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This book explores the relationships between ancient Roman and Confucian thought, paying particular attention to their relevance for the contemporary world. More than 10 scholars from all around the world offer thereby a reference work for the comparative research between Roman (and early Greek) and Eastern thought, setting new trends in the panorama of Classical and Comparative Studies.

Already in 17th century, Ph. Couplet (1623–1693) used Ciceronian terminology to interprete the texts of Confucian philosophy, including that of Mencius (372–289 BCE), an important philosopher especially in terms of understanding Chinese ethics and morals. This paper attempts to read Mencius' political term "empire" in the context of political philosophy. The paper observes Mencius's political idea with help of that of Cicero. For this, it demostrates how and why Mencius introduces the ren as a principle of Kingship and the building of Empire. According to him, the ren is a core principle in operating the empire that was formulated with the tianxia ("all-under-heaven"). However, the ren is an ambivalent concept. On one side, the ren is a universal value that stands fundamentally against violence. On the other side, historically to see, the ren was an imperial ideology, because as a part of the "all-under-heaven" policy represented by Mencius was de facto nothing but a regional hegemon.

Already in 17th century, Ph. Couplet (1623–1693) used Ciceronian terminology to interprete the texts of Confucian philosophy, including that of Mencius (372–289 BCE), an important philosopher especially in terms of understanding Chinese ethics and morals. This paper attempts to read Mencius' political term "empire" in the context of political philosophy. The paper observes Mencius's political idea with help of that of Cicero. For this, it demostrates how and why Mencius introduces the ren as a principle of Kingship and the building of Empire. According to him, the ren is a core principle in operating the empire that was formulated with the tianxia ("all-under-heaven"). However, the ren is an ambivalent concept. On one side, the ren is a universal value that stands fundamentally against violence. On the other side, historically to see, the ren was an imperial ideology, because as a part of the "all-under-heaven" policy represented by Mencius was de facto nothing but a regional hegemon.

The volume includes the proceedings of the 2nd Roma Sinica project conference held in Seoul in September 2019 and aims to compare some features of the ancient political thought in the Western classical tradition and in the Eastern ancient thought. The contributors, coming from Korea, Europe, USA, China, Japan, propose new patterns of interpretation of the mutual interactions and proximities between these two cultural worlds and offer also a perspective of continuity between contemporary and ancient political thought. Therefore, this book is a reference place in the context of the comparative research between Roman (and early Greek thought) and Eastern thought. Researchers interested in Cicero, Seneca, Plato, post-Platonic and post Aristotelic philosophical schools, history, ancient Roman and Chinese languages could find interesting materials in this work