witshe lecvtaerdia nts frothme Latin editoif1o 6n6 8 Ediwtietdh, I ntroduction, by EdwCiunr l ey Leviathan THOMAS HOBBES Leviathan with selected variants from the Latin edition of 1668 Edited, with Introduction and Notes by EdwiCnur ley Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis/ Cambridge Copyright © 1994 by Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved Printed in Canada 12 11 10 09 8 9 10 11 12 13 Cover desi by Listenberger and Associates gn Text desi by Dan Kirklin gn For further information, please address Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. P.O. Box 44937 Indianapolis, Indiana, 46244-0937 www.hackettpublishing.com Library of Congrt::ss Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679. Leviathan: with selected variants from the Latin edition of 1668 / Thomas Hobbes: edited, with introduction and notes, by Edwin Curley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes. ISBN 0-87220-178-3 (cloth)- ISBN 0-87220-177-5 (pbk.) 1. Political science-Early works to I 800. 2. State, The. I. Curley, E. M. (Edwin M.), 1937- . II. Title. JC153.H65 1994 320.1-<lc20 93-49690 CIP ISBN-13: 978-0-87220-178-l (cloth) ISBN-13: 978-0-87220-177-4 (pbk.) Adobe ebook ISBN: 978-1-60384-486-4 Contents Introduction to Hobbes' Leviathan v111 Biographical Materials xlvii I. Chronology of the Life of Hobbes xlviii II. Hobbes' Verse Autobiography liv III. Excerpts from Hobbes' Prose Autobiography lxiv IV. Excerpts from Aubrey's Life of Hobbes lxv Bibliography lxxi Purposes and Features of This Edition lxxiii Acknowledgments lxxvi LEVIATHAN Letter Dedicatory 1 The Introduction 3 PART I: OF MAN Of Sense 6 11 Oflmagination 7 111 Of the Consequence or Train of Imaginations 12 1v Of Speech 15 v Of Reason, and Science 22 v1 Of the lnteriour Beginnings of Voluntary Motions, Commonly Called the Passions, and the Speeches by Which They Are Expressed 27 vu Of the Ends, or Resolutions of Discourse 35 v111 Of the Virtues Commonly Called Intellectual, and Their Contrary Defects 38 1x Of the Several Subjects of Knowledge 47 1x On the Classification of the Sciences (OL) 49 x Of Power, Worth, Dignity, Honour, and Worthiness 50 x1 Of the Difference of Manners 57 V Contents Xll Of Religion 63 X111 Of the Natural Condition of Mankind, As Concerning Their Felicity, and Misery 74 XlV Of the First and Second Natural Laws and of Contracts 79 xv Of Other Laws of Nature 89 XVl Of Persons, Authors, and Things Personated 101 PART II: OF COMMONWEALTH XVll Of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of a Commonwealth 106 XV111 Of the Rights of Sovereigns by Institution 110 XlX Of the Several Kinds of Commonwealth by Institution and of Succession to the Sovereign Power 118 xx Of Dominion Paternal and Despotical 127 XXl Of the Liberty of Subjects 136 XXll Of Systems Subject, Political, and Private 146 XX111 Of the Public Ministers of Sovereign Power 155 XXlV Of the Nutrition and Procreation of a Commonwealth 159 XXV Of Counsel 165 XXVl Of Civil Laws 172 XXVll Of Crimes, Excuses, and Extenuations 190 XXV111 Of Punishments and Rewards 203 XXlX Of those things that Weaken or tend to the Dissolution of a Commonwealth 210 XXX Of the Office of the Sovereign Representative 219 XXXl Of the Kingdom of God by Nature 233 PART III: OF A CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH XXXll Of the Principles of Christian Politics 245 XXX111 Of the Number, Antiquity, Scope, Authority, and Interpreters of the Books of Holy Scripture 250 XXXlV Of the Signification of Spirit, Angel, and Inspiration in the Books of Holy Scripture 261 XXXV Of the Signification in Scripture of Kingdom of God, of Holy, Sacred, and Sacrament 271 XXXVl Of the Word of God, and of Prophets 278 XXXVll Of Miracles, and their Use 293 XXXV111 Of the Signification in Scripture of Eternal Life, Hell, Salvation, The World to Come, and Redemption 301 Vl Contents XXXlX Of the Signification in Scripture of the Word Church 314 xl Of the Rights of the Kingdom of God, in Abraham, Moses, the High-Priests, and the Kings Of Judah 317 xli Of the Office of our Blessed Saviour 326 xlii Of Power Ecclesiastical 333 xliii Of what is Necessary for a Man's Reception into the Kingdom of Heaven 397 PART IV: OF THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS xliv Of Spiritual Darkness from Misinterpretation of Scripture 411 xlv Of Demonology and other Relics of the Religion of the Gentiles 435 xlvi Of Darkness from Vain Philosophy and Fabulous Traditions 453 xlvi Of the Darkness from Vain Philosophy (OL) 468 xlvii Of the Benefit that proceedeth from such Darkness and to whom it accrueth 477 xlvii Of those who profited from this darkness (OL) 484 A Review and Conclusion 489 Latin Appendix 498 A Note Regarding Chapter xlii 549 Glossary 550 Index of Subjects 560 Index of Proper Names 573 Index of Biblical Citations 575 vu Introduction to Hobb es' Leviathan Hobbes has suffered a fate shared by many classic authors. His greatest work is more often quoted than carefully and thoroughly read. There are reasons for this. Hobbes took pains to be quotable, sometimes at the cost of obscuring his message. And Leviathan is a very long book, not all of whose parts are obviously relevant to its central purpose. My aim here is to give you some sense of how the parts fit together and to ward off misunder­ standings, which make criticism and rejection seem easy. A brief summary of Hobbes' argument will suggest both why we still read him, and why few accept what they read. Hobbes contends that by nature people are sufficiently unsocial that if they had to live without an effective government to check them, they would find themselves in a "war of all against all." But people are also sufficiently dependent on one an­ other that in such a war everyone's life would be, in the book's most famous phrase, "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." This alternative is so horrible that life under any effective government would be preferable to it, no matter what the form of that government. The same features of human nature which would make life in the state of nature so miserable also make it impossible for any government to be effective if it does not possess abso­ lute power. To try to limit the powers of government by a constitution or by dividing authority among different branches of government is to invite the anarchy and misery of the state of nature. So the subject of an absolute government should prefer that form of government to any other and give it "simple obedience." If you are a citizen in an effective dictatorship, which makes your life secure from both internal and external threats, with­ out allowing you any say in how you are governed, presumably you are morally required to obey that government and give it your support. If this is Hobbes' conclusion, most of us, I suppose, would find it unacceptable. But Hobbes' argument can feel very forceful. Let's analyze its structure in finer detail. LEVIATHAN as a scientific treatise. Leviathan begins with topics appar­ ently far removed from the subject of political obedience: the nature of vm