5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen

reason is Law, we must believe that men have Law also in common with the gods. Further, those who share Law must also share Justice; and those who share these are to be regarded as members of the same commonwealth. If indeed they obey the same authorities and powers, this is true in a far greater degree; but as a matter of fact they do obey this celestial system, the divine mind, and the God of transcendent power. Hence we must now conceive of this whole universe as one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members." 23
       No prophet of the Old Testament or the Gospel teachers of the New Testament ever said it any better.

    The First Great Commandment
       Cicero had comprehended the magnificence of the first great commandment to love, respect, and obey the all-wise Creator. He put this precept in proper perspective by saying that God's law is "right reason." When perfectly understood it is called "wisdom." When applied by government in regulating human relations it is called "justice." When people unite together in a covenant or compact under this law, they become a true "commonwealth," and since they intend to administer their affairs under God's law, they belong to his commonwealth.
       Thus Cicero came to what Jews and Christians call the first great commandment.
       It will be recalled that a lawyer tried to discredit Jesus by asking him, "Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?" Of course, there were hundreds of commandments, and the question was designed as a clever stratagem to embarrass Jesus. But Jesus was not embarrassed. He simply replied: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment."
       The lawyer was amazed by this astute and ready response from the Galilean carpenter. But Jesus was not through. He added: "And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 24
       The astonished lawyer simply replied: "Well, Master, thou hast said the truth!"
       Jesus had picked out what he considered to be the foremost commandment from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, and then selected what he considered to be the second most important commandment clear over in Leviticus 19:18.

    The Second Great Commandment
       It is interesting that Cicero, without being either a Christian or a Jew, was able to discover the power and fundamental significance of obedience, not only to the first great commandment, but to the second one as well. His great mind instinctively led him to comprehend the beauty and felicity of what Jesus had identified as the second great commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
       Dr. William Ebenstein comments on this rather fascinating insight among Cicero's writings by saying:
       "There is another note, too, in Cicero that points forward, toward Christianity, rather than backward, to Plato and Aristotle: Cicero's consciousness of love as a mighty social bond." 25
       Cicero raises this point in connection with his discussion of Justice. He points out that Justice is impossible except under the principles of God's just law:
       "... For these virtues originate in our natural inclination to love our fellow-men, and this is the foundation of justice." 26
       So to Cicero, the glue which holds a body of human beings together in the commonwealth of a just society is love -- love of God; love of God's great law of Justice; and love of one's fellow-men which provides the desire to promote true justice among mankind.

    All Mankind Can Be Taught God's Law or Virtue
       Cicero projected throughout his writings a particularly optimistic view of the potential improvement of human beings by teaching them the elements of virtue through education. He wrote:
       "Out of all the material of the philosophers' discussion, surely there comes nothing more valuable than the full realization