Includes bibliographical references and index.

Front Matter -- Copyright Page -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Thomas Elyot: Life and Work -- Elyot on Rhetoric and Counsel -- Doctrinal of Princes: Critical Introduction -- Doctrinal of Princes: Text -- Pasquill the Playne: Critical Introduction -- Pasquill the Playne: Text -- Of That Knowlage Whiche Maketh a Wise Man: Critical Introduction -- Of That Knowlage Whiche Maketh a Wise Man: Text -- The Defence of Good Woman: Critical Introduction -- The Defence of Good Woman: Text -- Back Matter -- Bibliography -- Index of Subjects.

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This volume provides the first modern scholarly editions of four works on the rhetoric of counsel by Sir Thomas Elyot (1490-1546), humanist scholar and advisor to Henry VIII of England. The Doctrinal of Princes , a translation of Isocrates’ To Nicocles , and probably the earliest English book translated directly from Greek into English, consists of a collection of aphorisms, all advising moderation, addressed to monarchs. Pasquill the Playne , the first English pasquinade, is a comic dialogue on the ethical challenges involved in counseling a prince. Of That Knowledge Which Maketh a Wise Man is a direct imitation of a Platonic dialogue, in which Plato’s confrontation with the Sicilian tyrant Dionysius is given dramatic form. A third dialogue, The Defense of Good Women , is the first printed English book that argues for the moral and political equality of women to men. Included in the volume are a general introduction to Elyot’s life and political career, extensive critical introductions to each of the texts, full recordings of the variations between printed editions, and substantive notes.