Bradley Ritter, Ave Maria University
In this paper, I will discuss the political epigrams of Thomas More, with attention given to the main themes, how he tries to influence political behavior amongst kings and courtiers, the sorts of political regime he discusses, and some suggestions about his plausible goals. Over thirty of the 260 epigrams from Thomas More’s Epigrammata (1518) have political themes. Not only that, but the publication is arguably structured to highlight More’s role as an advisor to Henry VIII and his close relationship to the king, from Beatus Rhenanus’ dedicatory epistle, to his own letter to Henry which serves to dedicate several poems, and in some ways the work as a whole, to “a ruler most glorious … and most beloved” (princeps illustrissime, et … amatissime) (see CW 3.2, 72/13 and CW 3.2, 96-98). More was not alone amongst Renaissance writers of epigrams in tackling political themes. Tyranny and attacks on rival states and rulers are often the subject of epigrams by More’s predecessors Michael Marullus, Jacopo Sannazaro, and Giovanni Pontano.
But More was unique for the amount of attention he paid to politics, and to what might be called political theory. Previous studies have emphasized that the Epigrammata, while not a “political book” like More’s Utopia or Richard III, “belongs to the same idiom of political discourse” (see Grace, 126). This study will take the political epigrams seriously as a type of political discourse aimed at the king and courtiers in England and abroad. But it will try to place them back in the larger context of satirical poetry aimed at author and reader alike (cf. Horace, Satires 1.1.24-25), without overextending the argument to suggest that More either strongly advocates a specific ideal regime, or lays out a theory of popular sovereignty, or seeks to offer a coherent program for reform (see Brooks). His epigrams were designed to help the reader prudentially evaluate goods, discriminate and choose those most conducive to eternal happiness.
Although some have argued More wrote the Epigrammata as a “score of trifles” (see Hudson, 43) or playful, stylistic exercises (see Mason), More revisits the arguments and phrasing of numerous epigrams in his Tower Works, where his goal was more obviously the pursuit of what he termed “spirituall profytt” (for this phrase, see The Correspondence of Sir Thomas More, 530-531). It is argued that, given the substantial overlaps in phrasing and argumentation, More’s Epigrammata should be taken as part and parcel of a similar strategy.
In addition to discussing the main themes of More’s many political epigrams and their rhetorical goals, I will devote special attention to epigram 19 (the “Coronation Ode”), as well as epigram 198 (QUIS OPTIMUS REIPUB. STATUS., “What (is) the best condition of a state?”), and other epigrams either critical of the behavior of kings or focused on consent as a basis for kingship (80, 110, 112, 114, 120, 121).