SOURCE: "Preface to Homer (1675)," in Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II: 1650-1685, edited by J.E. Spingarn, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1908, pp. 67-76.

Hobbes is best known for such philosophical writings as Human Nature (1650), Elements of Law (1650), Leviathan; or, the Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil (1651), and Elements of Philosophy (1655). As a young man he knew Francis Bacon and assisted the great Lord Chancellor in translating several of his essays into Latin. Hobbes was greatly influenced by the works of Galileo and his contemporary, Descartes. In his 1675 preface to the Odyssey, Hobbes examines the seven virtues of a heroic poem.

         1675
        TO THE
       READER,
     concerning
 The VERTUES of an
   HEROIQUE POEM

The Vertues required in an Heroick Poem, and indeed in all Writings published, are comprehended all in this one word, Discretion.

And Discretion consisteth in this, That every part of the...