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Res publica, also spelled rēs pūblica to indicate vowel length, is a Latin phrase, loosely meaning "public affair". It is the root of the republic, and commonwealth has traditionally been used as a synonym for it; however, translations vary widely according to the context.
The term originates from the Latin translation of Greek word politeia. Cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia into Latin as res publica, and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic (or similar terms in various European languages). [3] [4] The term can literally be translated as 'public matter'. [5]
In its classical meaning, a republic was any stable well-governed political community. Both Plato and Aristotle identified three forms of government: democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy. First Plato and Aristotle, and then Polybius and Cicero, held that the ideal republic is a mixture of these three forms of government. The writers of the ...
Republic - a translation neglecting the first word of the Latin title (De), which is the equivalent of On or Of; other translations of the title include On the republic or Treatise on the republic. Although "republic" can appear a neutral translation of "res publica", it is infected by the many interpretations given to the word republic ...
Plato's Republic has been influential in literature and art. Aldous Huxley 's Brave New World has a dystopian government that bears a resemblance to the form of government described in the Republic , featuring the separation of people by professional class, assignment of profession and purpose by the state, and the absence of traditional family ...
The Republic of Letters (Res Publica Litterarum or Res Publica Literaria) was the long-distance intellectual community in the late 17th and 18th centuries in Europe and the Americas. [ clarification needed ] It fostered communication among the intellectuals of the Age of Enlightenment , or philosophes as they were called in France.
Reference to it has been made routinely throughout Western culture ever since its inception; two notable literary examples are Horace's ode 1.14 and "O Ship of State" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, used the metaphor in his "Letter to the Town of Providence" (1656).
The renascent Polish State was initially called the Republic of Poland (Polish: Republika Polska). The title Rzeczpospolita was introduced by the March Constitution of Poland, the first article of which stated that Państwo Polskie jest Rzecząpospolitą, meaning "the Polish State is a Commonwealth".