Hobbes was familiar with, and indebted
to, the modern Taciteans and their understanding
of citizenship within the imperium
of a modern monarchy. He was a careful
reader of Lipsius’ Politics, and adopted his
doctrine of the formation of citizens out of
public discipline. (Burchell, 1999). Yet his
representation of this civic tradition is completely
one-sided – as one might perhaps
expect from such a single-minded polemicist.
He stresses almost entirely the subjection
of subjects to the sovereign power, and
has very little to say about the means
whereby they are to be brought to this subjection
of their own free will – other, it
seems, than by the sheer force of Hobbes’
own arguments. And while he inveighs
against the power of irresponsible demagogues
over the citizenry, he has little to say
about the character-traits which might
enable the constant citizen to resist the lure
of demagoguery. Modern historians, while
deploring Hobbes’ politics, have echoed
these prejudices and preoccupations, and
have tended to elide altogether the roles of
governance and civic discipline in this ‘neo-
Roman’ early modern political thought. As a
result they have oversimplified the inheritance
of ancient civic culture in the political
life of the early modern states.