Machiavelli

born May 3, 1469, Florence died June 21, 1527, Florence
Italian writer and statesman, Florentine patriot, and original political theorist whose principal work, The Prince, brought him a reputation of amoral cynicism.

Early life.
Machiavelli's family, from the 13th century onward, had been counted among the wealthy and prominent houses of the city, holding on occasion the most important offices. His father, a doctor of laws, was nevertheless among the poorest members of the family; he lived frugally, administering his little landed property near the city and supplementing his meagre income from it with small earnings from the restricted and almost clandestine exercise of his profession, since he was debarred from any public office as an insolvent debtor of the commune of Florence. Niccolò was to write later that he had “learnt to do without before he learnt to enjoy”; and this poverty may have been the reason why he did not have the education suited to his ability. In the years when young Florentines crowded to the lectures of Politian, then Italy's leading scholar of Greek and Latin, Machiavelli never embarked on the study of Greek. His father's memoirs show Niccolò working at Latin under obscure teachers: he learned more by himself in the books that were the only luxury of his home than he did at school. This kind of education saved him from the faults and excesses of Humanist erudition and preserved the originality of his thought and the unequalled force of his style, which was elevated and popular at the same time.

Under the republic.
In 1498, after the changes in the Florentine government following the execution of Savonarola—the ascetic monk who tried to impose extreme political and religious reforms on the republic—and the triumph of the opposing faction, Niccolò Machiavelli was made head of the second chancery (cancelleria) at the early age of 29. He was then completely unknown; the tradition of his having an apprenticeship in the lower grades of the chancery from 1494 onward is not confirmed by documentary evidence, and his own statements tend to disprove it. The office to which he was appointed, though not comparable in power with that of first chancellor, was an important one. Originally it dealt only with internal affairs of the republic, but it was later merged with the secretariat of the Ten (i Dieci), the executive council. Machiavelli was, moreover, secretary to the magistracy, which, in the name of the Signoria, the governing council, and under its authority, directed foreign affairs and defense. The chancellors were often entrusted with diplomatic missions to Italian and foreign courts when it was not desirable to send ambassadors. Machiavelli's first important mission was to the French court in 1500. Five months spent beyond the Alps introduced to his eager mind the people and customs of a strong nation united under the rule of a single prince.
On his return to Florence, Machiavelli found much to do, as the republic was on the verge of being ruined by the ambitions of Cesare Borgia, who was then in the midst of attempting to create a principality for himself in central Italy. Besides dictating letters in the chancery, Machiavelli undertook missions whenever the need arose; he was always ready to ride off and to face danger and hardship, being fonder of action than of words. His short work Del modo di trattare i sudditi della Val di Chiana ribellati (1503; “On the Way to Deal with the Rebel Subjects of the Valdichiana”) belongs to this period. In it, the fundamentalprinciple of a new doctrine is enunciated for the first time: “The world has always been inhabited by human beings who have always had the same passions.” He was sent twice to Cesare Borgia; and he was a witness to the bloody vengeance taken by Cesare on his mutinous captains at the town of Sinigaglia (Dec. 31, 1502), of which he wrote a famous account, Descrizione del modo tenuto dal Duca Valentino nello ammazzare Vitellozzo . . . (“On the Manner Adopted by the Duke Valentino to Kill Vitellozzo . . . ”). That strong, sinister prince caught the imagination of the Florentine statesman with his natural bent for abstraction and theory. Implacable, resolute, ferocious, and cunning, Cesare Borgia had conquered a dominion for himself in a few months; and Machiavelli adapted Cesare's qualities and methods to his own ideal of a “new prince” who would provide a desperate remedy for the desperate ills of Italy. It is clear that this was a case of idealization and that his admiration for the Prince did not go hand in hand with admiration for the man. When Pope Alexander VI, the father of Cesare Borgia, died in 1503 and his successor, Pius III, also died shortly afterward, Machiavelli was sent to Rome for the duration of the conclave that elected Julius II, an implacable enemy of the Borgias. There, with ever-increasing scorn, Machiavelli witnessed the decline of his hero and finally celebrated Cesare's imprisonment “which he deserved as a rebel against Christ.”
In Florence, meanwhile, Piero Soderini had been elected gonfalonier (chief magistrate) for life, and Machiavelli was immediately able to win his favour and become his right-hand man. This remarkable influence over the head of state encouraged him to realize his military ideas. For centuries the states of Italy hadused mercenary troops in their wars, and Machiavelli had seen in practice their lack of discipline, their faithlessness, and their unbearable arrogance. Inspired both by the military enterprises of ancient Rome and by his own observations inFrance (where he went on a second mission early in 1504) and in Romagna (where Cesare Borgia had replaced mercenaries with levies from his own territory), Machiavelli ardently pursued the idea of giving the Florentine state a militia of its own, recruited from the peoples under its control. Age-old prejudices had to be overcome, as well as the reluctance of suspicious townsmen, to arm men from the country districts around. Having set to work immediately after his return from the Roman legation, he succeeded in persuading the gonfalonier to risk an experiment and then to have a law passed in order to establish a militia (1505). In 1506, as the importance of the new militia increased, the council of the Nine was created to control it, and Machiavelli was made secretary of this body. The territory of the republic was divided into districts, and Machiavelli himself went out to see to the levies and tocarry out inspections, alternating these military tasks with those of the chancery and with a further mission (1506) to Julius II, whose armies, moving up to free the states of the Church from their various usurpers, entered Bologna in triumph.
In December 1507 the Holy Roman emperor, Maximilian I, was preparing an invasion of Italy from Germany. Florence's gonfalonier, who did not trust his ownambassador at the imperial court, accordingly sent Machiavelli on another journey beyond the Alps. On the journey Machiavelli passed through Switzerland, and three days spent in that country were enough for him to produce some brief but acute observations on it. He did the same, at greater length, for Germany, composing on the day after his return to Florence (June 17,1508) a Rapporto delle cose della Magna (“Report on the State of Germany”). In this work, compiled in the course of his official duties, and likewise in the literary version made four years later under the title Ritratto delle cose della Magna (“Portrait . . . ”), he was able to pick out with great acumen the reasons both for the strength of the German nation and for its political weaknesses. Yet all his official reports, though marvelously intuitive, are marred by a tendency to theorize; they are bold syntheses, not complete and accurate sources of information.
On his return from Germany, as the Florentines were showing new strength in an effort to recapture the city of Pisa, which had temporarily freed itself from Florentine rule, Machiavelli was able to try out the militia that he had created. Hewent to command his troops at the front and put all his usual enthusiasm into the task: when the Ten begged him to remain at headquarters, he answered that they must let him be with his soldiers, since behind the lines he would die of melancholy. Such was the patriotism and passion of a man who has been represented as skeptical, cautious, and cynical. Pisa capitulated on June 8, 1509, and Machiavelli with his militia had no small share in this success for Florence.
After a mission to Mantua in connection with yet another invasion by Maximilian, Machiavelli had to go again to France, in July 1510, to persuade Florence's ally Louis XII to make peace with Pope Julius II or at least not to drag Florence into a war that would bring the republic to needless ruin, emphasizing that a neutral Florence could be useful to the French. The French, however, “who knew nothing about statecraft,” were not influenced by what Machiavelli had to tell them. From this mission, which resulted in the Ritratto di cose di Francia, he returned in October 1510 convinced that there would be a major war between the French king and the pope and that the Florentines would be involved. All of his efforts now were to arm his country. At the end of the summer of 1511 he went once more to France to persuade Louis XII to remove the schismatic council that he was sponsoring in Pisa, since this had brought upon the Florentines the rage of Julius II. As soon as he was back from France, Machiavelli himself went to Pisa and removed this council without much ceremony. For the free republic, however, the last hour had already come: the army of the pope's Holy League was on its way to punish Florence. The gonfalonier Soderini was deposed, and in 1512 the Medici returned as masters of the city.

Under the Medici.
Machiavelli lost his position and was forbidden to enter the Palazzo della Signoria. Also, when a conspiracy against the Medici was found early in 1513, Machiavelli, already an object of suspicion to the new government, was accused of complicity. Thrown into prison, he maintained his innocence even under tortures that often persuaded the innocent to declare themselves guilty. His name, however, was on a list taken from the conspirators, and finally, though he was released from prison, restrictions were put on his freedom. In the meantime, Julius II had died, and Giovanni de' Medici had become Pope Leo X. Machiavelli composed for the celebrations on that occasion a pious “Canto degli spiriti beati” (“Song of the Blessed Spirits”) and sought in vain to get into the good graces of the Medici.
Reduced to poverty, Machiavelli sought refuge in the little property near Florencethat he had inherited from his father. There he employed his leisure in writing, between spring and autumn 1513, his two most famous works, Il principe (The Prince) and a large part of the Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio (“Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy”).
Machiavelli's affections always lay with the republic, and all of his theories were intended for its betterment; but the corruption of the times, the weakness of the states of Italy, and the threat of foreign conquest made him long for that “new prince” who might give reality to his great dream of the redemption of Italy. This “redeemer,” to whom he sought in vain to give a face and a name, would have had to overcome superhuman difficulties; nor could there be much choice of means in attaining such ends. Machiavelli, in Il principe, attempted to indicate to the prince those means that were compatible with the conditions of the time and with human nature. Even religion—for which he had a deep feeling though he was not outwardly pious—was subordinated by him to the state's iron necessity and made into a tool of power. Indeed, Machiavelli is regarded as the inventor of the “reason of state,” though that expression appears for the first time 20 years after his death. Il principe, while its underlying ideas are the same as those of the Discorsi, won a greater reputation, thanks to its concision,its vigorous imagery, and the bluntness of some of its aphorisms, which were taken too literally by contemporaries and by posterity. He remarked of certain cynical precepts that he would not have proffered them if mankind had not been wicked. This bleak pessimism is certainly not refuted by the annals of his own time. Yet his longing was for a society of good and pure men; he sought it in ancient times and, in his own day, admired less civilized nations as being less corrupt. Machiavelli's great hope was that Il principe, dedicated to Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence from 1513, would obtain from the Medici an office to support his family and satisfy his love of action; but the hope was in vain.
From this time also dates the comedy first entitled Commedia di Callimaco e diLucrezia, later La Mandragola (1518; “The Mandrake”), in which the wickedness and corruption of men, particularly of the clergy, are the subject of laughter—but of a bitter and painful laughter that is never an end in itself.
Machiavelli's hopes were raised when, on the death of Duke Lorenzo, the Cardinal Giulio de' Medici came to govern Florence. He was presented to the Cardinal by Lorenzo Strozzi, to whom in gratitude he dedicated the dialogue Dell'arte della guerra (1521; The Arte of Warre, 1560) which is complementary to his two political treatises.
The first employment given him by the cardinal was to go to Lucca on a matter of small importance. Presently, however, the cardinal agreed to have Machiavelli elected official historiographer of the republic, a post to which he was appointed by the University of Florence in November 1520 with a salary of 57 gold florins a year, later increased to 100. The university's terms allowed for Machiavelli's also being employed in other ways. In the meantime, he was to compose for the Medici pope Leo X a Discorso on the organization of the government of Florence after the death of Duke Lorenzo; in this he boldly advised the Pope to restore the city's ancient liberties. Shortly after, in May 1521,he was sent to the Franciscan chapter at Carpi.
After Pope Leo X's death (December 1521), the cardinal Giulio de' Medici, who remained sole master of Florence, was more than ever inclined to reform its government. He sought the advice of Machiavelli, who simply refurbished the Discorso composed for Leo X. After the death of Pope Adrian VI in September 1523, Giulio de' Medici became Pope Clement VII. Machiavelli now worked with more enthusiasm on the Istorie fiorentine, his official history of Florence; in June 1525 he was able to present the Pope with eight books, and he received in return 120 florins and encouragement to continue the work. The Istorie fiorentine, like his earlier writings, bears the impress of a powerful and original mind. In this work, written by fits and starts and wearily dragged on into his later years, Machiavelli enters on a new road, leaving behind him the traditions and methods of Humanist historiography. His love of truth often in conflict with the necessity to avoid offending his powerful patrons, he writes history more as a politician than as a historian set on discovering the truth, often accepting sources uncritically and accommodating facts to his thesis. It is not narrative exactitude that is to be sought in the Istorie but the power of synthesis, the brilliant coordination and organization of facts.
In April 1526 Machiavelli was elected secretary of a five-man body lately constituted to superintend the fortifications. Next, the Pope having formed the League of Cognac against the Holy Roman emperor Charles V, Machiavelli went with the army to join Francesco Guicciardini, the Pope's lieutenant, with whom he remained almost continuously until the sack of Rome by the Emperor's forces brought the war to an end in May 1527. Florence having regained its freedom by casting off the Medici, Machiavelli on his return hoped to be restored to his old post in the chancery; but the little favours that the Medicihad so meagrely doled out to him caused the supporters of the free republic to forget the love that he had always had for his native city and for freedom. It was the last of his disappointments and the greatest. Machiavelli fell ill and died, with the comforts of religion, within a month.

Character and thought.
Machiavelli was an upright man, a good citizen, and a good father. He was not by any means a faithful husband but lived in affectionate harmony with his wife, Marietta Corsini (whom he had married in the latter part of 1501), and had five children by her. He loved his native city “more than his own soul,” and he was generous, ardent, and basically religious.
Out of a desire to shock his contemporaries, Machiavelli liked to appear more wicked than he was. This, together with certain blunt maxims in his works, gavehim a reputation for immorality. The maxims became a target for attacks by the Catholic Counter-Reformation; and the word “Machiavellianism” was coined as a term of opprobrium by the French, out of hatred for all things Italian. He “was ascapegoat because he was a great man and because he was unfortunate.”
As one of the founders of the philosophy of history, he well knew that he was opening “a road as yet untrodden by man.” He was the first to propound the thesis of historical cycles and—starting from the principle that human nature does not change—the first to build a political science based on the study of man.
Machiavelli was a great writer because he was a great thinker. He was also a poet; his poetry, however, is to be found not so much in his verse as in his prose, which has no equal in Italian literature. It is also noteworthy that his greatgifts showed themselves in nearly all the genres that he attempted: in historical writings, in political treatises, in the short story and, particularly, in comedy.