On the Causes of the Greatness and Supreme Status of Cities -- From the Collection "Illustrations of the Maritime Kingdom"

Author: (Italian) Giovanni Botero, translated by Liu Chengguang, supplemented by Lin Guoji
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Although "On the City" is not long, at first glance, it gives the impression of being dazzling. This is mainly due to the author's brilliant rhetorical techniques and the extensive use of examples. Botero was a typical humanist of his time, with profound classical education, which can be seen from the classical authors he casually quotes or uses anonymously, as well as the Latin phrases he includes. His historical knowledge of ancient cities is particularly astonishing. Additionally, he demonstrates a wide range of erudition in the text, with extensive knowledge of rivers, plants, geography, and ethnic groups, making him worthy of the title "naturalist." If he had only possessed knowledge without the ability to skillfully express his thoughts through language, his work might have been a dry and tedious "academic paper." Botero was a rhetoric teacher at a very young age, which allowed him to filter his deep and diverse knowledge through his thoughts and express it in vivid, elegant, concise, and eloquent language. This is particularly evident in the two longest chapters of "On the City," namely Chapter 10 of the first volume and Chapter 11 of the second volume. Their content is enlightening, and their language is captivating, as if we are guided by him on a wonderful journey. Yes, the term "journey" accurately captures the feeling of reading this work. Botero himself says at the end of Chapter 11 of the second volume that he was "journeying through the world," and we follow him from one era to another, from one kingdom to another. This book is part of the "Atlas of Maritime Nations" series. It is Giovanni Botero's masterpiece and a classic work in the study of world political thought. Its publication has contributed to advancing the study of classical political science. Although Botero is known in Western classical political thought for opposing Machiavelli, he shares certain ideas with Machiavelli in some aspects. For example, like Machiavelli, he also recognized the importance of religion in the state and society. This book records his original thoughts: the importance of economic factors in the political sphere. He believed that a city's greatness depends on its economic prosperity and development, and its ruling foundation lies in wealth, which in turn depends on labor. At the same time, he also attempts to answer a classic question in the book: why do cities often stagnate once they become great? He argued that the growth of a city's population will inevitably be constrained by a series of resource shortages to a certain extent, thus slowing down its development. On this issue, Botero anticipated the emergence of later thinkers such as Malthus and other schools of economics and political thought.