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Although overshadowed by his contemporaries Adam Smith and David Hume, the Scottish philosopher Adam Ferguson strongly influenced eighteenth-century currents of political thought. A major reassessment of this neglected figure, Adam Ferguson in the Scottish Enlightenment: The Roman Past and Europe's Future sheds new light on Ferguson as a serious critic, rather than an advocate, of the Enlightenment belief in liberal progress. Unlike the philosophes who looked upon Europe's growing prosperity and saw confirmation of a utopian future, Ferguson saw something else: a reminder of Rome's lesson that egalitarian democracy could become a self-undermining path to dictatorship. Ferguson viewed the intrinsic power struggle between civil and military authorities as the central dilemma of modern constitutional governments. He believed that the key to understanding the forces that propel nations toward tyranny lay in analysis of ancient Roman history. It was the alliance between popular and militaristic factions within the Roman republic, Ferguson believed, which ultimately precipitated its downfall. Democratic forces, intended as a means of liberation from tyranny, could all too easily become the engine of political oppression-a fear that proved prescient when the French Revolution spawned the expansionist wars of Napoleon. As Iain McDaniel makes clear, Ferguson's skepticism about the ability of constitutional states to weather pervasive conditions of warfare and emergency has particular relevance for twenty-first-century geopolitics. This revelatory study will resonate with debates over the troubling tendency of powerful democracies to curtail civil liberties and pursue imperial ambitions.

Enlightenment --- Republicanism --- Political science --- History. --- Ferguson, Adam, --- Gentleman in the country, --- Great Britain --- Rome --- England --- Politics and government. --- Politics and government --- History --- Republicanism - Rome - History --- Enlightenment - Scotland --- Ferguson, Adam, - 1723-1816 --- Rome - Politics and government --- Great Britain - Politics and government

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Republicanism, Rhetoric, and Roman Political Thought develops readings of Rome's three most important Latin historians - Sallust, Livy and Tacitus - in light of contemporary discussions of republicanism and rhetoric. Drawing on recent scholarship as well as other classical writers and later political thinkers, this book develops interpretations of the three historians' writings centering on their treatments of liberty, rhetoric, and social and political conflict. Sallust is interpreted as an antagonistic republican, for whom elite conflict serves as an outlet and channel for the antagonisms of political life. Livy is interpreted as a consensualist republican, for whom character and its observation helps to maintain the body politic. Tacitus is interpreted as being centrally concerned with the development of prudence and as a subtle critic of imperial rule.

History in literature --- Histoire dans la littérature --- Histoire dans la littérature --- Political science --- Republicanism --- History --- Livy. --- Sallust, --- Tacitus, Cornelius. --- Tacite --- Tacitus, Caius Cornelius --- Tacitus, Cornelius --- Tacito --- Tacitus, Publius Cornelius --- Tacito, Caio Cornelio --- Tacitus, C. Cornelius --- Tacitus, Gaius Cornelius --- Tacitus, P. Cornelius --- Tat︠s︡it, Korneliĭ --- Taxituo --- Crisp, G. Sal·lusti, --- Crispus, C. Sallustius, --- Crispus Sallustius, C., --- Gaio Crispo Sallustio, --- Gayo Salustio Crispo, --- Krisp, Gaĭ Salli︠u︡stiĭ, --- Krispus, Gajus Salustiusz, --- Salli︠u︡stiĭ Krisp, Gaĭ, --- Salluste, --- Sal·lusti, --- Sal·lusti Crisp, G., --- Sallustio Crispo, Caio, --- Sallustio, Gaio Crispo, --- Sallustius, C. Crispus, --- Sallustius Crispus, C. --- Sallustius Crispus, C., --- Sallustius Crispus, Gaius, --- Salustio, --- Salustiusz Krispus, Gajus, --- סאלוסט, --- גאיוס סאלוסטיוס קריספוס --- Livius Patavinus, Titus --- Livius --- Livy --- Tite-Live --- Livio --- Titus Livius --- Livius, Titus --- Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. --- Livius, T. --- Tacitus --- History. --- Science politique --- Républicanisme --- Rome --- Historiography --- Historiographie --- Livyus, Titus --- Liviĭ, Tit --- Liwiusz, Tytus --- Livio, Tito --- ליוויוס, טיטוס --- Cornelius Tacitus, Gaius --- Tacite, --- טאקיטוס, קורנליוס --- Τακιτος --- Takitos --- Sallust --- Sallustius, C. Crispus --- Sallustius Crispus, Gaius --- Sallustius Crispus, Caius --- Salluste --- Salustio Crispo, Cayo --- Arts and Humanities --- Political science - Rome - History --- Republicanism - Rome - History --- Sallust, - 86 B.C.-34 B.C.