Etienne Pasquier (1529-1615) was a renowned magistrate of the parliament of Paris a poet and a counselor to four French kings. This book examines his use of historical vignettes to counsel the king and to teach ethics during the French Civil Wars of Religion. An ethical focus permeates all of Pasquier s works most notably his major opus Les Recherches de la France and his correspondence which contains Pasquier s ideal self-portrait for emulation by other statesmen lawyers and his own sons.