Editing A Modest Proposal (section)

==Influences==
Scholars have speculated about which earlier works Swift may have had in mind when he wrote ''A Modest Proposal''.

===Tertullian's ''Apology''===
James William Johnson argues that ''A Modest Proposal'' was largely influenced and inspired by [[Tertullian]]'s ''[[Apologeticus|Apology]]'': a satirical attack against early [[Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire|Roman persecution of Christianity]]. Johnson believes that Swift saw major similarities between the two situations.<ref name="Johnson_p563">Johnson, ''Tertullian and A Modest Proposal'', p. 563</ref> Johnson notes Swift's obvious affinity for Tertullian and the bold stylistic and structural similarities between the works ''A Modest Proposal'' and ''Apology''.<ref name="Johnson_p562">Johnson, ''Tertullian and A Modest Proposal'', p. 562</ref> In structure, Johnson points out the same central theme, that of cannibalism and the eating of babies as well as the same final argument, that "human depravity is such that men will attempt to justify their own cruelty by accusing their victims of being lower than human".<ref name="Johnson_p563"/> Stylistically, Swift and Tertullian share the same command of sarcasm and language.<ref name="Johnson_p563"/> In agreement with Johnson, Donald C. Baker points out the similarity between both authors' tones and use of irony. Baker notes the uncanny way that both authors imply an ironic "justification by ownership" over the subject of sacrificing children—Tertullian while attacking pagan parents, and Swift while attacking the mistreatment of the poor in Ireland.<ref name="Baker_p219">Baker, ''Tertullian and Swift's A Modest Proposal'', p. 219</ref>

===Defoe's ''The Generous Projector''===
It has also been argued that ''A Modest Proposal'' was, at least in part, a response to the 1728 essay ''The Generous Projector or, A Friendly Proposal to Prevent Murder and Other Enormous Abuses, By Erecting an Hospital for Foundlings and Bastard Children'' by Swift's rival [[Daniel Defoe]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Waters|first=Juliet|date=19 February 2009|title=A modest but failed proposal|url=http://www.montrealmirror.com/2009/021909/books1.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727224602/http://www.montrealmirror.com/a-modest-but-failed-proposal|archive-date=2020-07-27|access-date=10 January 2012|work=[[Montreal Mirror]]}}</ref>

=== Mandeville's ''Modest Defence of Publick Stews'' ===
[[Bernard Mandeville]]'s ''Modest Defence of Publick Stews'' asked to introduce public and state-controlled [[bordello]]s. The 1726 paper acknowledges women's interests and—while not being a completely satirical text—has also been discussed as an inspiration for Jonathan Swift's title.<ref name="hur">Eine Streitschrift…, Essay von Ursula Pia Jauch. Carl Hanser Verlag, München 2001.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2V_HAAAAQBAJ |title=Bernard Mandeville's "A Modest Defence of Publick Stews": Prostitution and Its Discontents in Early Georgian England |last=Primer |first=I. |date=15 March 2006 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781403984609}}</ref> Mandeville had by 1705 already become famous for ''[[The Fable of the Bees]]'' and deliberations on private vices and public benefits.

=== John Locke's ''First Treatise of Government'' ===
[[John Locke]] commented: "Be it then as Sir Robert says, that Anciently, it was usual for Men to sell and Castrate their Children. Let it be, that they exposed them; Add to it, if you please, for this is still greater Power, ''that they begat them for their Tables to fat and eat them'': If this proves a right to do so, we may, by the same Argument, justifie Adultery, Incest and Sodomy, for there are examples of these too, both Ancient and Modern; Sins, which I suppose, have the Principle Aggravation from this, that they cross the main intention of Nature, which willeth the increase of Mankind, and the continuation of the Species in the highest perfection, and the distinction of Families, with the Security of the Marriage Bed, as necessary thereunto". (First Treatise, sec. 59).