Thomas Elyot : Critical Editions of Four Works on Counsel

This volume provides the first modern scholarly editions of four works on the rhetoric of counsel by Sir Thomas Elyot (1490-1546), humanist scholar and advisor to Henry VIII of England. The 'Doctrinal of Princes', a translation of Isocrates' To Nicocles, and probably the earliest English book translated directly from Greek into English, consists of a collection of aphorisms, all advising moderation, addressed to monarchs. 'Pasquill the Playne', the first English pasquinade, is a comic dialogue on the ethical challenges involved in counseling a prince. 'Of That Knowledge Which Maketh a Wise Man' is a direct imitation of a Platonic dialogue, in which Plato's confrontation with the Sicilian tyrant Dionysius is given dramatic form. A third dialogue, 'The Defense of Good Women', is the first printed English book that argues for the moral and political equality of women to men. Included in the volume are a general introduction to Elyot's life and political career, extensive critical introductions to each of the texts, full recordings of the variations between printed editions, and substantive notes.