In Of Reformation (1641) Milton lamented that, 'there is no art that hath bin more canker'd in her principles, more soyl'd and slubber'd with aphorising pedantry than the art of policie'. Milton further contended that it was the 'masterpiece of the modern politician' to mould 'the people' with precepts. Milton evidently questioned this development and condemned the modern tribe of 'Aphorismers and Politicasters' for undermining or 'breaking a national spirit'. The early seventeenth century, despite Milton's disapprobation, was nevertheless very much the age of the politicaster. No source of aphorisms was as useful to the practice of that distinctive early modern character, the politician, than the Politica of Justus Lipsius. Lipsius, through his recensions of Seneca and Tacitus, and his careful selection of quotations to illustrate political and personal predicaments and the means for their prudential resolution, established, in effect, the Neostoic foundations for the evolving early modern European 'art of policie'.
