Ben Earley | University of Bristol (original) (raw)

Papers by Ben Earley

Research paper thumbnail of Herodotus in Renaissance France

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Research paper thumbnail of Visions of the Athenian Empire in eighteenth century travel writing

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Research paper thumbnail of Whose Decline is it Anway? The decline and fall of Greece in Thucydides and eighteenth-century historiography

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Research paper thumbnail of The Roman Senate as an historical agent and political model in the French Revolution

The relationship between the constitution and foreign policy of the Roman Republic and the virtue... more The relationship between the constitution and foreign policy of the Roman Republic and the virtue of Roman citizens in eighteenth-century historical and political thought has recently been noted by many scholars (Kent-Wright 1997; Pocock 2003; Samson 2008; Andrews 2011). However, the role of the Roman Senate as an institution, its influence on citizen’s virtue and its role in the decline and fall of the republic has yet to be considered. In this paper I will argue that in eighteenth-century French histories of the Roman Republic the senate occupied a crucial position as an historical agent, which was necessary to understand the process of decline fall. This role as an historical agent was constantly challenged by the emphasis on individual actors such as Pompey and Caesar, who whilst members of the senate represented a direct challenge to its authority.
At the end of the eighteenth-century, during the French Revolution, there was a chance to use the Roman Senate as a political model on which to base a new political system. The leaders of the Revolution, like Jean Mournier and Herbert de Seychelles, turned to the Roman histories of Montesquieu and Mably in order to understand how to write a new constitution specifically based on the Roman Senate. Much has been written on the influences of antiquity and classical republicanism on Revolutionary thought (Baker 2000; Jainchill 2008), however I will explore how the historiography of the senate challenged its validity as a political model. For post Jacobin liberal thinkers such as Theremin, Staël and Levèsque the senate represented an institution that was not only not strong enough to withstand the actions of individuals (such as the Gracchi, Pompey and Caesar) but also an institution that actively promoted virtue in citizens rather than freedom, which led directly to civil strife.

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Research paper thumbnail of Thucydides in Eighteenth-Century France: Framing the reception of the classical in Political Thought

In his novel Émile, Rousseau claims that ‘Thucydides is to my taste the first true model of an hi... more In his novel Émile, Rousseau claims that ‘Thucydides is to my taste the first true model of an historian’ because he reports the facts without judging them and he puts all he recounts before the reader's eyes. Rousseau is not alone in this judgement. Pierre-Charles Levesque, a noted historian and translator of Thucydides during the French Revolution, called him ‘the most political historian’ and claimed that there was scarcely a matter put before the British houses of parliament from which some illumination could not be found in the Histories. That Thucydides is a presence in eighteenth-century political thought is beyond doubt. The question that I wish to pose in this paper is the possibilities and limitations of classical reception as a methodology to study this presence and whether classical scholars are the best people to be exploring this material at all (over say intellectual historians or political theorists), using the reception of Thucydides in the eighteenth century as my example.
An intellectual historian or a Rousseau scholar might be interested in classical influences insofar as they help us understand key texts and their contexts. But why are classical reception scholars interested in references to ancient material in early modern political texts? The answers to this question are many. It could be because they point to the continuing ‘usefulness’ of the classics, the immense influence of Thucydides in the Western political tradition or because it allows the classical scholar to feel like he/she is working in an interdisciplinary capacity. Few heave yet considered the extent to which these motivations and biases conflict with the aims of intellectual historians and political theorists or the potential that a thorough understanding of a key classical text, such as Thucydides, might have in the comprehension of Rousseau or the Western political tradition in general. In this paper, I hope to frame the value of classical reception in the history of political thought and try to give answers to the questions: How often are classical scholars actually in a position to understand classical allusions with any conviction? What standards does this research need to meet to persuade an intellectual historian or political theorist? Indeed, how often is reception research targeted at these specialists, rather than at fellow classicists? How might this research best be disseminated in other disciplines? This paper will address these urgent questions and make a number of suggestions about how reception studies might contribute to intellectual history.

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Other by Ben Earley

Research paper thumbnail of Commerce, militarism and luxury: eighteenth-century French depictions of the Athenian Empire

This paper will argue that many eighteenth-century French thinkers viewed classical Athens as a s... more This paper will argue that many eighteenth-century French thinkers viewed classical Athens as a sea power and maritime empire. These thinkers considered, in some detail, the nature of Athenian power in the Aegean and its effect on Athens' internal historical development. Montesquieu offered a contrasting picture of Athens. He pointed to both the nexus between Athenian freedom, commerce, and sea power, but also Athens' tendency to conquer and subjugate smaller rivals and the negation of commercial interests to the whims of the democracy. Using this contradictory depiction as my starting point I will show in this paper how two broad views of Athenian power in the Aegean emerged in eighteenth-century France. The first pointed to Athens as a free and commercial state. The second argued that she was a militaristic and expansionary state, who became corrupted by luxury. In developing these arguments French commentators drew parallels with the expansion of British power in the North Atlantic and their fears about the influence of luxury on contemporary French society and politics.

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Research Projects by Ben Earley

Research paper thumbnail of Classical Antiquity & Memory (19th-21st century) - Full Programme

by Penelope Kolovou, Efstathia Athanasopoulou, Richard Cole, Hanna Paulouskaya, Katarzyna Marciniak, Filippo Carlà-Uhink, Markus Kersten, liliana giacoponi, Tiphaine-Annabelle Besnard, Helena González Vaquerizo, Ben Earley, Shushma Malik, Edward McInnis, Liliana Dottorato, Kyriaki Athanasiadou, Gina Bevan, Peter Kotiuga, Maciej Junkiert, Rossana Zetti, and Sophie Emilia Seidler

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Research paper thumbnail of Herodotus in Renaissance France

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Research paper thumbnail of Visions of the Athenian Empire in eighteenth century travel writing

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Research paper thumbnail of Whose Decline is it Anway? The decline and fall of Greece in Thucydides and eighteenth-century historiography

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Research paper thumbnail of The Roman Senate as an historical agent and political model in the French Revolution

The relationship between the constitution and foreign policy of the Roman Republic and the virtue... more The relationship between the constitution and foreign policy of the Roman Republic and the virtue of Roman citizens in eighteenth-century historical and political thought has recently been noted by many scholars (Kent-Wright 1997; Pocock 2003; Samson 2008; Andrews 2011). However, the role of the Roman Senate as an institution, its influence on citizen’s virtue and its role in the decline and fall of the republic has yet to be considered. In this paper I will argue that in eighteenth-century French histories of the Roman Republic the senate occupied a crucial position as an historical agent, which was necessary to understand the process of decline fall. This role as an historical agent was constantly challenged by the emphasis on individual actors such as Pompey and Caesar, who whilst members of the senate represented a direct challenge to its authority.
At the end of the eighteenth-century, during the French Revolution, there was a chance to use the Roman Senate as a political model on which to base a new political system. The leaders of the Revolution, like Jean Mournier and Herbert de Seychelles, turned to the Roman histories of Montesquieu and Mably in order to understand how to write a new constitution specifically based on the Roman Senate. Much has been written on the influences of antiquity and classical republicanism on Revolutionary thought (Baker 2000; Jainchill 2008), however I will explore how the historiography of the senate challenged its validity as a political model. For post Jacobin liberal thinkers such as Theremin, Staël and Levèsque the senate represented an institution that was not only not strong enough to withstand the actions of individuals (such as the Gracchi, Pompey and Caesar) but also an institution that actively promoted virtue in citizens rather than freedom, which led directly to civil strife.

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Research paper thumbnail of Thucydides in Eighteenth-Century France: Framing the reception of the classical in Political Thought

In his novel Émile, Rousseau claims that ‘Thucydides is to my taste the first true model of an hi... more In his novel Émile, Rousseau claims that ‘Thucydides is to my taste the first true model of an historian’ because he reports the facts without judging them and he puts all he recounts before the reader's eyes. Rousseau is not alone in this judgement. Pierre-Charles Levesque, a noted historian and translator of Thucydides during the French Revolution, called him ‘the most political historian’ and claimed that there was scarcely a matter put before the British houses of parliament from which some illumination could not be found in the Histories. That Thucydides is a presence in eighteenth-century political thought is beyond doubt. The question that I wish to pose in this paper is the possibilities and limitations of classical reception as a methodology to study this presence and whether classical scholars are the best people to be exploring this material at all (over say intellectual historians or political theorists), using the reception of Thucydides in the eighteenth century as my example.
An intellectual historian or a Rousseau scholar might be interested in classical influences insofar as they help us understand key texts and their contexts. But why are classical reception scholars interested in references to ancient material in early modern political texts? The answers to this question are many. It could be because they point to the continuing ‘usefulness’ of the classics, the immense influence of Thucydides in the Western political tradition or because it allows the classical scholar to feel like he/she is working in an interdisciplinary capacity. Few heave yet considered the extent to which these motivations and biases conflict with the aims of intellectual historians and political theorists or the potential that a thorough understanding of a key classical text, such as Thucydides, might have in the comprehension of Rousseau or the Western political tradition in general. In this paper, I hope to frame the value of classical reception in the history of political thought and try to give answers to the questions: How often are classical scholars actually in a position to understand classical allusions with any conviction? What standards does this research need to meet to persuade an intellectual historian or political theorist? Indeed, how often is reception research targeted at these specialists, rather than at fellow classicists? How might this research best be disseminated in other disciplines? This paper will address these urgent questions and make a number of suggestions about how reception studies might contribute to intellectual history.

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Research paper thumbnail of Commerce, militarism and luxury: eighteenth-century French depictions of the Athenian Empire

This paper will argue that many eighteenth-century French thinkers viewed classical Athens as a s... more This paper will argue that many eighteenth-century French thinkers viewed classical Athens as a sea power and maritime empire. These thinkers considered, in some detail, the nature of Athenian power in the Aegean and its effect on Athens' internal historical development. Montesquieu offered a contrasting picture of Athens. He pointed to both the nexus between Athenian freedom, commerce, and sea power, but also Athens' tendency to conquer and subjugate smaller rivals and the negation of commercial interests to the whims of the democracy. Using this contradictory depiction as my starting point I will show in this paper how two broad views of Athenian power in the Aegean emerged in eighteenth-century France. The first pointed to Athens as a free and commercial state. The second argued that she was a militaristic and expansionary state, who became corrupted by luxury. In developing these arguments French commentators drew parallels with the expansion of British power in the North Atlantic and their fears about the influence of luxury on contemporary French society and politics.

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