Sources of the West: Readings in Western Civilization, Volume 1 (From the Beginning to 1715), 7th Edition

Sources of the West presents a well-balanced selection of readings that integrate coverage of social, economic, religious, and cultural history within a traditional, political framework.

 

The text includes constitutional documents, political theory, philosophy, imaginative literature, and social description that raise significant issues for classroom discussions or lectures. By analyzing the voices of the past, readers can connect them to the present; learn to understand and respect other cultures; and think critically about history.

 

Contents

Preface   ix

How to Read a Document    xiii

 

Part I   The Origins of Western Civilization and the Classical World   1

Creation Epics   3

  1.   The Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2000 b.c.)   3

  2.   The Creation Epic (ca. 2000 b.c.)   5

  3.   The Book of Genesis (ca. 10th—6th century b.c.)   11

  4.   Hesiod, Works and Days (ca. 700 b.c.)   16

 

The Ancient Near East   20

  5.   Code of Hammurabi (early 18th century b.c.)   20

  6.   The Book of the Dead (ca. 16th century b.c.)   23

  7.   The Book of Exodus (ca. 10th—6th century b.c.)   26

  8.   The Book of Isaiah (ca. 8th—6th century b.c.)   30

 

Ancient and Classical Greece   34

  9.   Homer, Iliad (9th—8th century b.c.)   34

10.   Sappho of Lesbos, Poems (ca. 600 b.c.)   37

11.   Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (ca. 400 b.c.)   39

12.   Xenophon, The Spartan Constitution (ca. 360 b.c.)   44

13.   Plato, Apology (399 b.c.)   48

14.   Plato, The Republic (ca. 327 b.c.)   53

15.   Aristotle, Politics (4th century b.c.)   61

16.   Plutarch, The Life of Alexander (ca. a.d. 116)   65

 

The Roman World   72

17.   Polybius, The Roman Constitution (ca. 150 b.c.)   72

18.   Cicero, The Trial of Aulus Cluentius Habitus (66 b.c.)   76

19.   Virgil, Aeneid (30—19 b.c.)   81

20.   Juvenal, Satires (ca. a.d. 116)   84

21.   Plutarch, The Life of Cato the Elder (ca. a.d. 116)   88

22.   Suetonius, The Life of Augustus (ca. a.d. 122)   92

23.   The Sermon on the Mount (ca. a.d. 28—35)   96

24.   St. Paul, Epistle to the Romans (ca. a.d. 57)   98

 

Part II  Medieval Europe   103

The Early Middle Ages   105

25.   Tacitus, Germania (98)   105

26.   Eusebius, In Praise of Constantine (336)   108

27.   Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (413—426)   113

28.   Benedict of Nursia, Rule of Saint Benedict (ca. 535—540)   117

29.   The Burgundian Code (ca. 474)   121

30.   Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks (ca. 581—591)   126

31.   Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of England (731)   129

32.   Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne (ca. 829—836)   133

 

Islam and The Eastern Empire   137

33.   Justinian, Code (529—565)   137

34.   Procopius, Secret History (ca. 560)   141

35.   The Koran (7th century)   145

36.   Michael Psellus, Chronographia (ca. 1075—1077)   148

37.   Ibn Al-Qalanisi, The Damascus Chronicle (ca. 1150)   152

38.   Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad (after 733)   155

 

The High Middle Ages   160

39.   Feudal Documents (11th—13th centuries)   160

40.   Bernard of Angers, Miracles of St. Foy (ca. 1010)   164

41.   Fulcher of Chartres, The First Crusade and the Siege of Jerusalem (1101—1127) 169

42.   The Song of Roland (ca. 1100)   175

43.   Magna Carta (1215)   179

44.   Francis of Assisi, Admonitions (ca. 1220)   182

45.   Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (1266—1273)   187

46.   Dante, The Divine Comedy (ca. 1320)   192

47.   Catherine of Siena, Letters (1376)   196

48.   Christine de Pisan, The Book of the City of Ladies (ca. 1405)   200

49.   Margaret Paston, Letters (1441—1448)   206

50.   Witchcraft Documents (15th century)   209

 

Part III Renaissance and Reformation   215

The Renaissance   217

51.   Francesco Petrarca, Letters (ca. 1372)   217

52.   Leon Battista Alberti, On the Family (1435—1444)   222

53.   Giorgio Vasari, The Life of Leonardo da Vinci (1550)   227

54.   Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (1513)   231

55.   Desiderius Erasmus, In Praise of Folly (1509)   235

56.   Sir Thomas More, Utopia (1516)   239

 

The New Worlds   243

57.   Christopher Columbus, Letter from the First Voyage (1493)   243

58.   Ludovico di Varthema, Travels (ca. 1508)   247

59.   Gomes de Zurara, Chronicle of Guinea (1453)   250

60.   Bartolomé de Las Casas, Apologetic History of the Indies (1566)   254

61.   Bernal Díaz, The True History of the Conquestof New Spain (1552—1568)   258

62.   Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza, The History of the Great and Mightie Kingdom of China (1585)   261

 

Religious Reform   265

63.   Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian (1520)and Of Marriage and Celibacy (1566)   265

64.   John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1534)and Catechism (ca. 1540)    271

65.   Ignatius Loyola, Spiritual Exercises (1548)   279

66.   Teresa of Ávila, The Life of St. Teresa (1611)   283

 

The Early Modern World   287

67.   Anonymous, Lazarillo de Tormes (1554)   287

68.   The Twelve Articles of the Peasants of Swabia (1524); Martin Luther, Admonition to Peace (1525)   290

69.   Francis Xavier, Letter from India (1543)   295

70.   Marguerite de Navarre, Heptameron (1558)   299

71.   Philippe Duplessis-Mornay, A Defense of LibertyAgainst Tyrants (1579)   304

72.   Magdalena and Balthasar Paumgartner, Letters (1592—1596)  309

73.   Anonymous, The Debate About Women: Hic Mulierand Haec Vir (1620)   312

 

Part IV   The Ancien RéGime   317

The Wars of Religion   319

74.   Henry IV, The Edict of Nantes (1598)   319

75.   Cardinal Richelieu, The Political Testament (1638)   321

76.   Hans von Grimmelshausen, Simplicissimus (1669)   324

 

Subjects and Sovereigns   329

77.   James I, True Law of a Free Monarchy (1598)   329

78.   Sir William Clarke, The Putney Debates (1647)   334

79.   Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)   340

80.   John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1689)   343

81.   The English Bill of Rights (1689)   347

82.   Duc de Saint-Simon, Memoirs (1694—1723)   352

 

Acknowledgments   357

Photo Credits   363