In 1629, Hobbes published his first work in his own name, a translation of Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War. Along with the translation, Hobbes wrote three pieces that appear before the translation. Hobbes’s main piece on Thucydides is called, Of the Life and History of Thucydides. It is twenty-six paragraphs in length. Eighteen of the paragraphs, more than two thirds of the essay, are devoted to Hobbes’s dispute with Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Dionysius was a Greek historian and rhetorician living in Rome at the beginning of the Common Era, and is the author of On Thucydides, the most critical book ever written about Thucydides. In his dispute with Dionysius, Hobbes is dismissive of almost everything that Dionysius wrote about Thucydides. The central puzzle of Hobbes’s writings on Thucydides is why does he devote so much space to a dispute with an author whom he holds in contempt? Hobbes wants to introduce Thucydides as a guide to political action for England’s nobility and other political men.. But the Thucydides he wants to introduce is Thucydides as interpreted by Hobbes. The essence of this interpretation is that Thucydides is the teacher of the profitable truth, the truth whose purpose it is to show readers how to be politically successful. Dionysius opposes those parts of Thucydides which might be interpreted to teach that traditional morality can be jettisoned when it is politically expedient to do so because traditional morality conflicts with achieving political success. Dionysius confronts Thucydides precisely on the charge that the history could be used to promote a morality that undermines the traditional civic and religious morality of Rome. For the sake of political life and promoting the common good, Dionysius advocates for hiding the truth by telling salutary stories. In Hobbes’s battle with traditional morality, Dionysius is the stand-in for that traditional morality. If Hobbes can seem to refute Dionysius and show that his criticisms are ridiculous, Hobbes will be on his way to undermining the defenders of traditional morality. By defeating Dionysius’ arguments, Hobbes is furthered in his goal of presenting Thucydides as a respectable teacher who can guide the British nobility and other political men in their actions.