INTRODUCTION: Ancient Rome in English Political Culture, ca. 1570–1660

• Published in: The Huntington Library quarterly 2020-10, Vol.83 (3), p.401-414
• Main Author: Kewes, Paulina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anglophones; Case Studies; Catholicism; Catholics; Cecil, William (1520-1598); Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106-43 BC); Conformity; Culture; Curricula; English language; Essays; Grimald, Nicholas (1519-1562); Ideology; Intellectual History; Latin language; Literary translation; Plot (Narrative); Politics; Protestants; Reading Habits; Roman civilization; Social Behavior; Translators
• ISSN: 0018-7895; 1544-399X; 1544-399X
• DOI: 10.1353/hlq.0.0003

First printed in 1556, Grimalds Cicero reappeared within two years with its English and Latin texts side by side, suggesting the volumes extensive use in schools. "3 What, though, of the fraught confessional dimension of Grimald's Cicero as reflected in its dedication, never mind the compromised reputation of the translator himself? [...]1600, editions of the book sported an oleaginous dedication to Thomas Thirlby, the Marian Bishop of Ely, who was also a Privy Councillor and a prominent diplomat. "4 Extolled by pagans and Christians alike-Augustus Caesar, Emperor Severus, Erasmus- Cicero's wholesome doctrine, Grimald vouchsafes in the preface, will guide readers, whether rulers or ruled, on how to conduct themselves in both private and public, commensurate with their station in life.5 Meanwhile, Grimald's apostasy, and his likely betrayal of his friend and patron Ridley, came under withering attack in personal testimonials collected in John Foxe's Actes and Monuments.6 Modern studies characteristically neglect to explore, or else dismiss or seek to explain away, the significance of Grimald's apparent conversion to Catholicism. "7 Even if we were to accept-and it is a big if-that Grimald's aim in publishing the translation was to hint at his continuing evangelical allegiance, and that it was read as such by the cognoscenti, the book must have acquired a troubling and potentially contradictory resonance following Elizabeth's accession and the ejection and imprisonment of its episcopal dedicatee, "so reverend a father in god," for refusing to embrace the royal supremacy.8 For Grimald's edition-through which generations of schoolboys and others, both ardent Protestants and Church papists, were gaining access to Cicero's treatise lamenting the fall of the Roman republic-bore the marks of its inception during the reign of the Catholic queen and king.