Niccolo machiavelli on extreme situations and the virtu of politics

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM · UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies Second Cycle Degree Programme in European Literary Cultures, Linguistics Curriculum Italian Studies NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI ON EXTREME SITUATIONS AND THE VIRTÙ OF POLITICS Final Dissertation in ITALIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT Supervisor: Prof Antonio Del Vecchio Co – supervisor: Prof Angelo Maria Mangini Presented by: Pham Thi Quynh Chi Session III Academic year 2020/2021 INDEX INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: MACHIAVELLI, A LIFE AT THE EXTREME Machiavelli’s life with full of extreme situations The permanent mutation of things 19 CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTS AND PROBLEMS 30 Introduction 30 Virtù and Fortuna 30 2.1 Virtù 30 2.2 Fortuna 34 2.3 Relationship of virtù and fortuna 35 Rules and exceptions 38 Conflict and order 46 CHAPTER 3: MACHIAVELLI’S EXTREME THOUGHTS 55 Introduction 55 The Discourses: a collection of philosophical political understandings 56 2.1 Tumult 56 2.2 The evil side of human nature 59 2.3 Machiavelli’s rework for an effectual history 62 The Florentine Histories: Machiavelli’s patriotic duties 65 3.1 The original of two political factions in Florence 66 3.2 Corso Donati, a remarkable man 70 3.3 How Florentines dealt with the evil side of human nature 73 Belfagor and Mandragola, Machiavellian demonic conventionality 77 4.1 Belfagor 77 4.2 Mandragola 79 CONCLUSION 84 BIOGRAPHY 87 INTRODUCTION There is much research, study, approach, and novels about Machiavelli, his works, and his political radical thinking This thesis seeks to interpret Machiavelli’s understandings considering extreme situations to put them in the concepts of Machiavelli’s philosophy We are going to pass through Machiavelli’s works: The Prince, The Discourses, The Florentine Histories, Art of War, Mandragola, Belfagor, and Machiavelli’s letters The core of Machiavelli’s political reflections is, in fact, based on his personal experiences, particularly during his childhood with family, his distinctive education, his short public career, and his plain time after the Medici’s political return He went through historic moments of the unbalance of Italy, the corruptive period of his native Florence, and consequently, many unrelated extreme events in his personal life It leads him to the observation of the world as a tap of mutable unrelated motions that increasingly fall Chapter will provide elements and facts about Machiavelli so that readers could collect a bunch of ornaments for Machiavelli’s profile and background The Prince initially impressed readers with the Machiavellian concept of virtù – fortuna Specific historical events and figures in Italy and in Roman Empire were recalled for explaining the political couple virtù – fortuna It leads to the curiosity of how to approach Machiavelli’s political understandings better in the advanced term of state and regime Machiavellian virtù was put into the task of constructing and maintaining orders to resist the state from the corruptive fatal conflict that was drawn by fortuna A series of Machiavelli’s works approved this doctrine such as The Discourses, Art of War, or The Florentine Histories Machiavelli’s political understandings turn to puzzle and ambiguous because there are many philosophical overlaps written in his works that questioned his standing point of thinking Scholars, in effect, found that his ultimate in composing his works was to salvage Florence’s present political situation and, as his self-interest, to hope for a return in a public career In the second chapter, we will investigate the ideas which Machiavelli has understood his reality through the three Machiavelli problematic concepts: virtù – fortuna, rules – exceptions, and order – conflict Perhaps, approaching Machiavellian thinking through his works means reading and interpreting individually certain parts and chapters in his works The selections of certain parts and chapters could be a personal taste by the reworking technique of Machiavelli in historical events Chapter of this thesis will work on certain parts such as chapter and chapter 37 book I, chapter book III of The Discourses, the entire book IV of The Florentine Histories, and the two literary works Belfagor and Mandragola concentrated on marriage and demonic aspect The most conflictual Machiavellian concepts such as tumults, political trivial losses, Machiavellian rhetoric reinterpretation of history, the evil side of human nature will be discussed They will enlighten Machiavelli’s reflection that politics is a field of ambiguity and improvise events that cannot be hidden, avoided, or eliminated So, extreme actions, or in Machiavellian words, virtuous actions are often required because of this CHAPTER 1: MACHIAVELLI, A LIFE AT THE EXTREME Machiavelli’s life with full of extreme situations A Florentine, born on 3rd May 1469 devoted his life to public service in his early life After his 7th birthday, his father sent him to Master Matteo for scholastic education and the learning of Latin At the age of 12, Machiavelli went to the Master Paolo Giovio da Ronciglione Then Virgilio Andirani, secretary of the first Chancellor is not only his mentor but also his teacher.1 Here, Machiavelli was educated to the method of imitating the most excellent figure of classic style.2 After that, Machiavelli was sent to the University of Florence for further education, and he ranked the top excellent student of classical education These three pathways of education in Machiavelli’s early life, from the learning of Latin through the method of imitating classical excellences to the classical education, set a firm basement in Machiavelli of the Antiquity’s patterns Thus, the three fragile inputs of life are his three thresholds to observe political life during his official career It could be said that language, imitation, and classical excellence learning are the motives why Machiavelli sees the world, humans, and nature in politics in an extreme and exceptive manner This explained the reason why Machiavelli received the government’s term of office suddenly in the summer of 1498, at the age of 29 The Florence’s head was continuously formed and corrupted After the death of Lorenzo de Medici in 1942 3, Pietro de’ Medici was exiled in 1942 because he could not lead the government He, the son of Lorenzo, was hereticated the throne but behaved tyrannically and handed over the army forces to the King of France, for the restoration F Del Lucchese, The political philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli, Edinburg, Edinburg University press, 2005, p.15: “Paolo Giovio suggests that Adriani had been not only Machiavelli’s mentor but also his teacher Adriani thus represents the link between Machiavelli and the humanist world and culture” Q Skinner, Machiavelli, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1999, p 12 A.A Rosa, Machiavelli e l’Italia, Torino, Einaudi, 2019, p.35: “sto parlando del periodo che va dalla morte di Lorenzo il Magnifico (8 aprile 1492), o forse, piu’ esattamente, dalla discesa di Carlo VIII, re di Francia, in Italia (settembre 1494 – luglio 1495) alla duplice incoronazione di Carlo V (re d’Italia e imperatore) da parte del pontefice Clemente VII (febbraio 1530)” of the Republic in return Italy’s problems were too small compared to the maps of Europe with Spain, Germany, and France The death of Lorenzo in 1492 broke the Italian balance for forty years With the boost by being twice in a delegation to the king Charles VIII, Girolamo Savonarola ruled over Florence from 1494 to 1498, the year in which Machiavelli was appointed as the secretary of the Chancellor The relationship between Machiavelli and Savonarola is tightened by the development of time The regime of Savonarola ended up a few days before Machiavelli’s office assumption as the Chancellor Savonarola however worked for his idealism since the youth of Machiavelli Girolamo Savonarola influenced the masses of Florence citizens which included Machiavelli “The young Machiavelli himself often listened to these sermons, which undeniably had a strong influence on him, especially in terms of the political role of religion, and of a clear understanding of the influence that a prophetic stance could have on the people” He contributed to the Florentine government’s spirits for decades because of his charisma His intention was to approach the citizens’ union delivering the idealism but was fail under the unwavering Soderini group of the best one.7 Machiavelli goes against Savonarola’s governo largo with the C Vivanti, Niccolò Machiavelli, I tempi della politica, Roma, Donzelli, 2008, p.8: “Erano passata appena quattro anni dacche Pietro, il figlio di Lorenza il Magnifico, dopo sessant’anni di potere dei Medici, era stato cacciato nel 1494 per il suo comportamento ‘tirannico’ e per avere consegnato al re di Francia alcune fortezze, così che il governo repubblicano era stato restaurato.” John M Najemy, A History of Florence 1200-1575, Blackwell Publication, 2008, pp.379: “During the 1494 crisis due to the passage of Charles VIII through Florence, and the threat of an open conflict with the powerful French army, Savonarola played a primary role of meditation, taking part twice in a delegation to the king” F Del Lucchese, The political philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli, cit., p.17 C Vivanti, Niccolò Machiavelli, I tempi della politica, cit., p.10: “la sua tendenza a conseguire l’unione fra i cittadini si manifesta fin dai primi anni della sua attività politica, ad esempio nel tentativo, allora fallito, di avvicinare al gonfaloniere Pier Soderini il maggiore esponente del gruppo degli ottimati, Alamanno Salviati.” Ibidem, p.9: “l’atteggiamento di Machiavelli verso il frate domenicano è stato generalmente visto come decisamente ostile, anzi nel secolo XIX, i due personaggi furono contrapposti a rappresentare emblematicamente l’uno il perdurare del Medioevo, l’altro la nuova età del Rinascimento, o come pure venne detto, l’età della fede e l’età della scienza Per questo giudizio ci si basò soprattutto sulla lettera che, pochi mesi prima della caduta di Savonarola, Machiavelli scrisse a Ricciardo Becchi, ambasciatore fiorentino a Roma, che gli aveva chiesto notizie ‘de le cose di qua circa al frate’” Aristotelian theory which gained partisans’ power and several intellectuals at the time In the end, Savonarola was condemned the death on 23 May 1498 by Pope Alessandro VI and the Consiglio maggiore oversaw his position.10 Instead of being inspired by Savonarola’s regime of the Platonic King in a non-conflictual political kingdom, Machiavelli went against it but was inspired by the prophetic manner that Savonarola grounded his political influence The way he depicted and selected the set of characteristics of the ideal prince, or the winner, is full of divine and mythical illustrations 11 At the time in Florence, there was a war with Pisa Internal conflicts were frequent in Italy, and this conflictual period of Florence and Pisa was not viewed as any noticeable event in Italian history It was however affected the tasks of a Florentine Chancellor which was carried by the young Machiavelli two days after the corruption of Savonarola’s regime What is the role of a Chancellor and what did Machiavelli literally during his term of office as a Chancellor? From the complicated situation of Florence at the time, Cancelleria fiorentina works as an administrator in the modern-day Despite an ordinary title in our modern world, this position however was important in the contemporary time because a Cancelleria must be able to be awake of the tumult, gli umori, among the people and to know which relations exist between political organs and territories 12 Having possessed C Vivanti, Niccolò Machiavelli, I tempi della politica, cit., p.10: “Non sappiamo se Machiavelli avesse già maturato l’idea, poi sviluppata nei Discorsi, che le lotte interne di una città possono essere vantaggiose per la vita politica se alla fine si ricompongono, creando nuovi riordinamenti e nuove leggi” 10 Ibidem, p.8: “condannato a morte, il 23 maggio 1498, in ossequio alla scomunica fulminata da papa Alessandro VI, fu impiccato a arso in piazza della Signoria […] il Consiglio maggiore, che ne era l’organo principale, rimasse in carica.” 11 A.A Rosa, Machiavelli e l’Italia, cit., p.74: “[Machiavelli] Aggiunge subito dopo che di Mose non si deve ‘ragionare’ ispirato e tutelato dalla superiore volontà divina… il condottiero vincitore, il fondatore di stati, che risponda a tali caratteristiche, piu’ del divino che dell’umano, ovvero, piu’ esattamente, è in grado di sforzare l’umano oltre i limiti che normalmente gli sono consentiti” 12 C Vivanti, Niccolò Machiavelli, I tempi della politica, p.24: “Ci rendiamo conto, altresì, come quell’amministrazione vada modificandosi agli inizi dell’età moderna Al tempo stesso capiamo come il these two key capacities, a Cancelleria will stabilize the Florentine public discipline, military service of the Republic by, not to be repeated, valuating the people’s tendencies and mobilizing them, gli umori.13 For a better explanation, using the current definitions, the most important functions of a Cancelleria is the right of self-administration, the consent of controlling fiscal organizations, regulations, market services, the authority of transportation, and the prerogative for a better sovereign and conduct of justice 14 The Cancelleria was divided into two sectors, the first one holds foreign affairs and the second holds the internal affairs and the conduct of wars.15 Machiavelli carries out the task of a first Chancellor from 1498 and of a second Chancellor, the diplomatic career, from 1500 Although Machiavelli wrote a bundle of letters to his friends, he never described in detail what he was doing during his public career, and it was obvious since letters needed time to deliver and receive in ancient times However, his tasks were never well-defined and assigned by the head and by the chaotic situation of Florence His frequent task of a first Chancellor was recorded as “trattare i problemi correnti della Repubblica fiorentina attraverso le lettere di governo, le corrispondenze diplomatiche e i vari scritti politici d’occasione, nei quali svolgeva sovente considerazioni di carattere generale, formulando espressioni e argomentazioni che più tardi ritroveremo nelle grandi opere politiche.”16 In this time, Machiavelli literally worked as he was asked to do, and he completed it successfully Apart from Machiavelli’s skillful ability of Segretario fiorentino riesca a conoscere direttamente gli umori degli abitanti e a capire le relazioni che s’intrecciano nei vari luoghi.” 13 C Vivanti, Niccolò Machiavelli, I tempi della politica, p.25: “Di tale esperienza si avvarrà per stabilire l’Ordinanza fiorentina, l’organizzazione del servizio militare della Repubblica, valutando le differenti possibilità di arruolare gli abitanti, proprio perché’ le sue mansioni l’hanno portato a visitare e a ispezionare le varie località.” 14 Ibidem, p.25: “In effetti, se in termini generali le più importanti comunità assoggettare conservavano il diritto di auto amministrarsi, la dominante riusciva a controllarne l’organizzazione fiscale, le regole annonarie, le servitù del mercato, le preiscrizioni sui traffici e sulle strade, e soprattutto quella che era le prerogativa per eccellenza della sovranità, l’amministrazione della giustizia.” 15 Ibidem, p.13: “in linea generale si può dire che mentre la prima Cancelleria si occupava degli affari esteri, la secondo era principalmente incaricata degli affari interni e della condotta della guerra.” 16 Ibidem, p.15 intellectual political judgment that allows him to complete these tasks, I believe that these task’s characters, in another side, lead him to be an outstanding philosophical political thinker rather than to be a leader of a state Perhaps, it contributes strongly to the fact that his political reflections are tense and extreme since, after fifteen years of approaching such political knowledge, from 1498 to 1512, he ended up his public career without having a chance to apply them into reality Machiavelli bitterly admitted it: “quindici anni che io sono stato allo studio dell’arte dello Stato” 17 By scanning his tasks in his career and what was recorded as Machiavelli’s working activities, it is evident for the reason why Machiavelli concentrated on political philosophy and viewed politics in the irrational form as well as a matter of emergency and contingency, rather than on acting as a Renassaince politician 18 “Politics is, for Machiavelli, at the confluence of these two conceptions of historiography and theory Politics is also, in this sense, a challenge against the claim that authors, theories, thoughts should be studied within their disciplinary boundaries” 19 Machiavelli takes up diplomacy at the very early age of his career The first mandato of Machiavelli’s diplomatic career inscribes a politics of fragments and tears which for him requires extreme means to be solved In this period of life, Machiavelli recalled the most strictly learning application upon his political attitude From 1500 until the collapse of the Republic, Machiavelli was the second Chancellor of the Florentine Republic As the second Chancellor, Machiavelli was responsible for the Florentine Republic correspondence with local officials and territorial governors across the Florentine territorial state in Tuscany 20 He was not alone There were other florentini funzionari, who employed as the Second Chancellors, named Filippo Casavecchia, Francesco Del Nero, and Luigi Giucciardini.21 17 N Machiavelli, Tutte le opere, Letter to Francesco Vettori in 10th December 1513, cit., p.297 18 Carlo Galli, Emergency and exception: Machiavelli and Schmitt, in "Filosofia politica" 2/2021, pp 199-218 19 F Del Lucchese, The Political Philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli, cit, p.3 20 Bock, G., Skinner, Q., & Viroli, M Machiavelli and Republicanism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991 21 C Vivanti, Niccolò Machiavelli, I tempi della politica, cit p.18: “Da Blois, Roberto Acciaiuoli, che lo sostituito come ambasciatore della corte di Francia, si dice individioso degli amici che lo avrebero ascoltato a From that point, the nobility’s rights were reduced to a lower execution and the people held their political highly power If dissatisfactions and appetites drove the nobles into the imprudence of virtu, they will draw the ambition of the people into the common good of a state As discussed in chapter 4, The Discourses, thanks to their dispositions of being oppressed, the people’s position are the sensitive alarm of the unbalance between self-interests and the contribution for the state’s benefits Once tumults were raised and the people were given ‘political tools’ for their own sake, as Florence’s situation occurred, they acted accordingly to the times and pull out the corruption Conflicted was raised as to political disapproval between the people’s healthy ambition and the nobles’ appetites and it required an intervention Instead of calling for reconciliation from the pope, which did not resolve and even harm the wealth and political power of the city, the Florentines learned how to set a new order They rearranged political components and make negotiations between them The senate brought into play its political function New laws were launched effectually by ‘keep in check the nobles’ political power and their benefits’ the common sense of a state that ‘keeps the public rich, and citizens poor’ was accorded in the city The noble families took the chance to put off the hatred that lasted for decades and allied among them for their entire native city Once conflicts, classes as well as external ones, reached their degree of disorder, orders were set up among them The Duke of Milan, external political power, was unpreventable but he was lost his power of acting upon Florence’s political strength because the Florentines now were acting for their own sake This time, Florentines were aware of the unnecessary of the city acquirement, the Lucca’s domination, so they gave up soon on it and took it as trivial losses, as the French cultural shameful invasion in Florence The Duke of Milan could not find any excuse to take up his arms in the city and his reactions upon Florentines’ movements, raising city taxes and abusing Florentine’s women, ruined his reputation and his stato Machiavelli rarely comments on any individual events or class should have the nomination of two of the Signiory, and the middle and the lower classes for three each The Gonfalonier was to be chosen by turns from all by rotation The old laws against the nobility were not only revived and executed but to reduce them effectually, many of them were incorporated with the other classes.” historical figures except the barbaric deeds of Visconti that excluded him from Machiavelli’s illustrious figure of Virtu – Fortuna Compared to the Agrarian laws that were too ambiguous among economic common benefits and individual ownership, Florentines set an advanced financial law called catasto that was based on property valuation, rather than merely income.216 Machiavelli went into detail discussing it The common good was misunderstood and disguised itself as a financial contribution to the community The political ideal orders and rules must take more evidence and produce common solutions, rather than making wars and benefiting from victories.217 Despite being acknowledged of the philosophical answers for the Florentine circumstances, Machiavelli hardly shows an optimistic view of the present political reality He rather revealed a new truth of historical events and unearthed undiscovered facts of the city upon his theory than produced a new political construction based on examples from the city It is, in fact, Machiavelli’s intentions and recommended tasks upon histories as a branch of studies, the tasks that the previous historians had not done Hence, at the end of this book, Machiavelli concluded that due to the Florence’s virtù against Aristocracy, the recovery of the city rose He still applied his narrative rhetoricity of merging the author’s opinion and the teller’s views upon historical events 216 N Machiavelli, The Florentine Histories, cit., p 114: “to which who had left their business in order to govern the republic ought to be less burdened by it, as it ought to be less burdened by it, as it ought to be enough that they had laboured in persons and it was not just that the city should enjoy their belongings and their industry and only the money of others.” 217 F Del Lucchese, The political philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli, cit p.96: “A common good, a common solution to the city’s problem, is materially impossible, because the city ‘matter’ itself is made up of conflicting parties with conflicting interests War becomes the paradigm to interpret this new revealed reality” Belfagor and Mandragola, Machiavellian demonic conventionality 4.1 Belfagor ‘La novella diventa tecnicamente e stilisticamente una variazione sul registro del comico dell’arte machiavelliana di scrivere la storia: una rappresentazione rovesciata della condizione degli uomini sulla terra e dei dannati dell’inferno’ 218 Belfagor was the interpreted version of Medieval Slavic folklore e was written between 1518 and 1527 The arc-evil Belfagor is the protagonist Pluto, the lord of hell, after hearing too many complaints of the deaths about the hardest pain that they undertook in the world, decided to send Belfagor to the world in the form of humans so that he could undergo those pains and report it to the board of hell The folklore was narrated in the present Florentine scenery and the human form of the arc evil Belfagor, Roderigo of Castile, with a hundred thousand ducats, the trade coin in Europe carried the task All pains started from the marriage with Donati Onesta Her characteristics and her demands created to Belfagor a series of debts and losses until he became poor and homeless Belfagor eventually followed his task, but he betrayed his commitment and did not want to come back to hell without any reason, even though the worldly pains caused him troubles and tortures Being still in the world, he started creating troubles He incarntated into the daughter of King of France and in the end, another man, Gianmatteo, intelligently borrows the figure of his wife to fierce him away from the world and obliged him to come back to hell Machiavelli is patriotic He selects the values that are based on his surrounding environments: The city of Florence, the folklore migrated in Europe, the well-known trade coin, the religious idea of the existence of another world, taxes, and debts of economic demand Precisely, the luxury costs and expenses, the aggressive debtors, the religious superstition, which were the customs of Florence, were depicted in detail.219 Subsequently, the teasing of evil carrying in the female body was occupying 218 P Stoppelli, Machiavelli e la Novella di Belfagor, cit., p 79 219 Ibidem, p 70: “Per quanto riguarda Machiavelli, non meraviglia certo che egli abbia potuto avere interesse a una storia che metteva in satira per piu’ versi i costumi della sua città (la mania del lusso e delle spese eccesive, l’agressività degli usurai, la credulità religiosa) e l’abbia nuovamente raccontata impegnandovi la sua fantasia.” in the society of Cinquecento.220 It is evident that Giovanni del Bene and Amerigo Donati were the real personalities that Machiavelli took to reproduce in Belfagor In The Florentine Histories, they are slightly described as a fortune and brilliant noble in career but turned to zero at the end of his life Thus, he adds on his memories that he experienced: France and his hostile attitude; Italy’s power toward France’s issues; unprevented and unforeseen events in Belfagor’s journey (or himself Machiavelli’s life); Belfagor’s foolish betrayal and resistant plot (or Italian rulers’ present practices); the reaction of Gianmatteo toward Belfagor’s conspiracies (virtù of someone affects fortuna of another); the figure of Belfagor wife in the victory of Gianmatteo and in the ending of Belfagor worldly mission (La Fortuna lies on the background of men’s events) The reunion in the hell and the description of the hell’s administration was an ideal figure of an ordered government 221 The lord of hell, Pluto was liberal enough to listen to the mortals and their tumults He called for a convocation discussing the most triggering tumult, found the causes (their wives made the worldly harms), and concluded with a practical experimental task upon the truth of the commotion He, thus, let the devils choose among them who would be the one who carried the task From this point, the comparison to worldly life turned to disorder, conflictual but lively It is not to be forgotten that the Florentine culture praised demonic force and the comic narrative was well known in the vulgar community Brevio wrote a familiar demonic fable on the devil Boccaccio wrote Filocolo opened by the speech of Satan, and it is proved to be the original of the image of Fluto in Machiavelli’s Belfagor.222 The Florentines in the 220 P Stoppelli, Machiavelli e la Novella di Belfagor, cit., p 71: “Fra le aggiunte di Brevio mi limiterei a segnalare la punzecchiatura agli spagnoli, poco compatibile gli anni di primo Cinquecento; forse la spiritosamente, alcuni passaggi in cui lo scrittore veneziano sembra aver letto le Istorie fiorentine” 221 Ibidem: “Nella tessitura del racconto di Machiavelli rimandano a lui tutte le parti dell’intreccio che si riscontrano il suo stile Ma il contribuito sostanziale apportato alla fabula è la drammatizzazione del concilio infernale e la descrizione dell’inferno come una reupplica ben ordinata, retta da un principe saggio Ne consegue un’idea rovesciata della terra e dell’inferno: l’inferno vero è qui sulla terra, e anche il diavolo appena può preferisce fuggirne 222 Ibidem, p 80: “Le radici remote del tema sono nel teatro religioso medievale Ma il precedente più calzante invocato da Martelli, anche in ragione dei suoi risvolti parodistici, è il discorso di Satana ne primo libro del Quatrocentto loved to hear legendaria comics with a well-arranged conclusion, rather than some religious simplicity 223 Although Machiavelli did not intend heavily place these items on folklore, these patterns are still easily recognized: Machiavellian theory; men’s brutal and foolish nature; the intentional existence of female figures; the relationship between accidents and men’s actions; mutable conflicts and one absolute solution Machiavellian philosophical thinking seeks a single absolute point that resolved all traumatic conflicts The action is accepted for any violation if it satisfies the social and political demands Unforeseen events, in effect, support a single point Gianmatteo succeeded when he arranged the fake figure of Belfagor’s wife to fear him back to hell Belfagor completed the mission, Pluto got the answers Gianmatteo earned money and the reputation Onesta was pleased by Roderigo and the daughter of King of France was cured 4.2 Mandragola Compared to Belfagor, Mandragola was well composed and prepared Machiavelli had more freedom in planning for his ideal political philosophy This could be the romance play where love goes beyond regulations Men take action by chasing women After a series of struggles and misunderstandings, the protagonists have a happy ending Mandragola, in effect, is a comic play rather than a romance story Rather than grounding on love, marriage, in the beginning, was arranged to maintain the same breed Love turns to conflictual concepts with the coat of sexual desire Men acts accordingly to their self – interests and women appear as powerless luck The young man Callimaco came from France He heard about Lucrezia’s charm and decency and decided to meet her no matter she was already married As soon as he met Lucrezia, he was disappointed since her reputation was not realistic as her Filocolo di Boccaccio, che peraltro si conclude proprio un trasferimento del principe delle tenebre sulla terra sotto l’aspetto di ‘nobilissimo cavaliere’ 223 P Stoppelli, Machiavelli e la Novella di Belfagor, cit., p 75: “È sufficente constatare che nella cultura volgare fiorentina di fine Quattrocento le possessioni diaboliche incontravano un certo interesse come tema narrativo, interesse che veniva ormai declinato più nel registro del comico che non, come secoli prima, sul piano dell’semplicità religiosa.” plain character However, since he paid too much for the journey, he continues the plot of conquering Lucrezia After revealing his ambition, he got helped by Ligurio, an astute friend of Messer Nicia, the husband of Lucrezia Ligurio did not bother with the fact that he was betraying his friend Messer Nicia by helping Callimaco with payment Ligurio introduced Callimaco to Nicia as an excellent doctor from French who knows Mandragola, a medicine that could help Nicia and her wife have a child By letting a young man sleep with his wife and let him drink it, his wife will get pregnant Ligurio continued to bribe Frate Timoteo, who could persuade Lucrezia and her mother Sostrata for this groundless treatment Frate Timoteo was primed for making up stories for the plot underpayment and the divine coat of religion Sostrata was a worried mother who did not want her daughter ‘abbandonata da ognuno’224 and in another hand wanted to liberate herself from the sins of betraying her dead husband At the night of treatment, Callimaco disguised himself as homeless, so Liguiro and Timoteo guided Nicia to catch the disguised homeless for the Mandragola’s treatment Callimaco met Lucrezia and confessed his plot and his love toward her She was moved and the plot was successful Callimaco remained under the Messer’s house as a family doctor and Lucrezia was happy with her lover and Nicia maintained the continuity of the family line with an heir Having a look at the Machiavellian philosophical theory, besides the figure of men – virtù e women – fortuna, marriage was designed as a means for the common rule of having an heir and sexual desire causes conflicts based on self-interests as the principal order of human nature Messer married the young Lucrezia at the late age of adult for having children, but he had not reached the aim Callimaco was driven by his human nature and got help by Ligurio’s experience Liguiro committed to the plot by creating an exceptional means: Mandragola Timoteo obtained religious power but was corruptive by money He created tumult between Nicia, Sostrata, and Lucrezia so that they take up actions on their own interests and get involved in the plot One after another, they showed up their own interests Sostrata desired to flee of the spiritual faith with her dead husband Nicia has his sexual orientation towards male bodies Lucrezia 224 N Machiavelli, Tutte le opere, Mandragola, cit., p 500: “Sostrata: Lasciati persuadere, figliuola mia Non vedi tu che una donna che non figliuoli non casa? Muorsi el marito, resta come una bestia abbandonata da ognuno.” was thirsty for love And once they were supplied means and ways for their own disposition of freedom, tensions of conflicts were retreated, and new order was set in peace Nicia had an heir for his social title, Ligurio earned money and political power, Timoteo earned money and religious power, Callimaco satisfied with his lust and create his social position as a doctor, Sostrata get rid of spiritual tie and Lucrezia had her love affairs and maintained her marriage Protagonists’ reactions in the two stories lead to problems, in another word, subjective experiences lead Machiavellian thoughts to crisis The two works have endings but recently Machiavelli’s life was still processed The material impossibility of supporting his theoretical position in the new political scenario creates a crisis 225 Hobbes goes against the Machiavellian extremity of realism and idealism and saw these theoretical political reactions as crisis rather than the evil essential side of human nature He rather designs artificial constitutions and contract as solutions for this extreme freedom of acts – reactions towards self-interests of glory.226 Machiavelli was deeply keen on history and its utility to the present time He devoted his free time to acknowledge better the effectual truth of the present by reinterpreting history, or preferably histories This is Machiavelli’s crucial shame quality on men towards egotism and dissatisfaction that ruins men after Machiavelli puts more political roles and implications in each character, especially Callimaco’s original from his experiences of two diplomatic missions in France 227 His diplomatic 225 F Del Lucchese, The political philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli, cit p.89 and L.Althusser, Machiavelli e noi, cit, p.61 226 C Galli, Contingenza e necessità nella politica moderna, cit., p.16: “Che la sua antropologia negativa – lungi dall’ avvicinarlo a Hobbes, contro quanto pensavano in francofortesi e pénano molti autori di area angloamericana, tratti in inganno dalla contrapposizione, in realtà estrinseca, di realismo e idealismo – esprime in modo radicalismo sia l’insensatezza della storia e della condizione umân, lontana da qualsiasi garanzia gìa data o da aggiungere, sia la contingenza della politica, lontana da qualungque pretesa di necessità.” 227 Pasquale Stoppelli, La Mandragola: Storia e filologia, Bulzoni Editore, 2005, p.116: “Ma il rapporto della Mandragola la storia non passa solo attraverso l’onomastica dei personaggi Né richiamerei qui come argomento a sostegno della componente storica della commedia la battuta irrilevante sul passaggio del Turco (III 32) Rilevante mi sembra invece il fatto che Machiavelli ancora cronologicamente i fatti della Mandragola al 1494, anno della discesa in Italia di Carlo VIII Callimaco è nato nel 1474; a dieci anni (1484), morti entrambi i genitori, mission in France in six months was empty and obscure since the Signoria did not assign a clear task and France’s attitude towards Florence did not meet the expectation of Machiavelli For him, it was incubation of the defensive thinking toward powers that drive him to the radical and modern reflections on his political doctrine 228 Mandragola was the illustration of the evil rules of human nature as well as the demonic rights and duties of Belfagor From the viewpoint of foreign political authors, especially from maritime Anglaise countries, the political concept of ‘demonic’ is originally internal Ritter considers this intimacy in politics as a limitation in Machiavellian philosophical understandings that, later, this amoral technique in modern politics becomes substantial and not be furtherly investigated.229 Machiavelli adored the auto conservation and the individual courage that drives men to free acts for power and è mandato a Parigi; a venti (1494) avrebbe dovuto far ritorno a Firenze, ma la passata di re Carlo e le guerre d’Italia gliel’hanno impedito; nel 1504, a trent’anni, fa finalmente ritorno a Firenze, spinto dall’innamoramento a distanza per Lucrezia La scansione degli anni per decadi è anch’essa significativa di un’ottica storica, ma è ancora più significativo quello in cui si concludono le Istorie fiorentine, per non dire dei Discorsi, che fanno pìu volte rimando al 1494 come a una data cruciale Non pare dubitabile alla luce di queste evidenze che Machiavelli intenda attribuire alla commedia un valore esemplare rispetto nuovi tempi che proprio i fatti del 1494 avevano tristemente inaugurato” 228 C Galli, Contingenza e necessità nella politica moderna, cit., p.8: “la grande circolazione di Machiavelli in Francia alla fine del XVI secolo non comporta per nulle – a parte la sua ricaduta nell’ambito della Teorizzazioni della ragion di Stato, che è un complesso di dottrine certo modernizzanti di fatto, ma non modern quanto ad impianto categoriale – che egli abbia influenzato le correnti veramente inbertino all’interno del quale, secondo l’autrice, trova la sua prima incubazione quella soggettività che muovendo da un’iniziale posizione difensiva rispetto al potere si farà poi modernamente e razionalmente costruttivistica Hobbes.” 229 Ibidem, p.13: “Insomma, la strategia argomentativa di Ritter è orientata a fare di Machiavelli il pensatore originario di un Moderno che dopo di lui non è mai più stato politicamente consapevole di sé, fino a quando Schmitt non nuovamente pensato l’origine della politica moderna, incontrando il pensiero ‘demonico’ di Machiavelli, ovvero la politica come amorale tenica della potenza” glory.230 He considered it as the peculiarity of Florentines’ thinking upon political issues and crises.231 The concept of ‘demonic’ becomes the extreme and ideal solution for Machiavellian philosophical relationships between political elements Schmitt, the Ritter’s successor, assumes this evil conservative morality in politics, which is the Florentines’ Machiavellian peculiarity, as an extrinsic orientation of political style of ‘friend versus enemy’.232 Althusser, takes this insight as to the singleness, il solitudine, which is required in extraordinary situations where politics does not have a form 233 C Galli, Contingenza e necessità nella politica moderna,cit., p.12: “Ancora più chiaramente Machiavelli 230 risulta laterale rispetto alla politica moderna secondo la riflessione assai critica di Hannah Arendt, la quale lo colloca in un tertium genus rispetto due estremi della politica moderna, il dominio (inteso come Herrschaft) e l’autoconservazione della vita individuale; né potenza né sicurezza sono il concetto chiave della poliitca secondo Machiavelli, ma il coraggio, ossia l’agire aperto e libero, in uno spazio plurale, per il potere e la gloria.” Ibidem, “Infine, oltre filomachiavellici che credono nell’equazione tra modernità e pensiero machiavelliano, 231 e oltre critici della modernità che vedono nelle sue aporie coinvolto anche Machiavelli, ma in modo laterale, è da esaminare una seria di autori novecenteschi che clogono nel pensiero del fiorentino l’origine della moderna politica statualizzata” Ibidem, p 13: “La dipendenza di Ritter da Schmitt, e non solo per la dicotomia terra/mare ma anche per la 232 stessa definizione del ‘demonico’ machiavelliano, concettualmente costruito in modo assai prossimo alla categoria schimittiana di ‘politico’ come rapport amico – nemico” 233 Ibidem, p.15: “Athusser utilizza Machiavelli per scoprire la violenza che originariamente inerisce alla politica statualizzata, e lo vede in ‘solitudine’ in quanto e l’unico autore politico a pensare non il ‘fatto compiuto’ delle monarchie nazionali ma il ‘fatto da compiersi’ della Fondazione di uno Stato nazionale in condizioni straordinarie di assenza di forma politica.” CONCLUSION The life of Machiavelli was full of extreme alternations, from the original of the family to his ability in education Elements and facts from his public career roles to his reflections upon his own experiences, from his mission to his literary records by words, were researched by Quentin Skinner, Gian Mario Anselmi, Gennaro Sasso e Filippo Del Lucchese The world from his glance was a series of unrelated and incoherent events At the end of his public career, Machiavelli found that his craftmanship was to view historical events in a different way, which brings histories into an effective political tool to treat the actual political situations His works, therefore, were composed based on this insight Machiavelli started to sharpen the philosophical tools of virtù and fortuna These couple of effective political concepts were utilized to re-interpret the actions of historical figures and unrelated circumstances Nondimanco of Carlo Ginzburg analyzed on specimen Machiavelli’s handwriting to figure out Machiavelli’s struggling on drawing the relationship of virtù – fortuna Alberto Asor Rosa mentioned the impact of unbalanced Italy in 1492 on Machiavelli’s reflections of his perception of the mutable corruptive world The relationship of virtù - fortuna, thus, is concluded that virtù cannot be defined as a tool of dominating fortuna but energy that resists corruption brought by fortuna through politically unrelated events Machiavelli shaped virtù as the energy of human nature and fortuna as a sense towards insubstantial concrete This insight, in fact, leads to crisis because Machiavelli then designed a variety of human nature shapes and many insubstantial political senses Among them, evil and extreme were categorized as the two highlighted meanings of virtu and necessity and occasion were the two powerful aspects of fortuna Therefore, an attempt to bring the crisis in light was the higher layer of administrations rules and exceptions was set up Political rules are confronted with all exceptional unforeseen actions that draw the actual situations into corruption and collapse Political rules however were misunderstood after the flourishing time of the Roman Empire and remarkable men often ruined themselves by having misinterpreted what history truly taught There were plenty of unnecessary trivial losses that could be avoided if men, especially Florentines, could have read better the past events The regime’s power asks for circumstances of the common good, classes conflicts, financial and honorable ownership, internal and external military Thus, the concept of conflict and order was recalled Machiavellian conflicts in politics lead to the necessity of setting legislative orders Orders must be reconstructed based on conflicts because conflicts are the signals of natural laws and are worldly reliable Extreme must be simply seen as an improvised political treatment that brings efficacia In Machiavelli’s words, it names virtuous actions that bring this necessary aspect of fortuna into the occasion so that the scenario of politics could look brighter Politics, in the end, remains the same with difficulties, discomforts, ambiguities contradictions that could not be forgotten, hidden, or eliminated Therefore, by reworking on historical events and situations, Machiavelli’s works could be read spontaneously separately in the manner of effective re-interpretation The outcome of concepts and problems was several Machiavellian triggering definitions: tumult, the evil side of human nature, and political trivial losses Chapter 4, Book I of The Discourses and the original story of two factions in Florence, book IV of The Florentines Histories was discussed political trivial losses Political tensions should not be risen by trivial commotions and oppose divisions in politics, if any, must serve as a means for purposeful aims Chapter 37, Book I of The Discourses and the Florentines’ rise from Castruccio Catrascani’s death in 1328 until 1340, book IV of The Florentines Histories reveals the evil side of human nature and the solutions for it The two parts of Machiavellian works approve the financial benefits of conflicts that were created from the evil side of human nature Compared to the prince, people, the mass, were aware of political discomfort better as well as eased the political disapproval in more effective ways Chapter 8, book III of The Discourses and Corso Donati was exposed to failure and success in taking advantage of tumults This draws an assumption that men should carefully acknowledge the present situations and act accordingly to times Belfagor and Mandragola were the Machiavelli’s liberty of drawing the conventionality of political thinking Virtuous deeds toward fortuna’s motions were designed to meet social norms and self-interests Ironic conflicts and ingenuous orders render the works into comics with a thoughtful and lawful ending The Florence in the 1500s draws a scenery daily world In a small-scale political environment, which is, in effect, occurs in every single group of people, these Machiavellian focuses could be recognized and utilized in the modern days An effective reinterpretation of historical events, of course, works as the key tool to understand these Machiavellian terms This is the ultimate motive that drove Machiavelli to compose his works and it is, too, the expectation of this thesis BIOGRAPHY Texts of Machiavelli Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Chicago, University of Chicago press, 1985 Niccolò Machiavelli, The Art of War, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2003 Niccolò Machiavelli, The Discourses, Penguin Classics, 2003 Niccolò Machiavelli, Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2001 Niccolò Machiavelli, The Florentine Histories, New York, Paine and Burgess, 1845 Niccolò Machiavelli, Tutte le opere, Firenze, Sansoni, 1971 Niccolò Machiavelli, Opere di Niccolò Machiavelli, Firenze, Gaetano Cambiagi, 1782: Rittratto della Francia Secondary texts Althusser, Louis Machiavelli e noi Roma, Manifestolibri, 1999 (tr inglese, Machiavelli and Us Verso Books, 2000) Anselmi, Gian Mario, Riccardo Caporali e Carlo Galli, Machiavelli Cinquecento Mezzo millennio del «Principe», Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2015 Asor Rosa, Alberto Machiavelli e l’Italia Torino, Einaudi, 2019 Del Lucchese, Filippo The Political Philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli, Edinburg University press, 2005 Galli, Carlo Il volto demoniaco del potere? Momenti e problemi della fortuna continentale di Machiavelli, in Id Contingenza e necessità nella ragione politica moderna, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2009 Galli, Carlo Emergenza ed eccezione Machiavelli e Carl Schmitt, “Filosofia politica” 2/2021, pp 199-218 (C Galli, Emergency and exception: Machiavelli and Schmitt, in "Filosofia politica, Rivista fondata da Nicola Matteucci" 2/2021) Ginzburg, Carlo Nondimanco Machiavelli e Pascal, Milano, Adelphi, 2018 Sasso, Gennaro, Niccolò Machiavelli (2 voll.), Bologna, Il Mulino, 1993 Skinner, Quentin, Machiavelli, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1999 Vivanti, Corrado Niccolò Machiavelli: i tempi della politica, Roma, Donzelli, 2008 J.H Whitfield, The American Historical Review, Volume 53, Issue 1: Machiavelli, 1947 John M Najemy, A History of Florence 1200-1575, Blackwell Publication, 2008 Ardito, Alissa M., Machiavelli and the Modern State: The Prince, the Discourses on Livy, and the Extended Territorial Republic (pp 12-67) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015 Bock, G., Skinner, Q., & Viroli, M Machiavelli and Republicanism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991 Anselmi, Gian Mario, Leggere Machiavelli, Bologna, Patron Editore, 2014 J.M Najemy, The Review of Politics, "Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia: A Reconsideration of Chapter of 'The Prince'." vol 75, no 4, 2013, pp 550, the University of Notre Dame, 2021 Carlo Galli, Schmitt e Machiavelli, in Id., Lo sguardo di Giano Saggi su Carl Schimitt, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008 Boezio, Severino, La consolazione della filosofia, Biblioteca Univ Rizzoli, 1976, Libro secondo Myron, Pyper Gilmore, Studies in Machiavelli, Firenze, Sansoni Edition, 1972 L.Strauss, Pensieri su Machiavelli, Milano, Giuffre, 1970 Stoppelli, Pasquale, Machiavelli e la Novella di Belfagor, Saggio di filologia attibutiva, Salerno Editrice, 2007 Stoppelli, Pasquale, La Mandragola: Storia e filologia, Roma, Bulzoni Editore, 2005