Fenelon s Telemachus(1699)is,alongside Bossuet s Politics,the most important work of political theory of the grand siecle in France.It was also the most widely read work of the time,influencing Montesquieu and Rousseau in its attempt to combine monarchism with republican virtues.Fenelon tells of the moral and political education of Telemachus,young son of Ulysses,by his tutor Mentor (the goddess Minerva in disguise).Telemachus visits every corner of the Mediterranean world and learns patience,courage,modesty,and simplicity,being the qualities he will need when he succeeds Ulysses,as king of Ithaca,It is the story of the transfornation of an egoistic young man into a model ruler,and is meant(among other things)as a commentary on the bellicosity and luxuriousness of Louis XIV.
Patrick Riley,is Oakeshott Professor of Political Philosophy,University of Wisconsin-Madison.He is the editor of Leibniz:Political Writings and Bossuet:Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture in Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought.
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