The Sceptic

In 2001, William M. Hamlin finally clarified the philological mystery behind an Elizabethan translation of portions of Sextus Empiricus’ Outlines of Pyrrhonism (one of the key texts of philosophical scepticism, dating back to the 2^nd century CE) first published in 1651, (probably) spuriously attributed to Sir Walter Ralegh (c. 1553-1618). Sextus’ text is fascinating in that it divulged the tenets of Pyrrhonism to many an early modern, including Montaigne, its contents ranging from the gnoseological unreliability of the senses to cultural relativism. It appeared in a miscellaneous volume entitled Sir Walter Raleigh’s Sceptick, or speculations. And observations of the magnificency and opulency of cities. His Seat of government. And letters to the Kings Majestie, and others of qualitie. Also his demeanor before his execution. The text survives also in four manuscripts (London: British Library, Harleian MS 7017, fols. 25-33 and Lansdowne MS 254, fols. 308-21v; Dr Williams’s Library, Jones MS B 60, fols. 151-68; Dublin: Trinity College, TCD MS 532). McKerrow (1958) and Sprott (1963) had postulated that a lost English translation of Sextus Empiricus’ work circulated among Elizabethan circles in the 1590s, since, for instance, Thomas Nashe and pamphleteer Samuel Rowlands apparently quoted from it several times (Nashe, in the preface to the first edition of Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, made it clear that Sextus had been “latelie translated into English, for the benefit of unlearned writers”), and it seemed apt to connect this manual of scepticism to the fabled School of Night presided by Ralegh. It was believed that The Sceptic derived from this translation. By examining the manuscripts and a thorough philological analysis, Hamlin proved that The Sceptic is indeed “almost certainly the translation, and not a separate and derivative tract” (2001, 35). Besides, Lefranc (1968, 66-7) has argued against the suggestion of Ralegh as the author: for instance, none of the manuscripts link in any way Ralegh’s name to The Sceptic.

  The Sceptic (the first translation of Sextus Empiricus into a vernacular language) is based on Henri Estienne’s Latin translation entitled Sexti Philosophi Pyrrhoniarum Hypotyposeon libri III (Geneva, 1562); this translation was reprinted in Hervet’s edition of Sextus’ Adversus Mathematicos (Paris and Antwerp, 1569). The English translator is rather loose in his/her rendition, and often proceeds by omission, selecting sentences which best capture his/her interest.

Works Cited

Hamlin, William M.  2001. “A Lost Translation Found? An Edition of The Sceptick (c. 1590) Based on Extant Manuscripts [With Text]”. English Literary Renaissance 31 (1): 34-51.

Lefranc, Pierre. 1968. Sir Walter Raleigh écrivain. L’œuvre et les idées. Paris: Armand Colin.

McKerrow, Ronald B., ed. 1958. The Works of Thomas Nashe, 4^th and 5^th vols. Oxford: Blackwell.   

Sprott, S.E. 1963. “Ralegh’s Sceptic and the Elizabethan Translation of Sextus Empiricus”. Philological Quarterly 42: 166-75.

Caldwell, Melissa M. 2017. Skepticism and Belief. The Reformation of Moral Value. London and New York: Routledge.

Doloff, Steven. 1994. “Othello’s Ocular Proof and the Skepticism of Sextus Empiricus”. Shakespeare Bulletin 12: 40.

Floridi, Luciano. 1995. “The Diffusion of Sextus Empiricus’s Works in the Renaissance”. Journal of the History of Ideas 56 (1): 63-85.

Greenblatt, Stephen. 1988. “Invisible Bullets”. In Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespearean Negotiations, 21-65. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Hamlin, William M.  2001. “A Lost Translation Found? An Edition of The Sceptick (c. 1590) Based on Extant Manuscripts [With Text]”. English Literary Renaissance 31 (1): 34-51.

Lefranc, Pierre. 1968. Sir Walter Raleigh écrivain. L’œuvre et les idées. Paris: Armand Colin.

Sprott, S.E. 1963. “Ralegh’s Sceptic and the Elizabethan Translation of Sextus Empiricus”. Philological Quarterly 42: 166-75.

The text which has been transcribed is USTC no. 3065507: Sir Walter Raleigh’s Sceptick, or speculations. And observations of the magnificency and opulency of cities. His Seat of government. And letters to the Kings Majestie, and others of qualitie. Also his demeanor before his execution. For the purposes of this archive, the only portion which has been transcribed consists of pages 1-13 and the title page. The book is in a duodecimo format (pagination: [4] 150 [2]; signatures: A1-A12; H3). The leaf before the frontispiece features a portrait of Ralegh by Robert Vaughan, after Simon van de Passe’s 1617 engraving for the title page of The History of the World. There are 9 extant witnesses of this book: three in the UK (at the British Library, at St John’s College, Cambridge, and at the Bodleian Library in Oxford) and six in the U.S.A (in Austin, Ann Arbor, at Harvard, Columbia, Princeton and at the Huntington). The witness transcribed here is the one at the British Library (call number: 8010.a.4 / 527.b.28.[1]). For an edition collating this version of the text with the manuscripts, see Hamlin 2001 (which uses Harleian MS 7017, fols 25-33 as its copytext).

- The Complete Works of Sextus Empiricus (in Greek)

- Etienne’s Latin Translation in Hervet’s Edition, 1562