What if Plato had known of the Roman Republic?
The Roman Republic was probably in existence, in some form or other, at the time that Plato was writing his most important work, "The State", translated into Romance languages as The Republic. However, I don't believe there is any evidence that Plato himself had any awareness of the existence of the City of Rome, or its government, at the time he was writing, in 375 B.C. Certainly, Plato's writing had immense imfluence over the Romans, centuries later, in particular inspiring Cicero to write his own "The Republic", from which the Plato text has borrowed its name.
But, let's suppose Plato had somehow become aware, in detail, of the operations of the Roman Republic, circa 375 B.C. Let's suppose a Roman Senator visited Athens, and became acquainted with Plato, and friends with him, for example. What influence, if any, would these Roman barbarians have had on his thinking, and writing?
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