The Theory of Moral Sentiments - Adam Smith [252]
Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de (1688-1763), French playwright and novelist and one of the principal representatives of sentimentalism in eighteenth-century literature; he also edited a French version of Spectator (1722) that took Addison’s for its model.
Marlborough, John Churchill, first Duke of (1650-1722), British commander in chief of the forces allied against the French in the War of the Spanish Succession, winning particularly brilliant victories at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706) and Oudenarde (1708).
Massillon, Jean-Baptiste (1663-1742), Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand and popular preacher admired by both Voltaire and Louis XIV (for whom he also delivered a funeral oration); his sermons tend to focus on questions of moral psychology rather than points of orthodoxy.
Milton, John (1608-1674), English poet and political writer whose political writings include several antimonarchical treatises defending republican freedoms; chief among his poetic works is Paradise Lost (1667).
More, Henry (1614-1687), English philosopher and one of the principal Cambridge Platonists who sought to counter Hobbesian and Spinozistic materialism; his theological and ethical works include his Antidote Against Atheism (1653) and Enchiridion Ethicum (Account of Virtue, 1667).
More, Sir Thomas (1478-1535), Lord Chancellor of England and author of influential theological and political writings, including Utopia (1516), a classic study in the political philosophy of the best regime; he was executed for high treason as a result of his opposition to Henry VIII’s assumption of supreme ecclesiastical authority.
Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar; AD 37-68), Roman emperor from AD 54 until his death, renowned for his moral corruption and viciousness.
Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727), English mathematician and natural philosopher whose chief renown rests on his contributions to scientific method and to the study of gravitation and of light, as set forth in such works as his Principia Mathematica (1687) and his Optics (1704).
Oedipus, ancient king of Thebes whose tragic murder of his father and unwitting incest with his mother, Jocasta, was recounted in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Euripides’ Phoenician Women, and Seneca’s Oedipus.
Othello, title character of Shakespeare’s tragedy that chronicles his rival Iago’s successful scheme to dupe Othello into the jealous murder of his love, and ends with the arrest of the guilty Iago and the suicide of Othello.
Ovid (43 BC-AD 17), Roman poet, famed for his Metamorphoses and love poetry collected in the Amores and Ars Amatoria.
Parmenides (early 5th c. BC), Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, and subject of a dialogue by Plato.
Parmenion (ca. 400-330 BC), chief Macedonian commander under Philip; though instrumental to Alexander’s solidification of his authority after Philip’s death, his resistance to Alexander’s increasingly grandiose ambitions led to his and his son’s executions under the pretext of treason.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662), French philosopher and mathematician associated with the circles at Port-Royal; his major works include the Provincial Letters (1656-1657), which criticize the Jesuits and defend the stricter and more rigorous Jansenist ethical view, further developed in the fragmentary set of Pensées, which strikingly develop man’s dependence on God and the anxiety of human existence.
Paulus Aemilius (Lucius Aemlius Paullus; ca. 229-160 BC), Roman commander and statesman; the peak of his career was his victory over Perseus at Pydna in 168 that ended the Third Macedonian War, and for which he was awarded the triumphal procession in Rome mentioned by Smith.
Perrault, Charles (1628-1703), French poet and belles-lettrist who espoused the side of the moderns in the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns and engaged in a running polemical battle with Boileau in the last two decades of the seventeenth century.
Persaeus (ca. 306-243 BC), Stoic philosopher and commander, was raised and taught by Zeno.
Perseus (ca. 213-160 BC), king of