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pubOne.info present you this new edition. Niccolo Machiavelli, the first great Italian historian, and one of the most eminent political writers of any age or country, was born at Florence, May 3, 1469. He was of an old though not wealthy Tuscan family, his father, who was a jurist, dying when Niccolo was sixteen years old. We know nothing of Machiavelli's youth and little about his studies. He does not seem to have received the usual humanistic education of his time, as he knew no Greek. [*] The first notice of Machiavelli is in 1498 when we find him holding the office of Secretary in the second Chancery of the Signoria, which office he retained till the downfall of the Florentine Republic in 1512. His unusual ability was soon recognized, and in 1500 he was sent on a mission to Louis XII. of France, and afterward on an embassy to Caesar Borgia, the lord of Romagna, at Urbino. Machiavelli's report and description of this and subsequent embassies to this prince, shows his undisguised admiration for the courage and cunning of Caesar, who was a master in the application of the principles afterwards exposed in such a skillful and uncompromising manner by Machiavelli in his Prince

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
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EAN13	9782819940869
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INTRODUCTION
Niccolo Machiavelli, the first great Italianhistorian, and one of the most eminent political writers of any ageor country, was born at Florence, May 3, 1469. He was of an oldthough not wealthy Tuscan family, his father, who was a jurist,dying when Niccolo was sixteen years old. We know nothing ofMachiavelli's youth and little about his studies. He does not seemto have received the usual humanistic education of his time, as heknew no Greek. [*] The first notice of Machiavelliis in 1498 when we find him holding the office of Secretary in thesecond Chancery of the Signoria, which office he retained till thedownfall of the Florentine Republic in 1512. His unusual abilitywas soon recognized, and in 1500 he was sent on a mission to LouisXII. of France, and afterward on an embassy to Cæsar Borgia, thelord of Romagna, at Urbino. Machiavelli's report and description ofthis and subsequent embassies to this prince, shows his undisguisedadmiration for the courage and cunning of Cæsar, who was a masterin the application of the principles afterwards exposed in such askillful and uncompromising manner by Machiavelli in his Prince .
The limits of this introduction will not permit usto follow with any detail the many important duties with which hewas charged by his native state, all of which he fulfilled with theutmost fidelity and with consummate skill. When, after the battleof Ravenna in 1512 the holy league determined upon the downfall ofPier Soderini, Gonfaloniere of the Florentine Republic, and therestoration of the Medici, the efforts of Machiavelli, who was anardent republican, were in vain; the troops he had helped toorganize fled before the Spaniards and the Medici were returned topower. Machiavelli attempted to conciliate his new masters, but hewas deprived of his office, and being accused in the following yearof participation in the conspiracy of Boccoli and Capponi, he wasimprisoned and tortured, though afterward set at liberty by PopeLeo X. He now retired to a small estate near San Casciano, sevenmiles from Florence. Here he devoted himself to political andhistorical studies, and though apparently retired from public life,his letters show the deep and passionate interest he took in thepolitical vicissitudes through which Italy was then passing, and inall of which the singleness of purpose with which he continued toadvance his native Florence, is clearly manifested. It was duringhis retirement upon his little estate at San Casciano thatMachiavelli wrote The Prince , the most famous of all hiswritings, and here also he had begun a much more extensive work,his Discourses on the Decades of Livy , which continued tooccupy him for several years. These Discourses , which do notform a continuous commentary on Livy, give Machiavelli anopportunity to express his own views on the government of thestate, a task for which his long and varied political experience,and an assiduous study of the ancients rendered him eminentlyqualified. The Discourses and The Prince , written atthe same time, supplement each other and are really one work.Indeed, the treatise, The Art of War , though not writtentill 1520 should be mentioned here because of its intimateconnection with these two treatises, it being, in fact, a furtherdevelopment of some of the thoughts expressed in the Discorsi . The Prince , a short work, divided intotwenty-six books, is the best known of all Machiavelli's writings.Herein he expresses in his own masterly way his views on thefounding of a new state, taking for his type and model CæsarBorgia, although the latter had failed in his schemes for theconsolidation of his power in the Romagna. The principles here laiddown were the natural outgrowth of the confused politicalconditions of his time. And as in the Principe , as its nameindicates, Machiavelli is concerned chiefly with the government ofa Prince, so the Discorsi treat principally of the Republic,and here Machiavelli's model republic was the Roman commonwealth,the most successful and most enduring example of populargovernment. Free Rome is the embodiment of his political idea ofthe state. Much that Machiavelli says in this treatise is as trueto-day and holds as good as the day it was written. And to us thereis much that is of especial importance. To select a chapter almostat random, let us take Book I. , Chap. XV. : “Public affairs areeasily managed in a city where the body of the people is notcorrupt; and where equality exists, there no principality can beestablished; nor can a republic be established where there is noequality. ”
No man has been more harshly judged thanMachiavelli, especially in the two centuries following his death.But he has since found many able champions and the tide has turned. The Prince has been termed a manual for tyrants, the effectof which has been most pernicious. But were Machiavelli's doctrinesreally new? Did he discover them? He merely had the candor andcourage to write down what everybody was thinking and whateverybody knew. He merely gives us the impressions he had receivedfrom a long and intimate intercourse with princes and the affairsof state. It was Lord Bacon, I believe, who said that Machiavellitells us what princes do, not what they ought to do. WhenMachiavelli takes Cæsar Borgia as a model, he in nowise extols himas a hero, but merely as a prince who was capable of attaining theend in view. The life of the State was the primary object. It mustbe maintained. And Machiavelli has laid down the principles, basedupon his study and wide experience, by which this may beaccomplished. He wrote from the view-point of the politician, — notof the moralist. What is good politics may be bad morals, and infact, by a strange fatality, where morals and politics clash, thelatter generally gets the upper hand. And will anyone contend thatthe principles set forth by Machiavelli in his Prince or his Discourses have entirely perished from the earth? Hasdiplomacy been entirely stripped of fraud and duplicity? Let anyoneread the famous eighteenth chapter of The Prince : “In whatManner Princes should keep their Faith, ” and he will be convincedthat what was true nearly four hundred years ago, is quite as trueto-day.
Of the remaining works of Machiavelli the mostimportant is the History of Florence written between 1521and 1525, and dedicated to Clement VII. The first book is merely arapid review of the Middle Ages, the history of Florence beginningwith Book II. Machiavelli's method has been censured for adheringat times too closely to the chroniclers like Villani, Cambi, andGiovanni Cavalcanti, and at others rejecting their testimonywithout apparent reason, while in its details the authority of his History is often questionable. It is the straightforward,logical narrative, which always holds the interest of the readerthat is the greatest charm of the History . Of the otherworks of Machiavelli we may mention here his comedies the Mandragola and Clizia , and his novel Belfagor .
After the downfall of the Republic and Machiavelli'srelease from prison in 1513, fortune seems never again to havefavoured him. It is true that in 1520 Giuliano de' Medicicommissioned him to write his History of Florence , and heafterwards held a number of offices, yet these latter were entirelybeneath his merits. He had been married in 1502 to MariettaCorsini, who bore him four sons and a daughter. He died on June 22,1527, leaving his family in the greatest poverty, a sterlingtribute to his honesty, when one considers the many opportunitieshe doubtless had to enrich himself. Machiavelli's life was notwithout blemish— few lives are. We must bear in mind the atmosphereof craft, hypocrisy, and poison in which he lived, — his was theage of Cæsar Borgia and of Popes like the monster Alexander VI. andJulius II. Whatever his faults may have been, Machiavelli wasalways an ardent patriot and an earnest supporter of populargovernment. It is true that he was willing to accept a prince, ifone could be found courageous enough and prudent enough to unitedismembered Italy, for in the unity of his native land he saw theonly hope of its salvation.
Machiavelli is buried in the church of Santa Croceat Florence, beside the tomb of Michael Angelo. His monument bearsthis inscription:
“Tanto nomini nullum par eulogium. ”
And though this praise is doubtless exaggerated, heis a son of whom his country may be justly proud.
Hugo Albert Rennert.
[*] Villari, Niccolo Machiavelli ei suoi tempi , 2d ed.
Milan, 1895-97, the best work on the subject. Themost
complete bibliography of Machiavelli up to 1858 isto be
found in Mohl, Gesch. u. Liter. derStaatswissenshaften ,
Erlangen, 1855, III. , 521-91. See also La Vita egli
scritti di Niccolo Machiavelli nella loro Relazionecol
Machiavellismo , by O. Tommasini, Turin, 1883(unfinished).
The best English translation of Machiavelli withwhich I am
acquainted is: The Historical, Political, andDiplomatic
writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, translated byChristian E.
Detmold. Osgood & Co. , Boston, 1882, 4 vols.8vo.
THE FLORENTINE HISTORY OF NICCOLOMACHIAVELLI
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
Irruption of Northern people upon the Romanterritories— Visigoths— Barbarians called in by Stilicho— Vandalsin Africa— Franks and Burgundians give their names to France andBurgundy— The Huns— Angles give the name to England— Attila, kingof the Huns, in Italy— Genseric takes Rome— The Lombards.
The people who inhabit the northern parts beyond theRhine and the Danube, living in a healthy and prolific region,frequently increase to such vast multitudes that part of them arecompelled to abandon their native soil, and seek a habitation inother countries. The method adopted, when one of these provinceshad to be relieved of its superabundant population, was to divideinto three parts, each containing an equal number of nobles and ofpeople, of rich and of poor. The third upon whom the lot fell, thenwent in search of new abodes, leaving the remaining two-thirds