Six Books of Politics

Introduction

Lipsius published the “Politicorum sive civilis doctrinae libri sex” in Leiden in 1589. The six books are composed largely of quotations from ancient authors, above all Tacitus, linked by short passages of his own. They treat virtue and prudence as the foundations of government, counsel, the prince, the army and war, and civil strife. Lipsius demands one public religion in the state and, in Book IV, admits a “mixed prudence” that tolerates some deceit in the interest of the state. The book went through dozens of editions and translations; its demand for religious unity was attacked by Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, and historians see it as a key text of the early modern theory of the state.

Connections

Builds on

• The Prince1513 · Niccolò Machiavelli

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