Mably, GABRIEL BONNOT DE

Mably, GABRIEL BONNOT DE, elder brother of Condillac (q.v.), born at Grenoble on 14th May 1709, studied at the Jesuit College in Lyons, and became secretary to the minister Cardinal Tencin, his uncle. But before many years had passed the two had quarrelled, and Mably gave himself up to a studious life. He died at Paris on 23d April 1785. He entertained a great admiration for the ancients, especially for the institutions of Sparta, and constantly illustrated his writings by the acts and lives of Solon, Phocion, Lycurgus, and Cato. In this department his chief books were Entractiens de Phocion (1763); Parallèle des Romains et des Français (1740), in which the latter came off second best; and Observations sur l'Histoire de la Grèce (1766). His De la Manière d'Écrire l'Histoire (1783) contains severe strictures on Hume, Robertson, Gibbon, Voltaire, and other historians. Le Droit Public de l'Europe (1748) was the outcome of his official life. See Guerrier, L'Abbé de Mably (1886).