Ancient Rome's Political Thought Characteristics on Contemporary China's Ideological and Cultural Construction and the Significance of Reference

Ancient Rome's political thought was greatly influenced by the political thought of Greek city-states. The political thought of the Greek city-states arose in the political environment of the city-states, and had the distinctive mark of urban governance. It was limited by the scope of the city-states, and was basically the political ideals and doctrines of the small city-states. With the continuous expansion of the Roman state, the large area of jurisdiction and the complex composition of the population made the vision of city-state politics increasingly narrow, and its limitations became more and more prominent. As a result, the political thought of ancient Rome gradually formed the doctrine and thought system corresponding to the governance of a large country.

Around 500 B.C., Rome built an independent city-state. The early Roman city-states were small in area and simple in composition, and their political systems and regulations and policies were similar to those of the Greek city-states. Initially, the king had the highest power, while the advisory councils of the nobles and the popular assemblies of the city-state had only a certain degree of binding power over the king. Later the monarchy was abolished and the supreme power was transferred to two consuls. The consuls were elected for a term of one year. The Senate was the main legislative body, composed mainly of nobles, but also admitting some commoners. Initially, the city-state*** and state system was formed. With successive victories in foreign conquests, Rome soon conquered all the surrounding peoples and controlled almost all the land in the Apennines. At this point, Rome occupied such a vast territory that all the Greek city-states had never achieved. After the unification of the peninsula, the Roman state began to take shape, and the scope of the state's administration and the system of administration greatly broke through the framework of the original city-state. Problems that had not been encountered or were seldom encountered in the city-states in the past came to the fore. For example, the identity of the new inhabitants was not a major problem in the past because the city-state was small and the population was relatively stable. However, after becoming a large state, the large number of inhabitants of new territories and the large-scale movement of people from different regions became new problems for social management. Undoubtedly, the way of governance formed under the conditions of a small state with a small population became outdated, and new ways of management and management concepts were needed. In this regard, the Roman state adopted a different approach from that of the past. For example, the Roman State treated the other peoples of Italy in an enlightened manner, granting full citizenship to one quarter of the inhabitants of the newly extended territories and Latin citizenship to the rest. All enjoyed personal liberty. Later, the Roman state conquered and annexed Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor one after another, and annexed Egypt in 31 B.C., thus becoming a large empire with a vast territory.

The evolution from a city-state to a large empire inevitably led to a tremendous development and evolution of political thought. After becoming a great power, Roman thinking greatly broke through the limitations of early city-state politics. The vast territory, complex population, overlapping and intertwined interests, and close social interaction between people in different regions required the Romans to look at the organization of society and the governance of the country from a broader perspective. On the one hand, they inherited the useful results of the political thought of the Greek city-states, and on the other hand, they had to break through the narrow and static vision of the city-states' politics, to arrange the public **** life uniformly regardless of ethnicity and geography, and to establish a political and legal mechanism for coordinating the social relations in a large-scale country.

In the process of transformation to a great state, the most influential school of political thought in the Roman state was the Stoics. The Stoics saw the expansion of the state, the increase in groups and the complexity of the structure of interests. In terms of the system of government, it was argued that the best system of government was a mixed system, that is, a political system with a combination of plebeians, kings, and nobles. A mixed system of government can accommodate a larger number of social groups. They also believed that society was a community of mutual help and love, and that people should not be divided into geographical and status differences, and suggested that it would be reasonable to establish a "world state". These ideas were compatible with the expansion of social groups and the complexity of political organization, and were conducive to the establishment of harmonious relations in a large country, laying the foundation for the emergence of the rule of law, freedom, equality, contract, obligation and other ideological and legal principles in the Roman state. Stoicism in the process of the development of political thought in the Roman state played a role in carrying on the role of its ideological propositions are y marked by the rise of large countries in the history of the brand.

Ancient Rome's political thought is Cicero. Cicero grew up in the Roman state to the most powerful period. Therefore, his political and legal doctrines inevitably have the mark of this particular historical stage, greatly freed from the limitations of the city-state political doctrine. Cicero combined Stoic theory, natural law and contract theory. It was held that natural law was the highest reason. The state arose from the contract of mankind and was a combination of the people's ****s. The people he was talking about were the citizens of the national territory, not the citizens of the city-state who were subject to heavy status restrictions. Cicero explicitly asserted that man is a rational animal and that all men are equal. The laws of the state must embody reason, safeguard the interests of the people, and enable all to *** enjoy legal justice. The idea of equality before the law, which he mentioned, was exactly what the great states needed in order to maintain a unified social order and to unite the social ****sense. This idea breaks through the inherent limitations of small organizations that can also maintain their operation by relying on ethics and conventions. In terms of the system of government, Cicero advocated a **** and system of government, and he was no longer talking about the Greek city-state **** and system, but rather a model of governance for a large country with a vast territory, multiple levels of management, and the participation of citizens from multiple groups.

The governance model of the Roman state by the 2nd-3rd centuries AD, the emergence of a molded model of the rule of law. For example, the famous 5 major jurists, they all define the public **** rule from the perspective of the unified subject of law, and its codification of the code across the geographical barriers, to determine the unified subject, breaking the traditional identity differences, highlighting the law is the characteristics of the public **** norms. This forms the basis for the regulation of order and behavior in large societies. In particular, the jurist Urbian put forward the idea of the division of public and private law, he believes that public law is the law related to the organization of the state, private law is the law related to the interests of individuals. This further clarified the distinction between public and private rights in the Roman state. Both public and private rights are based on the law to establish mutual relations. It should be recognized that this division was related to the complex structure of the State, the division of public *** management and the structure of the interests of social groups. Undoubtedly, relying on unified public **** norms to regulate social relations and eliminate territorial and identity barriers is precisely one of the important ways for the Roman state to govern the complex public **** life.