‘Sine amore, sine odio partium’: Nicolaus Burgundius’ Historia Belgica (1629) and his Tacitean Quest for an Appropriate Past

Abstract

From the 16th century onwards, Tacitus drew ever more attention for the help he could provide in coming to terms with the various turbulences and upheavals of the early modern age. Humanist scholars, such as Marcus Antonius Muretus and Justus Lipsius, observed a striking resemblance between the politics of the early principate, narrated by Tacitus, and their own times. For 16thand 17th-century readers of Tacitus the turmoils, machinations and rebellions he evoked looked very familiar. This avowed similarity carried further implications. The historical constellations described by Tacitus could serve as a reference framework to interpret and legitimate contemporary political events, circumstances and developments. In order to understand the present, the history depicted by Tacitus could be adduced as an appropriate past. In this context Tacitus exerted a double influence. In the field of political theory and philosophy he was a source of inspiration for a variety of political currents and theories, supporting either republican or princely rule. In terms of language and style, moreover, Tacitus offered a standard that was felt to be perfectly suitable to the political discourse of early modern times, not least in the political communication between a ruler and the advisors and attendants in his court. Tacitus was advanced – most prominently by Justus Lipsius – as a model author who perfectly illustrated the techniques of simulatio and dissimulatio (Tacitus, Annales, 4, 71, 3) as well as the characteristics of the ‘imperatoria brevitas’ (Tacitus, Historiae, 1, 18, 2). The Low Countries, torn apart in the 16th century by political and religious conflicts, provided ample opportunities for observation and analysis through a Tacitean framework. Tacitus’ description (in Books 4 and 5 of his Historiae) of the Batavian uprising, led by Julius Civilis, against Rome almost invited comparison with the Dutch Revolt. The rebellion of the northern provinces of the Low Countries against Spanish rule, was from the very beginning observed and recorded by humanist literati, diplomats, and merchants from various parts of