Justus Lipsius’ Concerning Constancy

Justus Lipius’ philosophical dialogue Concerning Constancy stands with Erasmus’ Praise of Folly as one of the signature works of Northern European humanism. The work was an immediate success and was widely read for a century after its initial 1584 publication. There were numerous editions of the original Latin, and it was translated into most European vernacular tongues. Its influence may be traced among English writers from Donne and Jonson to Milton and Marvell, and it was a principal source for the spread of Christian Stoicism throughout Europe. This is the first English translation and new edition of Concerning Constancy since the seventeenth century.