Introduction

There are only two independent old biographies of Spinoza. The better known of the two is that by Colerus, published in 1705. The less known, but older and more valuable biography is the one usually attributed to Lucas, and which was probably begun in 1677 and finished in 1678, though not published until 1719. Neither of these biographies is all that one could wish it to be; but each is in its own way a remarkable tribute to the character of Spinoza. Colerus’s Life of Spinoza was translated into French in 1706, and from French into English in the same year. The English translation has been reprinted several times, and is easily procurable. But the so-called Lucas biography of Spinoza has never before been translated into English, nor in fact has it been possible hitherto to obtain a really reliable text of the original. These pages are intended to fill the gap and, at the same time, to furnish other aids to Spinoza biography.