alarms: war stepped on the heels of war in what
was very nearly a real bellum omnium contra
omnes. He lived in the midst of political reaction:
men were weary of Renaissance exuberance and
Reformation strife, and sank gladly into the open
arms of the past. There could be no end, thought
Hobbes, to this turmoil of conflicting egos, indi-
vidual and national, until all groups and individ-
uals knelt in absolute obedience to one sovereign
power.

But all this has been said before; we need but
remind ourselves of it here so that we may the
better appreciate the vibrant sympathy for the
individual man, the generous defence of popular
liberties, that fill with the glow of subdued passion
the pages of the gentle Spinoza.

Yet Spinoza was not wanting in that timidity
and that fear of unbridled instinct which stood
dictator over the social philosophy of Hobbes.
He knew as well as Hobbes the dangers of a
democracy that could not discipline itself. "Those
who have had experience of how changeful the
temper of the people is, are almost in despair. For
the populace is governed not by reason but by
emotion; it is headlong in everything, and easily
corrupted by avarice and luxury." ¹ And even

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