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Abstract
Commentators have found Hobbes's translation of Thucydides’ history puzzling. It was Hobbes's first publication and it preceded his earliest political treatise by more than a decade. Although towards the end of his life Hobbes himself claimed that he published it in order to warn his compatriots of the dangers of democracy and demagoguery, some commentators have dismissed his explanation as an attempt to tie it to his own political theory, in hindsight. Through an examination of Hobbes's preface and essay on the life and history of Thucydides, published alongside his translation, this paper shows that Hobbes's view of Thucydides and his usefulness remained consistent throughout. Siding with Plutarch, Hobbes valued Thucydides for his ability to turn the auditor into a spectator, thereby protecting him, as far as possible, from the dangers of demagoguery.
Notes
1. The author would like to express his gratitude to Kevin Dunn, Tracie Sophia Evrigenis, Gerald Lalonde, Edward Phillips, and Mark Somos for their assistance.
2. See, e.g., Macdonald and Hargreaves (Citation1952: 1); Malcolm (Citation2002: 9).
3. Unless otherwise indicated, parenthetical references will be to the Molesworth edition of Hobbes's translation of Thucydides, volume VIII of The English Works of Thomas Hobbes. References to Hobbes's works are indicated as follows: The Elements of Law: ‘EL’, followed by book, chapter, and, where appropriate, paragraph number, On the Citizen: ‘DC’, followed by chapter and paragraph number, and Leviathan: ‘L’, followed by chapter and paragraph number.
4. Pace Reik (1977: 36–37), therefore, the former date means that the translation was not published in response to the Petition of Right, which was not proposed until 6 May 1628, and did not receive the approval of the House of Lords until 27 May. Cf. Relf (Citation1917: 36, 47); Rushworth (Citation1659: 557–558).
5. Prior to Hobbes's translation, there had been only one edition of Thucydides’ history in English, that of Thomas Nicolls, which was published in 1550. As Hobbes explains, however, that translation was based on the French text of Seyssel, which in turn was based on the Latin translation of Valla (ix). Hobbes based his own translation on the Greek text of Æmilius Porta, ‘not refusing or neglecting any version, comment, or other help’ he could find (ix). Cf. Schlatter Citation1945: 351–355.
6. On the relationship of the translation to Hobbes's other activities at the time, see Tuck (Citation1993: 281–282).
7. Slomp lists some recent studies of the connections between Thucydides and Hobbes (Citation1990: 565).
8. Aubrey tells us that Hobbes would rather be treated by ‘an experienced old woman, that had been at many sick people's bed-sides, then from the learnedst but unexperienced physitian’ (Citation1898: I.350).
9. According to Aubrey, Ben Jonson and Sir Robert Ayton were among those whom Hobbes asked to judge his translation (Citation1898: I, 365).
10. Hobbes argues, ‘there is scarce any word that is not made equivocal by divers contextures of speech, or by diversity of pronunciation and gesture’ (EL: I.5.7).
11. Elsewhere, Hobbes gives an example of the possibilities for the manipulation of terms: ‘He that will make the best of a thing, let him draw his Metaphor from somewhat that is better. As for Example, let him call a Crime, an Error. On the other side, when hee would make the worst of it, let him draw his Metaphor from somewhat worse, as, calling Error, Crime’ (Citation1637: 156).