his political idea of the state. Much that Machiavelli says in this
treatise is as true to-day and holds as good as the day it was
written. And to us there is much that is of especial importance. To
select a chapter almost at random, let us take Book I., Chap. XV.:
"Public affairs are easily managed in a city where the body of the
people is not corrupt; and where equality exists, there no
principality can be established; nor can a republic be established
where there is no equality."
No man has been more harshly judged than Machiavelli, 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 effect of which has been most pernicious. But
were Machiavelli's doctrines really new? Did he discover them? He
merely had the candor and courage to write down what everybody was
thinking and what everybody knew. He merely gives us the impressions
he had received from a long and intimate intercourse with princes and
the affairs of state. It was Lord Bacon, I believe, who said that
Machiavelli tells us what princes do, not what they ought to do. When
Machiavelli takes C?sar Borgia as a model, he in nowise extols him as
a hero, but merely as a prince who was capable of attaining the end in
view. The life of the State was the primary object. It must be
maintained. And Machiavelli has laid down the principles, based upon
his study and wide experience, by which this may be accomplished. He
wrote from the view-point of the politician,--not of the moralist.
What is good politics may be bad morals, and in fact, by a strange
fatality, where morals and politics clash, the latter generally gets
the upper hand. And will anyone contend that the principles set forth
by Machiavelli in his /Prince/ or his /Discourses/ have entirely
perished from the earth? Has diplomacy been entirely stripped of fraud
and duplicity? Let anyone read the famous eighteenth chapter of /The
Prince/: "In what Manner Princes should keep their Faith," and he will
be convinced that what was true nearly four hundred years ago, is
quite as true to-day.
Of the remaining works of Machiavelli the most important is the
/History of Florence/ written between 1521 and 1525, and dedicated to
Clement VII. The first book is merely a rapid review of the Middle
Ages, the history of Florence beginning with Book II. Machiavelli's
method has been censured for adhering at times too closely to the
chroniclers like Villani, Cambi, and Giovanni Cavalcanti, and at
others rejecting their testimony without 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 reader that is the greatest charm of the /History/.
Of the other works of Machiavelli we may mention here his comedies the
/Mandragola/ and /Clizia/, and his novel /Belfagor/.
After the downfall of the Republic and Machiavelli's release from
prison in 1513, fortune seems never again to have favoured him. It is
true that in 1520 Giuliano de' Medici commissioned him to write his
/History of Florence/, and he afterwards held a number of offices, yet
these latter were entirely beneath his merits. He had been married in
1502 to Marietta Corsini, who bore him four sons and a daughter. He
died on June 22, 1527, leaving his family in the greatest poverty, a
sterling tribute to his honesty, when one considers the many
opportunities he doubtless had to enrich himself. Machiavelli's life
was not without blemish--few lives are. We must bear in mind the
atmosphere of craft, hypocrisy, and poison in which he lived,--his was
the age of C?sar Borgia and of Popes like the monster Alexander VI.
and Julius II. Whatever his faults may have been, Machiavelli was
always an ardent patriot and an earnest supporter of popular
government. It is true that he was willing to accept a prince, if one
could be found courageous enough and prudent enough to unite
dismembered Italy, for in the unity of his native land he saw the only
hope of its salvation.
Machiavelli is buried in the church of Santa Croce at Florence, beside
the tomb of Michael Angelo. His monument bears this inscription:
"Tanto nomini nullum par eulogium."
And though this praise is doubtless exaggerated, he is a son of whom
his country may be justly proud.
Hugo Albert Rennert.
[*] Villari, /Niccolo Machiavelli e i suoi tempi/, 2d ed. Milan,
1895-97, the best work on the subject. The most complete
bibliography of Machiavelli up to 1858 is to be found in Mohl,
/Gesch. u. Liter. der Staatswissenshaften/, Erlangen, 1855, III.,
521-91. See also /La Vita e gli scritti di Niccolo Machiavelli
nella loro Relazione col Machiavellismo/, by O. Tommasini, Turin,
1883 (unfinished).
The best English translation of Machiavelli with which I am
acquainted is: The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic writings
of Niccolo Machiavelli, translated by Christian E. Detmold. Osgood
& Co., Boston, 1882, 4 vols. 8vo.
THE
FLORENTINE HISTORY OF
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
Irruption of Northern people upon the Roman territories--Visigoths
--Barbarians called in by Stilicho--Vandals in Africa--Franks and
Burgundians give their names to France and Burgundy--The Huns--
Angles give the name to England--Attila, king of the Huns, in
Italy--Genseric takes Rome--The Lombards.
The people who inhabit the northern parts beyond the Rhine and the
Danube, living in a healthy and prolific region, frequently increase
to such vast multitudes that part of them are compelled to abandon
their native soil, and seek a habitation in other countries. The
method adopted, when one of these provinces had to be relieved of its
superabundant population, was to divide into three parts, each
containing an equal number of nobles and of people, of rich and of
poor. The third upon whom the lot fell, then went in search of new
abodes, leaving the remaining two-thirds in possession of their native
country.
These migrating masses destroyed the Roman empire by the facilities
for settlement which the country offered when the emperors abandoned
Rome, the ancient seat of their dominion, and fixed their residence at
Constantinople; for by this step they exposed the western empire to
the rapine of both their ministers and their enemies, the remoteness
of their position preventing them either from seeing or providing for
its necessities. To suffer the overthrow of such an extensive empire,
established by the blood of so many brave and virtuous men, showed no
less folly in the princes themselves than infidelity in their
ministers; for not one irruption alone, but many, contributed to its
ruin; and these barbarians exhibited much ability and perseverance in
accomplishing their object.
The first of these nort
hern nations that invaded the empire after the
Cimbrians, who were conquered by Caius Marius, was the Visigoths--
which name in our language signifies "Western Goths." These, after
some battles fought along its confines, long held their seat of
dominion upon the Danube, with consent of the emperors; and although,
moved by various causes, they often attacked the Roman provinces, were
always kept in subjection by the imperial forces. The emperor
Theodosius conquered them with great glory; and, being wholly reduced
to his power, they no longer selected a sovereign of their own, but,
satisfied with the terms which he granted them, lived and fought under
his ensigns, and authority. On the death of Theodosius, his sons
Arcadius and Honorius, succeeded to the empire, but not to the talents
and fortune of their father; and the times became changed with the
princes. Theodosius had appointed a governor to each of the three
divisions of the empire, Ruffinus to the eastern, to the western
Stilicho, and Gildo to the African. Each of these, after the death of
Theodosius, determined not to be governors merely, but to assume
sovereign dominion over their respective provinces. Gildo and Ruffinus
were suppressed at their outset; but Stilicho, concealing his design,
ingratiated himself with the new emperors, and at the same time so
disturbed their government, as to facilitate his occupation of it
afterward. To make the Visigoths their enemies, he advised that the
accustomed stipend allowed to this people should be withheld; and as
he thought these enemies would not be sufficient alone to disturb the
empire, he contrived that the Burgundians, Franks, Vandals, and Alans
(a northern people in search of new habitations), should assail the
Roman provinces.
That they might be better able to avenge themselves for the injury
they had sustained, the Visigoths, on being deprived of their subsidy,
created Alaric their king; and having assailed the empire, succeeded,
after many reverses, in overrunning Italy, and finally in pillaging
Rome.
After this victory, Alaric died, and his successor, Astolphus, having
married Placidia, sister of the emperors, agreed with them to go to
the relief of Gaul and Spain, which provinces had been assailed by the
Vandals, Burgundians, Alans, and Franks, from the causes before
mentioned. Hence it followed, that the Vandals, who had occupied that
part of Spain called Betica (now Andalusia), being pressed by the
Visigoths, and unable to resist them, were invited by Boniface, who
governed Africa for the empire, to occupy that province; for, being in
rebellion, he was afraid his error would become known to the emperor.
For these reasons the Vandals gladly undertook the enterprise, and
under Genseric, their king, became lords of Africa.
At this time Theodosius, son of Arcadius, succeeded to the empire;
and, bestowing little attention on the affairs of the west, caused
those who had taken possession to think of securing their
acquisitions. Thus the Vandals ruled Africa; the Alans and Visigoths,
Spain; while the Franks and Burgundians not only took Gaul, but each
gave their name to the part they occupied; hence one is called France,
the other Burgundy. The good fortune of these brought fresh people to
the destruction of the empire, one of which, the Huns, occupied the
province of Pannonia, situated upon the nearer shore of the Danube,
and which, from their name, is still called Hungary. To these
disorders it must be added, that the emperor, seeing himself attacked
on so many sides, to lessen the number of his enemies, began to treat
first with the Vandals, then with the Franks; a course which
diminished his own power, and increased that of the barbarians. Nor
was the island of Britain, which is now called England, secure from
them; for the Britons, being apprehensive of those who had occupied
Gaul, called the Angli, a people of Germany, to their aid; and these
under Vortigern their king, first defended, and then drove them from
the island, of which they took possession, and after themselves named
the country England. But the inhabitants, being robbed of their home,
became desperate by necessity and resolved to take possession of some
other country, although they had been unable to defend their own. They
therefore crossed the sea with their families, and settled in the
country nearest to the beach, which from themselves is called
Brittany. The Huns, who were said above to have occupied Pannonia,
joining with other nations, as the Zepidi, Eurili, Turingi, and Ostro,
or eastern Goths, moved in search of new countries, and not being able
to enter France, which was defended by the forces of the barbarians,
came into Italy under Attila their king. He, a short time previously,
in order to possess the entire monarchy, had murdered his brother
Bleda; and having thus become very powerful, Andaric, king of the
Zepidi, and Velamir, king of the Ostrogoths, became subject to him.
Attila, having entered Italy, laid siege to Aquileia, where he
remained without any obstacle for two years, wasting the country
round, and dispersing the inhabitants. This, as will be related in its
place, caused the origin of Venice. After the taking and ruin of
Aquileia, he directed his course towards Rome, from the destruction of
which he abstained at the entreaty of the pontiff, his respect for
whom was so great that he left Italy and retired into Austria, where
he died. After the death of Attila, Velamir, king of the Ostrogoths,
and the heads of the other nations, took arms against his sons Henry
and Uric, slew the one and compelled the other, with his Huns, to
repass the Danube and return to their country; while the Ostrogoths
and the Zepidi established themselves in Pannonia, and the Eruli and
the Turingi upon the farther bank of the Danube.
Attila having left Italy, Valentinian, emperor of the west, thought of
restoring the country; and, that he might be more ready to defend it
against the barbarians, abandoned Rome, and removed the seat of
government to Ravenna. The misfortunes which befell the western empire
caused the emperor, who resided at Constantinople, on many occasions
to give up the possession of it to others, as a charge full of danger
and expense; and sometimes, without his permission, the Romans, seeing
themselves so abandoned, created an emperor for their defense, or
suffered some one to usurp the dominion. This occurred at the period
of which we now speak, when Maximus, a Roman, after the death of
Valentinian, seized the government, and compelled Eudocia, widow of
the late emperor, to take him for her husband; but she, being of
imperial blood, scorned the connection of a private citizen; and being
anxious to avenge herself for the insult, secretly persuaded Genseric,
king of the Vandals and master of Africa to come to Italy,
representing to him the advantage he would derive from the
undertaking, and the facility with which it might be accomplished.
Tempted by the hope of booty, he came immediate
ly, and finding Rome
abandoned, plundered the city during fourteen days. He also ravaged
many other places in Italy, and then, loaded with wealth, withdrew to
Africa. The Romans, having returned to their city, and Maximus being
dead, elected Avitus, a Roman, as his successor. After this, several
important events occurred both in Italy and in the countries beyond;
and after the deaths of many emperors the empire of Constantinople
devolved upon Zeno, and that of Rome upon Orestes and Augustulus his
son, who obtained the sovereignty by fraud. While they were designing
to hold by force what they had obtained by treachery, the Eruli and
the Turingi, who, after the death of Attila, as before remarked, had
established themselves upon the farther bank of the Danube, united in
a league and invaded Italy under Odoacer their general. Into the
districts which they left unoccupied, the Longobardi or Lombards, also
a northern people, entered, led by Godogo their king. Odoacer
conquered and slew Orestes near Pavia, but Augustulus escaped. After
this victory, that Rome might, with her change of power, also change
her title, Odoacer, instead of using the imperial name, caused himself
to be declared king of Rome. He was the first of those leaders who at
this period overran the world and thought of settling in Italy; for
the others, either from fear that they should not be able to hold the
country, knowing that it might easily be relieved by the eastern
emperors, or from some unknown cause, after plundering her, sought
other countries wherein to establish themselves.
CHAPTER II
State of the Roman empire under Zeno--Theodoric king of the
Ostrogoths--Character of Theodoric--Changes in the Roman empire--
New languages--New names--Theodoric dies--Belisarius in Italy--
Totila takes Rome--Narses destroys the Goths--New form of
Government in Italy--Narses invites the Lombards into Italy--The
Lombards change the form of government.
At this time the ancient Roman empire was governed by the following
princes: Zeno, reigning in Constantinople, commanded the whole of the
eastern empire; the Ostrogoths ruled Mesia and Pannonia; the
Visigoths, Suavi, and Alans, held Gascony and Spain; the Vandals,
Africa; the Franks and Burgundians, France; and the Eruli and Turingi,
Italy. The kingdom of the Ostrogoths had descended to Theodoric,
nephew of Velamir, who, being on terms of friendship with Zeno the
eastern emperor, wrote to him that his Ostrogoths thought it an
injustice that they, being superior in valor to the people thereabout,
should be inferior to them in dominion, and that it was impossible for
him to restrain them within the limits of Pannonia. So, seeing himself
under the necessity of allowing them to take arms and go in search of
new abodes, he wished first to acquaint Zeno with it, in order that he
might provide for them, by granting some country in which they might
establish themselves, by his good favor with greater propriety and
convenience. Zeno, partly from fear and partly from a desire to drive
Odoacer out of Italy, gave Theodoric permission to lead his people
against him, and take possession of the country. Leaving his friends
the Zepidi in Pannonia, Theodoric marched into Italy, slew Odoacer and
his son, and, moved by the same reasons which had induced Valentinian
to do so, established his court at Ravenna, and like Odoacer took the
title of king of Italy.
Theodoric possessed great talents both for war and peace; in the
former he was always conqueror, and in the latter he conferred very
great benefits upon the cities and people under him. He distributed
the Ostrogoths over the country, each district under its leader, that
he might more conveniently command them in war, and govern them in
peace. He enlarged Ravenna, restored Rome, and, with the exception of
military discipline, conferred upon the Romans every honor. He kept