Did Cicero say: “The closer the collapse of the empire, the crazier its laws”?

The ancient Roman philosopher is often credited with the phrase that the fate of a state can be predicted by the development of its legislation. We checked whether this attribution is correct.

Although this quote can be found on several sites with collections of aphorisms (for example, "Pearls of Thought" And Socratify.net), she gained particular popularity on social networks and blog platforms. Individual users and entire public pages often cite Cicero’s supposed saying in publications criticizing one or another legislative initiative. Similar examples can be easily found in "VKontakte", Facebook, "Odnoklassniki", Twitter And Instagram, on Pikabu, LiveJournal And Reddit.

Judging by Google search results, this “statement of Cicero” has not been known for very long. Its earliest mentions can be found in 2017, and on resources that can hardly be called specializing in ancient philosophy. Probably for the first time, this phrase attributed to the philosopher a certain Gennady Bey in the essay “Intercompetitive Knot” on the website Proza.ru. It began to be actively disseminated the following year, when numerous publications appeared in Facebook, "VKontakte" And Twitter.

IN essays We could not find a quote from Cicero about the relationship between the quality of laws and the imminent destruction of the state. It is not mentioned by authoritative scholars studying Antiquity, or by the authors of commentaries on the philosopher’s texts. When searching for similar phrases in English, it was also not possible to find mentions in serious sources - it is mainly found on sites with collections of quotes, forums and social networks.  

It is possible that the phrase attributed to Cicero is a distorted quote from the work of another ancient author, the historian Tacitus. In his Annals meets expression Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges. His translate differently, among the options: “The most laws were issued in the days of greatest unrest in the republic,” “The most corrupt state has the most laws,” and “The closer a state is to fall, the more laws it has.”

Cover photo: C. Makkari. Cicero gives a speech against Catiline (1888)

Incorrect quote attribution

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Cicero. Collection of essays
2. Tacitus. Annals