter 7. Medieval Millenarianism
From the Apocalypse to Augustine. Millenarian movements. Millenarian myths and ideologies. Joachim of Flores. The Franciscan “Spiritual Fathers.” The myth of the Emperor of the Last Days. From Taborism to Anabaptism.

Selected Works Cited
Index