historical and political thought in the seventeenth - RePub - Erasmus ...

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Chapter 7. The mistress of life
can add that three Leiden professors – Lipsius, Heinsius, and Cunaeus – had
warned about the threat posed by the loss of ancient virtues and about the
corruptive powers of wealth. 190 Taking all this into consideration, it is quite
possible that Boxhorn deliberately omitted the classical Republican theory
because of the possible critique it contained against what he believed to be the
main pillars behind the success of the Dutch Republic.
Conclusion
In 1652 Boxhorn published the Historia universalis, a massive, more than 1200
pages thick book that covered the history of the world from the birth of Christ
to the execution of Charles I. 191 The work was dedicated to the States of Holland
‘for the eternity of your empire – which stretches and extends far and wide over
peoples who were formerly unapproachable for the Greeks and the Romans, nor
visited by them, or who were unknown to them, and that is daily increased’. 192
In this book Boxhorn had ‘recorded some [matters] from Africa and America,
many [matters] from Asia, but mostly [matters] from Europe, because the history
of Europe has proved to be a history that is better known and handed over
by many trustworthy annals’. 193 Once again, any methodological explanation
on how history should be conducted is missing. However, we do get, though
cautiously, a definition of what history entails. History is, ‘unless I am mistaken,
the memory of all ages’. 194 But most of the attention goes out to the main goal
of the book: to protect the past against the ‘unfairness of times and the passive
idleness and the incredible negligence of men’. 195 Boxhorn defines his main task
as to ‘show above all the origins, that is, as if [they were] founts and causes, from
which the famous changes of commonwealths and empires have come forth’. 196
190 See chapter 2.
191 The book is divided into two parts. The first and by far the largest part of the book is devoted
to the period before 1500; the second part tells the history of the world ‘from the birth of Charles V’ up
to the year 1650. Boxhorn, Historia universalis, II, p. 1. Thus, ‘modern’, contemporary history is distinguished,
but not separated, from its pre-1500 roots.
192 Boxhorn, “Dedication to the States of Holland”, in idem, Historia universalis, iv. ‘Qualencunque
opus hoc Vestrum facere, Dare vobis, Dicare ac Dedicare, Patres, nunc adeo; pro [aeternitate-JN] quorum
Imperii, quod per inaccessas olim Graecis Romanisque nec visitatas gentes, aut incognitas, longe
lateque, & majoribus indies incrementis, se exporrigit ac diffundit.’ This is yet another example that
Boxhorn was aware that the knowledge of the ancients was not perfect or all embracing.
193 Ibidem, iii. ‘Africae & Americae nonnulla, plura Asiae, plurima autem Europae prodidimus,
quia hujus res notiores, fidelibusque plurium Annalibus traditae, offerebantur.’
194 Ibidem, ii. ‘Historiam, id est, nisi fallor ego, saeculorum omnium memoriam …’
195 Boxhorn, “Preface of the author, in which an account is given of the intention [of the author]”, i.
‘… iniquitate temporum supinaque hominum ignavia ac incredibili negligentia …’
196 Ibidem, ii. ‘Mihi quoque id potissimum nunc curae fuit … exhibere inprimis Origines, hoc est,