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"[Gilmore's book is] an expanded version of lectures on the development of American law delivered at Yale Law School, where he teaches. The lectures (now essays) convey a highly original, and personal, view of that development, and like the personality who set them down they are sharp, opinionated, and as pungent as cheddar."—The New Republic"Gilmore offers us, in readily digestible form, the benefits of a lifetime of legal scholarship, with an insight here, a hypothesis there, and balanced judgment throughout. … [This book is] an exciting and lively little intellectual history of American law. Blessed with a clean and lean style, Gilmore condenses the sweep of centuries, putting movements and individual heroes into perspective."—New York Law Journal"Grant Gilmore's newest book is a joy to read. It is written in a beautiful style, it is intellectually challenging, and it relates the fascinating story of the history of American law…. [It] is a classic and will be read in the next twenty years both in the law schools and in the universities."—Perspective"Gilmore's penchant for the idiosyncratic and his willingness to challenge widely held generalizations give this book a special character. Throughout, the book is lucidly written and possesses a disarming combination of wit and erudition. The Ages of American Law is a notable addition to the legal literature spawned by the Storrs Foundation."—American Historical ReviewGrant Gilmore is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School

AbstractAlexander the Great and his legacy suffuse The Prince, a fact that has received little attention. Machiavelli uses Alexander to illustrate the form of rule in which one is lord and all others are slaves. In recounting the Roman Republic's conquest of Greece, Machiavelli treats Alexander's vanquished successors. Alexander's legacy enters Rome itself, igniting in Romans the desire to subject the world to sole preeminence. According to Machiavelli, Caesar imitated Alexander, and Caesar overturned the republic, initiating the rule of one in Rome. Caesar had his own Roman successors, the emperors who ruled under his name. Rome succeeded in imposing the rule of one on Europe. That form of rule exists in Machiavelli's times with the states of the Turk and the Sultan as well as with the papacy in a limited respect. Something of the old Rome and its Alexandrian aspirations persists in Christian Rome.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Texts Cited -- Introduction -- Part I: Christian Rome -- Introduction -- 1. The Church and Machiavelli's Depiction of Italy's Historical Situation -- 2. The Ravages of Christianity -- Part II: Pagan Rome -- Introduction -- 3. The Foundation for Tyranny in Rome -- 4. Corruption, Youth, and Foreign Influences -- 5. Machiavelli's Ambiguous Praise of Paganism -- Part III: Machiavelli's New Rome -- Introduction -- 6. Old Lands and Machiavelli's New One -- 7. A Temporal Christianity and the Princes of the Republic -- 8. Machiavelli's Rule and Human Liberty -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index

Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws is famous for overtly associating despotism with Asia and the Middle East and not with Europe. A scholar on this basis might be inclined to term Montesquieu an Orientalist, one who gazes at exotic foreign cultures in order to exert control over these distant peoples in both thought and in reality. Sullivan argues, however, that Montesquieu's great work, contrary to first impressions, actually implicates Europe itself with despotism. Specifically, the Frenchman reveals that many of Europe's greatest philosophical and religious ideas are themselves despotic and have inspired cruel and violent practices on the continent and beyond. Indeed, when Montesquieu uses the formulation "idées despotiques" in the work, he refers to the deplorable punishments that such ideas inspire. In some cases, hoary philosophical authorities such as Plato and Aristotle articulate and advocate for such ideas. Remaining ensconced in revered sources, they can wait for centuries to be rediscovered and revived. In other cases, Christians have promulgated ideas that induce human beings to commit earthly outrages for the sake of heavenly salvation. More recently, Machiavelli and Hobbes have introduced terrifying abuses in their attempts to correct those of their predecessors. These despotic ideas possess both longevity and geographical range, and therefore remain a constant threat. Montesquieu seeks to foster in the readers of his masterwork a repugnance for these despotic ideas so that future generations might be relieved of their vicious influence.