Thomas Hobbes's Thucydides and Antidemocratic Briefe of the Art of Rhetorique.

Thomas Hobbes' 1637 adaptation of Aristotle's Rhetoric, A Briefe of the Art of Rhetorique , was the first English-language version of the ancient Greek treatise. It de-democratised it, rendering it useful to a leader who, in Hobbes' ideal polity, would have no need to contend with articulate subordinates. But it was hugely influential, being republished in various editions for practical use, rather than antiquarian interest, right through to the 20th century. This article sets the Briefe both in the political context in which it appeared, and against the background of Hobbes' earlier rhetoric-focused translation of Thucydides, motivated by his despair at the current political scene in the early 17th century. The intensity of Hobbes' engagement with Thucydides' accounts of Athenian orators illuminates his decision to study Aristotle's Rhetoric , the earliest extant handbook on persuasive speech and one produced in the context of the Athenian democracy so vividly portrayed in Thucydides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]