urvived are those of Cicero:
He reflects, perhaps with exceptional liberalism, the scope and character of the political ideals which prevailed in senatorial and literary circles at Rome during the half century before Augustus (Petersson 40).
For Cicero as for others, justice is a vital element in the relationship between citizen and state:
As an attribute of an individual, it is a state of mind which issues in upright conduct; as an element in the government of society, it is the broad principle in accordance with which a state grants to individuals the treatment that is their due (Petersson 49).
However, other information about the Roman state derives from the history of Polybius, who discusses the qualities of the leader and also traces his view of how government evolves based on how leadership is determined. He notes that when kings are made leaders by inheritance, they are not chosen for their excellence but because of an accident of birth, and such kings do no
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