Essential Reading:

Plato http://plato.evansville.edu/texts/jowett/republic.htm
Aristotle
http://www.cyber.vt.edu/psci/summer98/privpsci/
readings/ari.politics/ari.politics.toc.html
Aquinas http://www.gmu.edu/departments/fld/CLASSICS/aquinas.html
Augustine http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF1-02/TOC.htm
Machiavelli http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~pgrose/mach/index1.htm
Machiavelli the Prince http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/machiavelli-prince.html
Machiavelli the Discources http://www.constitution.org/mac/disclivy_.htm
More http://www.orst.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html
Vindicae http://www.visi.com/~homelands//vindiciae/vindiciae.html
Buchanan http://www.visi.com/~contra_m//ab/jure/jure.html
Bodin http://www.constitution.org/bodin/bodin_.htm
Leviathan http://www.vt.edu/vt98/academics/books/hobbes/leviathan
Locke on Toleration http://www.utm.edu:80/research/iep/text/locke/tolerat.htm
Locke Second Treatise http://www.liberty1.org/2dtreat.htm
Rousseau Inequality http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1782rousseau-inequal.html
Rousseau Social Contract http://www.constitution.org/jjr/socon.htm

1. Although the main bulk of your reading will be focused upon the particular texts we are studying, from time to time you may encounter unfamiliar terms and concepts. The first port of call in this case will be the central reference works and dictionaries:

A Flew, ed, A Dictionary of Philosophy (1979).103 Dic
D Miller, et al, eds, The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought (1987).320.03 BLA
The Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.103 ENC

2. There are also a number of very useful general textbooks and overviews which will provide both useful introductions to the authors, the ideas and the political context for each work. Remember to use the index (read actively with a question or problem in mind: there is nothing more boring than working through a large textbook from cover to cover).

The first two works - J H Burns, ed, The Cambridge History of Medieval Political Thought, 350-1450 (1988). [320.01 CAM]; and J H Burns and M A Goldie, eds., The Cambridge History of Political Thought, 1450-1700 (1991). [320.094 CAM] are comprehensive collections of essays written by the leading historians of the subject. They provide not only an account of the historiography but useful and detailed lists for further reading. Two more engaging works with specific arguments that cover the whole period are: A Macintyre, A Short History of Ethics (1967) [170.9 MAC]; and J. Dunn Western Political Thought in the face of the Future (1981) [320.5094 DUN]. The first is an elegant (and slim) book that gives an overview of the entire period. The second is even smaller in size but conceptually challenging: a work that will need re-reading. There are three more general textbooks: J Plamenatz, Man and Society (1963, 1992). Vol 1: Machiavelli to Rousseau. [320.509 PLA] and G.H. Sabine A History of Political Thought (1937, and numerous modern editions) [320.509 SAB] deliver solid and methodical histories of the authors and texts: use them only after you have read each work. The last general book: B Redhead, ed, Political Thought from Plato to Nato (1984) [320.01 PLA] has very short essays on most of our subjects: it is extremely useful and succinct, but again beware of the temptation to use it alone rather than reading the original works for yourself.