It would be difficult to overrate the ingenuity and originality of many of the inqniries ego which Vico was led by the attempt.to delineate the ideal history of society; and he has rarely failed to express vieWs rational and probablje compared with those acc,epted among his con temporaries. With admirable insight, hc . has not seldom hit on the conclusions to which es creased social lmowledge and more scientific conceptions have conducted inquirers in later generations. Thus, in clearing the ground for the foundation of his system he was led to pre cisely those views about Hiomer and, the au thorship of the Homeric poems vvhich are popto larlrassociated with the name of Wolf ; and to anticipate the general view of the credibility of early Roman history which was elaborated bk Niebuhr. (See also COM TE, the germs of many of whose speculations are in Vico). The be, ginnings of religion, the origin of poetry and language, the commencement of society (which he ascribes to the influence of a conirnon relit gious belief and worship), the foundation of the privileges of the heroic or aristocratic class, are among the earlier. subjects of his speculation. He proceeds to trace the origin of junsprudence, and to show how its development has been de pendent on social changes; and he afterward deduces from the history of ancient societies-, and in some degree from the history of the governments which sprang out of the ruins of Ole Roman empire, the laws which govern the progreSs, the conservation, and the decay :of nations. A monarchy, with an equality of civil and political rights as between sal:vets, was his ideal of good government for advanced societies.
Vico's theory as to the law of cycles in his tory—the movement being similar in different nations,. and the path in successive periods also being similar through recurrence of the sante forces—has been misunderstood as a positive denial of actual or possible advance. But he simply does not deal with the problem of the laws governing the advance of the race; and his historic cycles may easily be conceived of as fol lowing each a path similar throughout to that of each preceding, yet with one continuous up ward movement as with a slow spiral ascent.
This law, however, lie does not develop.
Though he ascribed to religion a paramount influence in forming and conserving society, and though it was one of his principal objects to demonstrate the divine government of the world, Vico did not escape the suspicion of hav ing written in a spirit of hoetility to religion. It was alleged that he had written so obscurely, as he often did, through the fear of incurring ecclesiastical censures. Some critics of another school charged him, with at least equal plauSi bilityt of having striven, both in his panicular doctnnes and in his consecration of the prin. ciple of authority, to satisfy the Roman Catho. lic Church. The cavils on either side are little deserving of attention; and it is pleasant ui lcnow that Vico, though not unconcerned about the accusations against hitt, felt in his later years consoled for the many trials and disap pointments of his life, by the completion of a work whose greatness he knew better than any of his contemporaries. In 1818 the Marquis de Villa Rosa published a collection of the whole of Vico's vrorks, with a biography (2d ed., 1835). Vico's other works are (De Ratione Studiorinn) (1708) ; (De Antiquissima Italorum Sapientia) (1710) ; (De Universi Juris Uno Pnncipio et Fine Uno) (1720) ; (De Constantin Jurisprudentis) (1721). There are also the French edition by Michelet, referred to above, and a German translation. Consult Flint, (Vico) (Edinburgh 1884) • Ferrari, (Vico et l'Italie) (Paris 1839) Cantoni, (G. B. Vico) (Turin 1867) ; Dienth;rfer, (Gianbattista Vico und seine Ideen) (1877) • Klemm, (G.. B. Vice als Geschkhtsphilosph und Volkerpsychology) (1906).