C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Montesquieu (1689–1755)
Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, Baron de (mô
-tes-kyė’). A famous French historian and political philosopher; born near Bordeaux, Jan. 18, 1689; died in Paris, Feb. 10, 1755. He gave up high magistracies to travel widely in order to collect material for the renowned ‘Spirit of Laws’ (1748); his masterpiece, and one of the most influential works of modern times, establishing the historical method in political science. He wrote besides: ‘Persian Letters’ (1721), a satire on French society; ‘The Temple of Cnidus’ (1725), an allegory; ‘Causes of Roman Greatness and Decline’ (1734), a powerful work; ‘Dialogue of Sylla, Eucrates and Lysimachus’ (1745); etc. (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).