Monday, April 23, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
The following sketch will include material we've already covered, yet hearing it again in this context will help you place Machiavelli as a political writer. So, here goes:
Machiavelli's dates are 1469 to 1527 (the same as Erasmus, almost!). He is, for better or worse, one of the most well-known thinkers of all time. The Prince is his most famous work, although his own relationship to it was ambiguous. In the Discourses on Livy he explores the features contributing to the success or failure of a republic, while in the Prince he takes the same approach to a principality. If you remember anything from your reading in the civic humanists, it's that the Florentines at the beginning of the 15th century took pride in the fact that their city was a republic.
Machiavelli is himself both an extension of the civic humanist tradition and, perhaps, evidence of its obsolescence. His own career was in service to a republican government in Florence, for which he labored enthusiastically. His goal was a strong, secure state that would be able to retain its independence. Yet even though his instincts were republican, he judges the success of both a principate and a republic according to how well-governed they are. In so doing, he draws on a combination of examples from ancient Rome and from his own era. You should notice how he uses these examples to make his point. It is this use of the past as much as anything that marks him as a humanist.
As you already know, the Medici family controlled Florentine politics from 1434 until 1494. Cosimo was in charge for the first 30 years, then his son Piero ruled (poorly) from 1464 to 1469, and finally Lorenzo the Magnificent took over from 1469 until 1492. During the years of Lorenzo's influence, when the flourishing of art and letters in Florence were at a high point, the Medici bank was showing signs of strain and overcommitment; indeed, the entire economy of Florence was overextended. The war with Milan earlier in the century had been extremely costly. As you also know, at mid-century, five major powers dominated Italy: Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States, and the Kingdom of Naples (which included Sicily). Medici policy had been to keep peace with Naples and Milan in an alliance against Venice and the Papacy. The Medici also sponsored a war to obtain Pisa as a seaport. This war added greatly to the republic's financial burdens. Certain financial arrangements--forced loans and the dowry fund--were the commune's attempt at a remedy, but the strain was more than even these resources could handle.
In 1492, Lorenzo's son, another Piero, took command. Charles VIII of France launched his invasion of Italy in 1494, which proved to be Piero's undoing (and that of his family, for awhile). At first Piero tried to oppose Charles, but then he panicked and ran to the French king to offer his cooperation. This didn't go over well, especially as Piero agreed to give up important territories, including Pisa. He was thrown out and a popular government was brought in. The period of self-reproach and pessimism brought on by Charles' successful invasion is the backdrop to the influence of the Dominican friar Savonarola, who managed to incur the hatred of that scoundrel, Pope Alexander VI. He was excommunicated and then burned at the stake as a heretic in 1498. Machiavelli would be thinking of him when he made his observation in the Prince that unarmed prophets invariably come to grief.
The regime which followed was an attempt at reviving the civic humanism of a century earlier, restoring the organization of the old republic. In 1502, the standard-bearer of justice (the chief executive official), Piero Soderini, put Machiavelli in charge of the ministry of defence. Over a period of 10 years he worked tirelessly to arm and train a citizen militia; he also went on diplomatic missions. These were undoubtedly the happiest years of his life, although in light of his later accomplishments we can hardly call them the most productive. In 1512, however, the Spanish came in, the republic fell, and the Medici family were returned to power under Spanish sponsorship. Machiavelli was exiled and even briefly tortured as an enemy of the regime. He wrote the Prince shortly thereafter, ostensibly as a handbook for the rulers.
The dedication of this book to a member of the Medici family has been the source of much comment, including questions concerning which Medici was in fact the dedicatee. People are mystified and perplexed that Machiavelli should seek to incur the favor of the very people who destroyed his political life. Some have gone so far as to suggest that the book is one prolonged satire, or a backhanded jab at Florence's new tyrants. Yet it may be the case that Machiavelli was most concerned over the future security of Florence, and wanted whoever was in power to achieve this goal at any price necessary, in the face of the threat from the much larger states across the Alps. This is the view that I find most plausible.
Homework questions (choose two out of three):
Look at each of the following passages from the Prince. Explain the meaning of the passage in the context of the chapter in which it appears, and then discuss whether you think it is a reasonable and good precept for a person in a position of leadership and power to follow. Support your position with examples if possible. You can apply any of the passages to examples from the present if you’d like.
Laurel Carrington carringt@stolaf.edu
Most recent update: January 18, 2012