Hobbes personally managed political risk around Leviathan’s publication.

Evidence

Having expressed his uncertainty (“I know not how the world will receive it, nor how it may reflect on those that shall seem to favour it”), Hobbes does not seem to hesitate in implicating his addressee and “friend” in his perilous endeavor, going so far as to provide him with practical advice on how to handle and deflect the heat of criticism (“you may be pleased to excuse your selfe, and say I am a man that love my own opinions”). Either way, says Hobbes, it’s nothing personal, “for I speak not of the men, but (in the Abstract) of the Seat of Power.” — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 350

Categorization

• CANDY: The image of Hobbes giving his patron a ready-made excuse for public criticism — ‘just say I love my own opinions’ — is delightfully quotable.