Machiavelli

by Miles J. Unger

  “I think taking a stand”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 304.

  “The writer who wrote this”: Ibid., 50.

  “I believe he has become your great friend”: Ibid., 59.

  “Your Lordships write to me about temporizing”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 182, 218.

  “the new law [for the Gonfaloniere]”: Ibid., no. 179, 212.

  “Because courts always include different kinds of busybodies”: Machiavelli, “Advice to Rafaello Girolami when he went as Ambassador to the Emperor,” in Chief Works, I, 117.

  “[W]hoever examines the quality of one side”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 196, 247.

  “a very skillful dissembler”: Machiavelli, “A Description of the Method Used by Duke Valentino in Killing Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, and Others,” in Chief Works, 1, 165.

  real power remained in his rivals’ hands: Ibid.

  “[S]weetly this basilisk whistled”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 388–94.

  “dressed as a courier”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 196, 245.

  “to excuse and justify what had occurred”: Ibid., 246.

  “the Orsini might be very sure”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 327.

  “[T]hey write me pleasing letters”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 193, 240.

  “money, robes, and horses”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VII, 112.

  “it is impossible to belive”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 196, 247–48.

  “[I]f one must do harm to another”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 91.

  “Mona Marietta sent to me via her brother”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 60.

  he remained short of cash: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 63.

  “Stick it up your ass”: Ibid., 79.

  “I wouldn’t be at all surprised”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 97.

  “to relieve the government of this expense”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, 314–15.

  “I say that you are to observe”: Machiavelli, “Advice to Raffaello Girolami when he went as Ambassador to the Emperor,” in Chief Works, I, 118–19.

  “was ruled by impotent lords”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VII, 112–13.

  “Cesare Borgia was considered cruel”: Ibid., XVII, 151–52.

  “no doubt [Remirro] will be sacrificed”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 255, 363.

  “Messer Remirro this morning has been found cut in two”: Ibid., no. 256, 365.

  “Recognizing that past severities”: Machiavelli, The Prince, VII, 31–32.

  “Vitellozzo, Pagolo, and the Duke”: Machiavelli, “A Description of the Method Used by Duke Valentino in Killing Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, and Others,” in Chief Works, 1, 168.

  “with the brightest face in the world”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 322.

  “Everyone knows how laudable it is”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XVIII, 155.

  “Since a prince is required to play the beast”: Ibid., 156.

  “every moment thinking to see the executioner”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 346.

  “had changed to the color of blackest cloth”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 251.

  held a knife to Cardinal Casanova’s throat: Burchardus, Pope Alexander and His Court, 180.

  “[H]e should never have allowed any cardinal”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VII, 116.

  “[A]t present, you are incapable”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 339–40.

  “[A]lways transported by his daring confidence”: Ibid., 360.

  “We want the states to return to the Church”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 267–68.

  “I had no lack of things to say in reply”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 360.

  “since he is taken”: Ibid., 364.

  “[T]hus it would seem”: Ibid., 365.

  “Cesare Borgia, called by the masses Duke Valentino”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VII, 109.

  VI. MEN OF LOW AND POOR STATION

  “I am fully conscious”: Masters, Fortune Is a River, 25.

  “Nor do I wish it thought a presumption”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, “Dedication,” 84.

  Unfortunately, neither man left an account: Roger Masters chronicles the collaboration between Leonardo and Machiavelli in his book Fortune Is a River. Sometimes he goes beyond the available evidence, but his conclusion that the two must have met on numerous occasions in the fall of 1502 seems indisputable.

  “little better than a fanstasy”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 371.

  “that the defenders feared only one thing”: Masters, Fortune Is a River, 117.

  “Your delay makes us fear”: Ibid., 130.

  “Notable man and very dear compare”: Ibid., 135.

  “your devoted friend”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 79.

  “‘I have never commissioned anything from that clown’ ”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 154.

  “[I]t seems best to me to go straight”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XV, 147.

  “For when the safety of one’s country”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 515.

  first articulated by the humble Florentine chancellor: For an in-depth investigation of Machiavelli as the father of “reason of state,” see Friedrich Meinecke’s seminal Machiavellism: The Doctrine of Raison d’Etat and Its Place in Modern History.

  “A prince must show himself a lover of virtue”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXI, 180.

  “[H]e turned to making his city more beautiful”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 361.

  “When, therefore, I consider in what honor”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 97–98.

  That Machiavelli himself was instrumental: See N. Rubinstein “Machiavelli and the Mural Decoration of the Hall of the Great Council of Florence” (pp. 275–85) for a summary of the evidence regarding Machiavelli’s participation in the scheme for decorating the Hall.

  “Enacted in the palace of the aformentioned Lords”: Masters, Fortune Is a River, 114–15.

  “Florentines who had voluntarily joined on horseback”: Rubinstein, “Machiavelli and the Mural Decoration of the Hall of the Great Council of Florence,” 285.

  “[T]hus with the sculptor Michelangelo”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 424.

  “This block of marble was nine braccia high”: Vasari, “Michelangelo Buonarotti,” in Lives of the Artists, II, 653.

  “It happened at this time”: Ibid., 654–55.

  “that the author, too, knows how to find fault”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, in Chief Works, II, 778.

  “I never practiced any profession”: Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo, 13.

  VII. THE STARS ALIGN

  “I have three sons”: Unger, Magnifico, 218.

  “make it clearly understood”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 368.

  “[M]y spirit is all aflame”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1457.

  “Yet we trust in the skillful steersman”: Ibid.

  “[T]he worst thing about weak republics”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 206.

  “[H]e was like the other pillagers of Rome”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 357.

  “above all other things, it is necessary”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXVI, 193.

  “Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless”: Ibid., XII, 133.

  “[W]here military organization is good”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 113.

  “that the little people, all in arms”: Parenti, Ricordi Storici, 126–27.

  “Your letter being longer”: Machiavelli et al., Lette
re Familiari, 165.

  “There was a muster in the Piazza”: Landucci, Diary, 218.

  “it daily increases and flourishes”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 409.

  Soderini’s “puppet”: Ibid., 460.

  “[I] promise you”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 166.

  “Between Geneva and Constance I made four halts”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 462.

  “There can be no doubt of the power of Germany”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 474.

  “so that it is easy to comprehend why”: Ibid., 475.

  “It is difficult to forecast events”: Ibid., 464–65.

  “Your Excellencies have spun so fine a web”: Ibid., 466.

  “It’s as if I’m here on a desert island”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 191.

  “I shall do here what little good”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 167.

  “it would be the most inopportune thing”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 465.

  “A woman of Pisa”: Landucci, Diary, 232–33.

  “with great sufferings and much toil”: Machiavelli, Second Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1460.

  “even the horses of Xerxes might ford it”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 485.

  “[T]he more powerful must always be right”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 179.

  “that the way of this world”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 179.

  “Captain General”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 177.

  “[I]f I wished to avoid fatigue and danger”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 489.

  “[The Ten] desired obedience”: Ibid., 488.

  “I would like you”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 182.

  “Suffice it that your opinion”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 103.

  “The wise man will control the stars”: Ibid., 459.

  “in the world most men”: Machiavelli, “On Ambition,” in Chief Works, II, 739.

  “At about 18 in the afternoon”: Landucci, Diary, 235.

  “If I did not think it would make you too proud”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 181.

  “May a thousand good fortunes result”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 493.

  “Whoever reads of the doings of republics”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 179.

  “He who becomes master of a city”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, V, 102–3.

  “And though she was a stubborn enemy”: Machiavelli, Second Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1461.

  VIII. REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

  “Pope Julius II acted impetuously”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXV, 189.

  “Julius not only pursued the same goals”: Ibid., XI, 131.

  “It is the Church”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 145.

  “that he would in no way tolerate”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, III, 404.

  “And I make, in short”: Ibid., 403.

  “Venice lost in a single day”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XII, 137.

  “At twenty-two hours Piero Mazaruol”: Sanudo, Venice: Citta Excellentissima, 174.

  “very often undid in the evening”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 499.

  “The invading soldiers have set to robbing”: Machiavelli, “Legation,” in Chief Works, II, 738.

  “Let him turn his eyes here”: Machiavelli, “On Ambition”, in Chief Works, II, 738.

  “And thus so great a desire of death”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 500.

  “if these powers had not been blinded”: Guicciardini, The History of Italy, III, 280.

  “Against barbarian rage”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XXI, 90.

  “[He] contended that having been born of a father, etc.”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 196–97.

  “although the Pope as a friend”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 195.

  “save that of keeping your Excellencies”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 509.

  “[T]here is no way out”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 195.

  “Your Excellencies may believe”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 510.

  “if they make war alone”: Ibid., 510.

  Medici sympathizer Prinzivalle della Stufa: Landucci, Diary, 242.

  “No one shows any wish to attend the Council”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 524–25.

  “it was fought with more virtue than any other”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 346.

  “flying like mist before the wind”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 7.

  “Seeing the great utility of the Infantry Ordinance”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 10.

  “To test the mood of the people”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 215–16.

  “It was decided initially”: Ibid., 214.

  “were of such a sort”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 12.

  “Prudent Princes and Republics”: Machiavelli, Discourses, II, 365.

  “[A]fter minimal resistance”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 216–17.

  “The taking of Prato, so speedily”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 14.

  “[E]veryone began to fear a sack”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 217.

  “relying on idle dreams of his own”: Ibid.

  “Piero Soderini . . . conducted all his affairs”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 431.

  “in conformity with the times”: Ibid., 430.

  “The night that Piero Soderini ceased to breathe”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 37.

  “all the citizens who considered themselves friends”: Landucci, Diary, 258.

  “In this way the liberty of Florence”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 22.

  “The city was reduced”: Ibid.

  “The city remains most peaceful”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 219.

  IX. DISMISSED, DEPRIVED, AND TOTALLY REMOVED

  “In the belief that affection may serve”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 26.

  “their seizure . . . will generate inextinguishable hatred”: Ibid., 27.

  “who can come to terms”: Ibid.

  “as many dead, as many exiles”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, “Preface,” 7.

  “He who becomes prince”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, IX, 122–23.

  “my poverty is a testament”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 310.

  “Boscoli and Capponi, young men of good families”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 34.

  “There is no . . . enterprise in which private persons”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 398.

  “I maintain that one finds in history”: Ibid., 402.

  “One must recognize that there is nothing more difficult”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VI, 105.

  “that I bore it with such stoicism”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 226–27.

  “it is something of a miracle”: Ibid., 246.

  “One is chained up and another is unironed”: Machiavelli, “Sonnet to Giuliano, Son of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” in Chief Works, II, 1013.

  “Last night, beseeching the Muses”: Ibid., 1014.

  “I am accustomed to spending”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 356.

  “[F]ortune has left me nothing”: Ibid., 396.

  “[B]linded by matrimonial famine”: Ibid., 194.

  “la brigatata”: Ibid., 232.

  “We dined, and when it came time”: Ibid., 232–33.

  “count Orlando”: Ibid., 233.

&nbs
p; “slobbering, totally consumed by Gostanza”: Ibid., 329.

  “I have met a creature”: Ibid., 360.

  “I have found nothing but pain”: Ibid., 361.

  “When dinnertime comes”: Ibid., 308.

  “Marietta gave birth to a baby girl”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 244.

  “Thus I will remain”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 356.

  “The duty of a father”: Alberti, The Family in Renaissance Florence, I, 36.

  “Since I do not know how to talk”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 225.

  “I send you, Giuliano, some thrushes”: Machiavelli, “Third Sonnet to Giuliano, Son of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” in Chief Works, II, 1015.

  “Come evening, I return to my house”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 308–9.

  “I am dedicating it to his Magnificence Giuliano”: Ibid., 310.

  “[T]hrough this work, were it to be read”: Ibid.

  X. THE PRINCE

  “[I]t is customary for those hoping to win the favor”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, “Dedication to Lorenzo de’ Medici,” 83.

  “I am wasting away”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 265.

  “Take, then, this little gift”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, “Dedication to Lorenzo de’ Medici,” 84.

  But even his harshest critics: Leo Strauss uses the memorable phrase “that greater Columbus” to describe Machiavelli’s contribution to political science. (Leo Strauss, “On the Spirit of Hobbes’ Political Philosophy,” in Essays in the History of Political Thought, 168.)

  can still be read with pleasure: Books offering to package Machiavelli’s philosophy as a guide to modern living remain popular. A few recent examples include: The New Prince: Machiavelli Updated for the Twenty-first Century (Dick Morris); What Would Machiavelli Do: The Ends Justify the Meanness (Stanley Bing); Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli’s Iron Rules Are as Important Today as Five Centuries Ago (Michael A. Ledeen).

  He was clearly familiar with his predecessors’ work: For anyone interested in the topic, a good place to start is Allan H. Gilbert’s Machiavelli’s Prince and Its Forerunners.

  “Since I know that many have already written”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XV, 146–47.