ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2 we explored what the notion of ‘Republic’ has come to mean in the contemporary Anglo-Irish context and sought to compare this with certain aspects of revolutionary republicanism. In what follows I propose to trace the genealogy of republicanism from its origin in classical and Renaissance thought through English, French and American versions of the term. I take as guiding motto Cicero’s statement: ‘When we inquire what a Republic means, we should first of all understand the nature of the thing itself about which we inquire’ (The Republic of Cicero, Book 1, pp. 24-25).
