Machiavelli
Page 45
“an enemy of the human race”: Anglo, Machiavelli: The First Century: Studies in Enthusiasm, Hostility, and Irrelevance, 126.
I. BORN IN POVERTY
“I was born poor”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 227.
loggia known as the chorte di Machiavelli: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 56.
Bernardo, in recognition of his role as fatherly protector: Ibid., 38.
“friend and familiar”: Ibid., 151.
“Well, let them be”: Atkinson, “Niccolò Machiavelli: A Portrait,” in The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli, 14.
“pygmies . . . attacking giants”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 4.
“And whoever would wish justly to weigh”: Ibid., 3.
“a man who doesn’t have pull with the government”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, in Chief Works, II, 788–89.
“a man of low and poor station”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, 84.
among the prominent Guelphs: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 27.
“through Hell [Florence’s] name is spread abroad”: Dante, Inferno, XXVI.
“notable” citizen families of the Oltrarno neighborhood: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 27.
“if in any other republic there were ever notable divisions”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, 6–7.
“in my judgment no other instance appears”: Ibid., 7.
“[H]aving eliminated their nobility”: Ibid., I, 50.
Three Majors: Herlihy, Klapisch-Zuber, and Mohlo, Online Tratte of Office Holders, 1282–1532.
purchased by the family from the powerful Pitti clan: Pitti, Diario of Buonacorso Pitti, in Two Memoirs of Renaissance Florence, 21.
where Niccolò would retire to write The Prince: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 31.
patronage rights over the small chapel of San Gregorio: Ibid., 35.
payment for a delivery of spring lambs for Easter: Bernardo Machiavelli, Libro di Ricordi, 28–30.
a dealer in secondhand clothes: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 63.
“messer Bernardo . . . practices no gainful employment”: Ibid., 53.
“I have never practiced any profession”: Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo, 13.
“all the cities and mountains and rivers that are mentioned”: Bernardo Machiavelli, Libro di Ricordi, 14.
“He spent his time as a good man should”: Machiavelli, Clizia, in Chief Works, II, 835–36.
while she was living under Bernardo’s roof: Bernardo Machiavelli, Libro di Ricordi, 15ff.
“For it often happens that men who are just”: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 152.
“Above all else stick together with your neighbors and kinsmen”: Kent, The Rise of the Medici Faction in Florence, 1426–1434, 17.
“This is an age of gold”: Schevill, History of Florence, 416.
“The city enjoyed perfect peace”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, IX.
“Florentines lived in very great prosperity”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 36.
“discordant Italy opened into herself”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1445.
“Maestro Matteo, master of grammar”: Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy, 76.
“For when a child of tender years begins to understand”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 46.
“We call these studies liberal”: Vergerio, “The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth,” in Humanist Educational Treatises, 14.
“Leaving the woods, I go to a spring”: Machiavelli et al, Lettere Familiari, 307.
“threaten bar keepers”: Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, 389.
his eyes sparkled with mirth: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 245.
“For now the baby is well”: Marietta Corsini in Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 114.
“Write to Niccolò Capponi”: Biagio Buonaccorsi in Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 178–79.
“partly in studies, partly in amusement”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, in Chief Works, II, 778.
“Because life is short”: Ibid., 776.
“by eagerness for praise and inflamed by love of glory”: Vergerio, “The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth,” in Humanist Educational Treatises, 4.
II. A SWORD UNSHEATHED
“countless men who, that they might fall to earth”: Machiavelli, “On Fortune” in Chief Works, II, 749.
“O Italy! O Princes!”: Villari, The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola, I, 334.
“The people of Florence do not think”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XI, 105.
“Here come the boys of the friar!”: Landucci, Diary, 121.
“a friar of Saint Francis”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 313–14.
“suffer fire and sack”: Ibid., 314.
“I didn’t actually hear the preacher”: Ibid., 314–15.
“I believe Christ speaks through my mouth”: Martines, Fire in the City, 27.
“to give you, as you wished”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 4.
“[H]e began with great terrors: Ibid., 5.
“he follows the mood of the times”: Ibid., 8.
“[H]ad you heard with what audacity”: Ibid., 5.
“But the more they oppressed them”: Ibid., 5–8.
“[H]e seeks to set all of [the people]”: Ibid.
“So, you are allowing Friar Girolamo to preach again”: Martines, Fire in the City, 202.
“filled with blood and dead men”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1445.
“But that which to many was far more distressing”: Ibid., 1448.
“With them a flame and a plague”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XI, 19–20.
“Our Italian princes”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 339.
“discordant Italy”: Machiavelli, First Decennale in Chief Works, III, 1445.
“because of his dark complexion”: Guicciardini, The History of Italy, III, 304.
“for when Italy was left deprived of his advice”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 363.
“He was a haughty and cruel man”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XI, 21.
where Charles was encamped with the bulk of his army: Landucci, Diary, 58.
“[H]e threw out confetti”: Ibid., 60.
“We’re finished!”: Martines, Fire in the City, 38.
“kneeling with joined hands”: Landucci, Diary, 62.
to signify his role as a conqueror: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XII, 30.
“Viva Francia!”: Landucci, Diary, 66.
“when he was seen on foot”: Ibid.
“a sight in itself very beautiful”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XII, 30.
“King Charles of France was allowed to conquer Italy with chalk”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XII, 133.
“[Y]our coming has lightened our hearts”: Martines, Fire in the City, 50.
“After 1494 when those who had been princes”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 227.
“[T]he will of God is that the city of Florence”: Martines, Fire in the City, 71.
“Now the Florentine people”: Savonarola, “Treatise on the Constitution and Government of Florence,” in Humanism and Liberty, 237.
“After [the fall of the Medici], the city decided”: Machiavelli, “A Discourse on the Remodeling of the Government of Florence,” in Chief Works, I, 103.
“Never will the generality of the Florentine citizens”: Ibid., 110–11.
“the Ten Expenders”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 251.
“So all Tuscany was in confusion”: Machiavelli, First Decennale in Chief Works, III, 1445.
“So with his conquering army”: Ibid., 1446.
“When the report of victory so great”: Ibid.
“We were then pressed to join the league”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XIII, 47.
“a great slaughter”: The History of Italy, IX, 247.
“[Charles] ignored the treat made with us”: The History of Florence, XIII, 46.
“scourgings and terrible tribulations”: Ibid., 47.
“false, proud whore”: Martines, Fire in the City, 12.
“[Alexander] was not disturbed by those things”: Guicciardini, The History of Italy, III, 356.
“It is not my habit to seek human glory”: Martines, Fire in the City, 137.
“Long live Christ and the Virgin”: Landucci, Diary, 100–110.
“extinguished the carnal heat of desire”: Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence, 81.
“Thus a great division and violent hatred”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XIII, 50.
“[I]t seemed a mistake to me”: Landucci, Diary, 131.
“This man preaches that the Pope is not the Pope”: Martines, Fire in the City, 214.
Backed by Venetian money and a papal blessing: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XV.
“I could not refrain from weeping”: Landucci, Diary, 126.
“When [the accused] wished to appeal”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 221.
“unarmed prophet”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VI, 106.
“[T]his excommunication is a diabolical thing”: Martines, Fire in the City, 206.
“[H]e seeks to turn all against the supreme pontiff”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 8.
“diverse figures and monstrous animals”: Martines, Fire in the City, 146.
“[W]hen the dispute ended in the Franciscans leaving”: Landucci, Diary, 136.
“To San Marco!”: Martines, Fire in the City, 232.
“Kill the traitor!”: Ibid., 233.
a man who struck him from behind: Landucci, Diary, 137.
was led from San Marco in irons: Ibid., 138.
“Regarding my own aim or ultimate purpose”: Martines, Fire in the City, 250.
“[H]e whom we had held to be a prophet”: Landucci, Diary, 139.
“Now listen to me”: Martines, Fire in the City, 259.
the dying men were blessed martyrs: Landucci, Diary, 143.
now seeking to regain its balance after the recent convulsions: See Rubinstein, “The Beginnings of Niccolò Machiavelli’s Career in the Florentine Chancery,” 72, for a full discussion of the date of Machiavelli’s election.
III. THE CIVIL SERVANT
June 15, 1498, marks a turning point: Meinecke, Machiavelli, 39.
I have set down all that I know: Machiavelli, Discourses, Dedication, 93.
“my knowledge of the actions of great men”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, Dedication, 83.
“it seems best to me to go straight to the actual truth of things”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XV, 147.
which started at 192 florins a year: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 243–44.
“it is ill living in Florence”: Ross, Lives of the Early Medici, 150–56.
snide comments about their colleagues: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 26.
“If I have not written as often as I would have liked”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 13.
“[M]any believed that by overthrowing the friar”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XVI, 79.
“[I]f [the ottimati] complain that this tax will impoverish them”: Najemy, A History of Florence, 402.
“What a disgusting thing it is”: Ibid., 406.
“[I]n every republic”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 113.
“The reason why all these governments”: Machiavelli, “A Discourse on the Remodeling of the Florentine Government,” in Chief Works, I, 103.
“[A] prince is successful”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XXV, 85.
“The rule for our Italian soldiers”: Landucci, Diary, 22.
“A prince must have no other objective”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XIV, 53.
Biagio Buonaccorsi requested that his friend: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 19.
“crowded with Florentines”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 255.
“having thought the matter over in the night”: Ibid., 255–56.
“had always satisfied her”: Ibid., 255.
“that spirit of yours, so eager for riding”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 50.
“most highly praised”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 24.
“If you do as I advise”: Ibid., 20.
“few little parties at Biagio’s house”: Ibid., 34–35.
They were now inside the walls of the city: Landucci, Diary, 159.
about how to punish the rebellious city: Ibid.
“We have granted the captain”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 260.
“[H]aving expended up to this date”: Ibid.
“We should have preferred defeat to inaction”: Ibid.
some sort of treasonous arrangement with Piero de’ Medici: Ibid., 262.
risked less and promised greater returns: Ibid.
“this was the end of Pagolo Vitegli”: Ibid.
“[H]ad it not been for Vitelli’s treachery”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 28.
“And in brotherly love”: Ibid., 29.
“[J]udging the prudence and intelligence of all the others”: Guicciardini, The History of Italy, III, 304.
promised to supply men and money: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 267.
“who had opened the gates”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 88–89.
“So his shrewdness was mocked”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1450.
at the exorbitant price of 24,000 ducats a month: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 268.
“He who is afraid”: Ibid., 270.
“It might . . . be well”: Ibid., 272.
“But when they confronted the Pisans”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1,451.
IV. SIR NIHIL
“Benefices are sold here like melons”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 44–45.
“who, of all the pontiffs that have ever been”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XI, 130–31.
“Alexander VI . . . never thought of anything but deception”: Ibid., XVIII, 157.
“a very mean young man”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 96.
“shutting himself away in a room”: Ibid., 107.
“Life has lost all interest for us”: Ibid., 108.
“Even more than by anger”: Ibid., 92.
“[I]t would have been safer for her”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XX, 175.
“This lord knows very well”: Machiavelli, “Legation 11.40,” in Chief Works, I, 130.
“The French are blinded by their own power”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 277–78.
“I don’t want to forget to tell you”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 31–32.
“he threatens to erect Pisa”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 277–78.
“[W]hen the Cardinal of Rouen told me”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 97.
“if the King had conceded everything”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 278.
“The Pope tries by all means”: Ibid., 279.
if only Piero de’ Medici were restored: Ibid.
“There can be no proper relation”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XIV, 54.
“not upon their good faith”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 279.
“[H]e who causes another to become powerful”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 98.
“Every day Ser Antonio’s stomach bothers him”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 34.
“When in jest and to relax our minds”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 32.
“I have heard that history is the teacher”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 296–97.
“[A]s long as the Roman republic continued incorrupt”: Machiavelli, The Art of War, I, 17–18.
“Mercenary captains are either skilled at arms”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XII, 134.
“The whole morning we heard nothing”: Landucci, Diary, 181.
Florence was forced to buy him off: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 285.
“They killed without pity”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 182.
“obedience [to her husband]”: Barbaro, “On Wifely Duties,” in Kohl and Witt, The Earthly Republic, 193.
“to wish to appear a woman of honor”: Alberti, I Libri della Famiglia, 97.
“I hope I shall never be a husband”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, in Chief Works, II, 792.
“with gentle words”: Ibid., 790.
“fortune is a woman”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XXV, 86.
“Lady Marietta curses God”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 99.
“My dearest Niccolò”: Ibid., 114–15.
“I’ll go to your house”: Ibid., 133.
“This Lord is of such splendid and magnificent bearing”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, II, 125.
“We heard that Valentino had sent to say”: Landucci, Diary, 196.
“Well I know that your city”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, II, 120–21.
looting the very people: Landucci, Diary, 199.
“Lucius Furius Camillus entered the Senate”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 296.
“One can therefore approve”: Ibid., 297.
“[M]en must either be coddled or destroyed”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 91.
V. EXIT THE DRAGON
“devoured one by one by the dragon”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 234.
he presented himself cavalchereccio: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 174, 195.
“declared that he had always desired”: Ibid.
“his enemies can no longer do much harm”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 61.
“with the king of France in Italy”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 174, 197.
“too forceful”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 74.