The idea of historical recurrence in Western thought : from antiquity to the Reformation

Even today it is commonly held that history repeats itself. The idea of historical recurrence has a long and intriguing history, and this thesis concerns the period of time in the western tradition when its expressions were most numerous and fervent. As we shall show, this idea is not to be confined to its cyclical variety, for it also entails such notions as re-enactment, retribution, renaissance and such like which belong under the wider umbrella of 'recurrence'. Moreover, it will be argued that not only the Graeco-Raman but also the biblical tradition contributed to the history of this idea. The old contrast between JudeaChristian linear views of history and Graeoo-Roman cyclical views will be seriously questioned. Beginning from Polybius, we examine the manifold forms of recurrence thinking in Greek and Roman historiography, but then turn our attention to biblical pictures of historical change, arguing that in the work of Luke-Acts and in earlier Jewish writings there was clearly an interest in the idea of history repeating itself. Jewish and early Christian writers initiated and foreshadowed an extensive synthesizing of recurrence notions and models from both traditions, although the synthesis could vary in accordance with different contexts and dogmatic considerations. In the Renaissance and Reformation the interrelationship between classical and biblical notions of recurrence reached a point of consummation, yet even in the sixteenth century some ideas distinctive to both traditions, such as the Polybian conception of a 'cycle of governments' and the biblical notion of the 're-enactment of significant events', were revived in stark separation from each other. We find ourselves dealing with a continuing, but not always fruitful 'dialogue' between the two great traditions of western thought, a dialogue which did not stop short in the days of Machiavelli, but which has been carried on to the present day. In all, this study represents the first half of a long story which I intend to continue in a work on the idea of historical recurrence from Giambattista Vico to Arnold Toynbee

História como alegoria

Neste artigo abordam-se as diferentes circunstâncias nas quais se tecem comentários sobre um evento (geralmente no passado) quando os comentadores estão, na verdade, preocupados com um outro evento (geralmente no presente). Nele, distingue-se a alegoria pragmática - que se encontra onde quer que haja restrições à liberdade de agilidade política - da alegoria mística - que pressupõe algum tipo de conexão oculta entre os dois acontecimentos. Este segundo tipo de alegoria entrou em declínio no fim do século xvii, mas poderá permanecer mais influente do que todos nós pensamos.<br>This article is concerned with the different circunstances in wich comments are made as one event (usually in the past) when the commentators are really preoccupied with another (usually in the present). It distinguishes pragmatic allegory, to be found whenever there are restrictions on freedom of political speed, from mystical allegory, which assumes some kind of occult connection between the two events. This second kind of allegory has been in decline since the end of the seventeenth century, but it may remain more influential on us all than we think