Young Thomas More and the Arts of Liberty [Paperback]

This book analyzes Thomas More's thoughts on the statecraft needed to enhance liberty and peace in a culture favoring war.This book analyzes Thomas More's earliest thoughts on the statecraft needed to enhance liberty and peace in a culture favoring war. It includes a close study of his little-known works  his poetry, letters, Lucian translations, declamation on tyrannicide, coronation ode for Henry VIII, and life of Pico della Mirandola  as well as Richard III and Utopia. Special attention is given to More's integration of Cicero, Seneca, and Sallust in these works and their understanding of the arts of liberty needed for a free people.This book analyzes Thomas More's earliest thoughts on the statecraft needed to enhance liberty and peace in a culture favoring war. It includes a close study of his little-known works  his poetry, letters, Lucian translations, declamation on tyrannicide, coronation ode for Henry VIII, and life of Pico della Mirandola  as well as Richard III and Utopia. Special attention is given to More's integration of Cicero, Seneca, and Sallust in these works and their understanding of the arts of liberty needed for a free people.What does it mean to be a free citizen in times of war and tyranny? What kind of education is needed to be a first or leading citizen in a strife-filled country? And what does it mean to be free when freedom is forcibly opposed? These concerns pervade Thomas More's earliest writings, writings mostly unknown, including his 280 poems, declamation on tyrannicide, coronation ode for Henry VIII, and his life of Pico della Mirandola, all written before Richard III and Utopia. This book analyzes those writings, guided especially by these questions: Faced with generations of civil war, what did young More see as the causes of that strife? What did he see as possible solutions? Why did More spend fourteen years after law school learning Greek and immersed in classical studies? Why do his early works use vocabulary devised by l,