Editing Thomas Hobbes (section)

===Later life===

[[File:Thomas Hobbes. Line engraving by W. Faithorne, 1668. Wellcome V0002798.jpg|thumb|Thomas Hobbes. Line engraving by [[William Faithorne]], 1668]]
In 1658, Hobbes published the final section of his philosophical system, completing the scheme he had planned more than 19 years before. ''De Homine'' consisted for the most part of an elaborate theory of vision. The remainder of the treatise dealt partially with some of the topics more fully treated in the ''Human Nature'' and the ''Leviathan''. In addition to publishing some controversial writings on mathematics, including disciplines like geometry, Hobbes also continued to produce philosophical works.{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=548}}

From the time of [[Restoration (England)|the Restoration]], he acquired a new prominence; "Hobbism" became a byword for all that respectable society ought to denounce. The young king, Hobbes's former pupil, now Charles II, remembered Hobbes and called him to the court to grant him a pension of £100.{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=550}}

The king was important in protecting Hobbes when, in 1666, the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] introduced a bill against atheism and profaneness. That same year, on 17 October 1666, it was ordered that the committee to which the bill was referred "should be empowered to receive information touching such books as tend to atheism, blasphemy and profaneness... in particular... the book of Mr. Hobbes called the ''Leviathan''."<ref>{{cite web|title=House of Commons Journal Volume 8|website=[[British History Online]]|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=26780|access-date=14 January 2005|archive-date=18 March 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318092603/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=26780|url-status=live}}</ref> Hobbes was terrified at the prospect of being labelled a [[heretic]], and proceeded to burn some of his compromising papers. At the same time, he examined the actual state of the law of heresy. The results of his investigation were first announced in three short Dialogues added as an ''Appendix'' to his ''Latin translation of Leviathan'', published in Amsterdam in 1668. In this appendix, Hobbes aimed to show that, since the [[Court of High Commission|High Court of Commission]] had been put down, there remained no court of heresy at all to which he was amenable, and that nothing could be heresy except opposing the [[Nicene Creed]], which, he maintained, ''Leviathan'' did not do.{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=551}}

The only consequence that came of the bill was that Hobbes could never thereafter publish anything in England on subjects relating to human conduct. The 1668 edition of his works was printed in Amsterdam because he could not obtain the censor's licence for its publication in England. Other writings were not made public until after his death, including ''Behemoth: the History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England and of the Counsels and Artifices by which they were carried on from the year 1640 to the year 1662''. For some time, Hobbes was not even allowed to respond to any attacks by his enemies. Despite this, his reputation abroad was formidable.{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=551}}

Hobbes spent the last four or five years of his life with his patron, [[William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire]], at the family's [[Chatsworth House]] estate. He had been a friend of the family since 1608 when he first tutored an earlier William Cavendish.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/hobbes_thomas.shtml#:~:text=In%201672%2C%20Hobbes%20published%20an,of%20the%20Cavendish%20family's%20homes.|title=Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)|website=BBC|access-date=14 April 2021|quote=|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225031058/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/hobbes_thomas.shtml#:~:text=In%201672%2C%20Hobbes%20published%20an,of%20the%20Cavendish%20family's%20homes.|url-status=live}}</ref> After Hobbes's death, many of his manuscripts would be found at Chatsworth House.<ref name="Malcolm 2003 80">{{cite book |last=Malcolm |first=Noel |date=2003 |title=Aspects of Hobbes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_x_KthbDyHQC |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=80 |isbn=0199247145 |author-link= |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408052636/https://books.google.com/books?id=_x_KthbDyHQC |url-status=live }}</ref>

His final works were an autobiography in Latin verse in 1672, and a translation of four books of the ''[[Odyssey]]'' into "rugged" English rhymes that in 1673 led to a complete translation of both ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''Odyssey'' in 1675.{{sfn|Robertson|1911|p=551}}