Iusti De Constantia Libri Duo: Qui alloquium praecipue continent in Publicis malis
Entry/Object ID
4
Description
Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) was a Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatible with Christianity. The most famous of these is De Constantia (On Constancy).
Lipsius’ ideas about the ideal citizen was a man who acts according to reason, is answerable to himself, is in control of his emotions, and is ready to fight. De Constantia in Publicis Malis (On Constancy in Times of Public Evil) was a philosophical dialogue published by Justus Lipsius in two books in 1583. The book, modelled after the dialogues of Seneca, was pivotal in establishing an accommodation of Stoicism and Christianity which became known as Neostoicism. De Constantia went through over eighty editions between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. In an age of religious disputes and persecutions Lipsius intended the book to be both a consolation and a solution to the calamities which he and his contemporaries were enduring. The result is a handbook for practical living, and as such is focused more on moral rules than rigorous philosophical argument.
