Machiavelli, niccolò chief works others, vol 1

MACHIAVELLI MACHIAVELLI THE CHIEF WORKS AND OTHERS TRANSLATED BY ALLAN GILBERT VOLUME ONE Non in exercitu nee in robore J Duke University Press Durham and London 1989 © I9S8, I9 6I, I9 63, I965, I989 by Allan H Gilbert I999 printing Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 64-I6I92 Cloth 0-8223-°920-3 Paper 0-8223-0945-9 Cloth J-vol set 0-822J-09IJ-0 Paper J-vol set 0-8223-093I-9 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 00 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME ONE PREFACE vi; The Translation The Works Included The Notes and Index v;;; ;x TEXTS USED IN TRANSLATING x·I A PROVISION FOR INFANTRY (a selection) :1 THE PRINCE A PASTORAL: THE IDEAL RULER A DISCOURSE ON REMODELING THE GOVERNMENT OF FLORENCE 97 101 ADVICE TO RAFFAELLO GIROLAMI WHEN HE WENT AS AMBASSADOR TO THE EMPEROR THE LEGATIONS (parts of dispatches dealing with Cesare Borgia) 120 ON THE METHOD OF DEALING WITH THE REBELLIOUS PEOPLES OF THE VALDICHIANA (a selection) A DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD USED BY DUKE VALENTINO IN KILLING VITELLOZZO VITELLI, OLIVEROTTO DA FERMO, AND OTHERS [AT SINIGAGLIA] AN EXHORTATION TO PENITENCE 170 DISCOURSES ON THE FIRST DECADE OF TITUS LIVIUS BOOK I BOOK BOOK VOLUME TWO THE LIFE OF CASTRUCCIO CASTRACANI OF LUCCA THE ART OF WAR 533 561 vi Table of Contents THE ACCOUNT OF A VISIT MADE TO FORTIFY FLORENCE: A LETTER TO THE AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC IN ROME 727 TERCETS ON AMBITION 735 TERCETS ON INGRATITUDE OR ENVY 740 TERCETS ON FORTUNE 745 THE [GOLDEN] ASS 750 MACHIAVELLI'S COMEDIES 773 MANDRAGOLA n6 CLIZIA 822 ARTICLES FOR A PLEASURE COMPANY 865 BELFAGOR, THE DEVILWHO MARRIED 869 CARNIVAL SONGS (fivesongs) 878 FAMILIAR LETTERS (all given are complete) 883 A SONNET TO MESSER BERNARDO HIS FATHER 1012 TWO SONNETS TO GIULIANO, SON OF LORENZO DE'MEDICI 1013 A THIRD SONNET TO GIULIANO 101 SERENADE 1016 VOLUME THREE Page THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE 102 THE NATURES OF FLORENTINE MEN 1436 WORDS TO BE SPOKEN ON THE LAW FOR APPROPRIAT, ING MONEY 1439 FIRST DECENNALE, ten years of Florentine history 1494;1504 1444 SECOND DECENNALE,jive years of Florentine history 1504;1509 1457 EPIGRAM, PIERO SODERINI 1463 EPIGRAM, ARGUS, on the release of Francis 146) INDEX 1465 ILLUSTRA TIONS frontispiece Terra cotta bust of Machiavelli by an unknown artist, in the Societa Columbaria, Florence (Alinari photograph) facing page 136 San Leo in 1957 facing pagt 546 Serravalle following pacfe 726 Platts illustrating the ART OF W AR facing pagt 876 The expulsion of the devil from one possessed facing page 1114 Bags from which the names of Florentines who were to hold public office were drawn PREFACE The Translation The first duty of a translator ;s to bring over into his own tongue what his author says But this statement is deceptively simple Shall the rendering be free or close! At its worst, free means a hasty paraphrase, often perversion or absolute error At its best, freedom exacts such famil~ iarity with the language of the text that its lesser shades of meaning appear in English as idiomatic as is the original Italian Close may be taken to indicate a word"for"word transfer that is no language, obscuring sense and obliterating distinction Or close may imply such sympathy with the great work that its significance and even its individual qualities come out in the substituted language The best free version and the best close version have in common a demand for labor such that on a word or a sentence the translator may multiply the time that went into its original setting down To difend either free or close rendering, not seldom an attempt to justify slight effort, obscures the translator's prime duty: to the best he can for his author, whether freely or closely Desiring to put bifore a twentieth"century audience precisely what was penned more than four centuries earlier, the worker is now and then obliged to ask: Can this be what Machiavelli wrote! He may curb his doubts, contenting himself ·with what is printed in an accepted text; or he may allow himself to attempt textual investigation The ideal translatorfirst edits the best critical text; I regret that I have not carried on such double labor Yet I have seen enough to conclude that, heavy as is our debt to Mazzoni and Casella for their text of the literary and historical works (1929)' their labors are not final In some cases I have chosen to follow the first printed editions Now and then-and this has been more often in works not edited by Mazzoni and Casella-I have translated what seems to be the meaning, always with a note of warning The hope to naturalize in his own idiom the stylistie qualities and the spirit of agreat work is the translator's will" 0'"the~wisp So seldom does it happen, that the man who believes he has accomplished it is likely to be a victim of self~delusion Yet one is still in duty bound to strive for some shadow of the original effect But since a translator can attain no more than a shadow, a reader's competence in aforeign language can be set low- 516 DISCOURSES 3· 38) 39 method of these generals was for a few months to train their men in mock battles and accustom them to obedience and discipline After that, with the utmost confidence they employed them in actual com"" bat No military man, then, need despair of making good armies if he does not lack men Indeed any prince who abounds in men and lacks soldiers should complain not of the worthlessness of his men but only of his own sloth and imprudence CHAPTER 39 A GENERAL SHOULD UNDER"" STAND TOPOGRAPHY [Hunting like war] Among the things necessary to a commander of armies is the understanding ofpositions and countries, because without this knowl"" edge both universal and particular, a commander cannot properly carry out anything Indeed though all branches of knowledge re"" quire experience if they are to be perfectly understood, this one demands experience to the utmost This experience or this under"" standing of particulars is gained more by means ofcontinual hunting than through any other activity Hence the ancient writers say that the heroes who ruled the world in their time were brought up in the forests and in hunting, because hunting teaches us, in addition to this knowledge, countless things necessary in war So Xenophon in his Life of Cyrus shows that when Cyrus was about to attack the King of Armenia, in explaining that campaign he reminded his followers that this was just another ofthose hunts in which they had many times been with him He reminded the men he sent into ambush on the mountains that they were like those who went to stretch nets on the summits, and the men he sent to ride through the plain that they were like those who went to drive the animal from its lair in order that when pursued it would run into the nets [The hunter learns topography] This I say to show that hunting expeditions, as Xenophon makes plain, are images of war; therefore to men of rank such activity is honorable and necessary Nor can this knowledge of different re"" gions be gained in any convenient way except through hunting, because hunting makes him who engages in it know in detail the lay The Experienced Eye 517 ofthe land where he hunts And as soon as a man has made himself thoroughly familiar with one district only, he then easily learns all new regions, because every region and every part of one have some similarity with others, in such a way that from the knowledge of one it is easy to pass to the knowledge ofanother But only with difficulty or rather never, except after a long time, can a man not thoroughly experienced in one district understand another [A general's eye for topography] He who has such experience knows at a glance how that plain lies, how that mountain rises, how far that valley extends, and all such things of which he has in the past gained solid understanding That this is true Titus Livius shows us by the example of Publius Decius, when he was Tribune of the Soldiers in the army that Cornelius the Consul led against the Samnites When the Consul had got into a valley where the army ofthe Romans could be shut in by the Samnites and appeared to be in great danger, Publius said to him: "Do you see, Aulus Cornelius, that summit above the enemy ~ It is the castle of our hope and safety, if (since the blind Samnites have neglected it) without delay we take it" (7 34) Before giving these words by Decius, Titus Livius says: "Publius Decius, Tribune of the Soldiers, saw one hill rising very abruptly, hanging over the camp ofthe enemy, difficult of access to a column with baggage, not at all hard for light~armed men" (7 34) So after the Consul had sent Publius to its summit with three thousand soldiers, and he had saved the Roman army and was planning, when night came, to leave and save also himself and his soldiers, Titus Livius has him say: "Go with me, while there is some light left, to find out where the enemy has put guards, so our exit will be clear.' Clad in a soldier's cloak so that the enemy would not notice that the leader was moving about, he examined everything" (7 34) He who considers this entire passage, then, sees that for a general to know the nature of various regions is very useful and necessary If Decius had not known and understood them, he could not have judged what advan~ tages the occupation of that hill would bring to the Roman army, nor could he have made certain, from a distance, whether that hill was accessible or not, and when he had got on it and wished to leave it to return to the Consul, with the enemy around him, he could not from a distance have distinguished the roads by which he 518 DISCOURSES 3· 39"41 could get away and the places guarded by the enemy Hence we necessarily conclude that Decius was perfect in such knowledge This enabled him by occupying that hill to save the Roman army So he knew how, when he was attacked, to find the way for saving himself and those who were with him CHAPTER 40 TO USE FRAUD IN CARRYING ON WAR DESERVES FAME Although to use fraud in all one's actions is detestable, neverthe;, less in carrying on war it is praiseworthy and brings fame; he who conquers the enemy by fraud is praised as much as he who conquers them by force This appears from the judgment given on it by those who write the lives of great men, for they praise Hannibal and the others who have been extraordinary in actions of that sort Since everybody has read plenty of examples, I shall not give any I shall say only that I not believe fraud deserves fame when it makes you break promises you have given and pacts you have made, because such fraud, though it sometimes wins for you position and kingly power, as was explained above/ will never win you glory I am speaking of fraud used against an enemy who does not trust you, such as appears especially in the conduct of war Of this kind was Hannibal's when at the Lake ofPerugia he pretended flight in order to surround the Consul and the Roman army, and when, in order to get out of Fabius Maximus' power, he set on fire the horns of his cattle Similar to these frauds was that used by Pontius, general of the Samnites, to shut up the Roman army in the Caudine Forks Having concealed his army in the mountains, he sent some of his soldiers in shepherd's clothing with a large herd to the plain These, being taken by the Romans and asked where the Samnite army was, agreed, according to Pontius' instructions, in saying that it was at the siege of Nocera Believing this, the Consuls shut themselves up among the Caudine precipices, and after they had gone in, they were soon besieged there by the Samnites This victory, gained by DISCOURSES 13 COURSE~ Livy 22 4, 17 3· Livy • Cf THE PRINCE Is THE PRINCE later than this DIS No Patriotic Scruples 519 fraud, would have been very glorious for Pontius if he had heeded his father's counsel that the Romans should be either generously preserved or all killed, but the middle course should not be taken, for it "neither provides friends nor takes away enemies" (Livy 3) This course is always ruinous in matters of state, as I explain above 4 DISCOURSES 23 CHAPTER 41 ONE'S COUNTRY SHOULD BE DEFENDED WHETHER WITH DISGRACE OR WITH GLORY; SHE IS PROPERLY DE~ FENDED IN ANY WAY WHA TSOEVER As I said above, the Consul and the Roman army were besieged by the Samnites When the latter proposed to the Romans disgrace" ful conditions (namely, to send them under the yoke and let them go back to Rome unarmed), the Consuls were as though dazed, and all the army was in desperation Then Lucius Lentulus, the Roman legate, said that he believed that no expedient whatever for saving their country was to be rejected; since the life of Rome consisted in the life of that army, he thought it should be saved at all events One's country is properly defended in whatever way she is defended, whether with disgrace or with glory Ifthat army were saved, Rome would have time to cancel the disgrace; if it were not saved, even if it should die gloriously, Rome and her liberty were lost So his advice was followed This idea deserves to be noted and acted upon by any citizen who has occasion to advise his country, because when it is abso" lutely a question of the safety of one's country, there must be no consideration of just or unjust, of merciful or cruel, of praiseworthy or disgraceful; instead, setting aside every scruple, one must follow to the utmost any plan that will save her life and keep her liberty This theory determines the words and actions ofthe French when they defend the majesty oftheir king and the power oftheir kingdom, for they hear no speech more impatiently than one which says: "Such a decision is shameful for the king." They say that their king cannot be disgraced by any policy of his, whether in good or in adverse fortune, because if he loses, if he wins, they say it is entirely a kings' affair Livy 9· 520 DISCOURSES 3· 42 , 43 CHAPTER 42 PROMISES MADE UNDER COM~ PULSION SHOULD NOT BE KEPT After the Consuls, with their disarmed soldiery and with the disgrace they had received, returned to Rome, the first who said in the Senate that the peace made at Caudium ought not to be kept was the Consul Spurius Postumius who said that the Roman people were not obligated, but that nevertheless he himself and the others who had made the peace were obligated; and therefore the people, if it wished to be free from every obligation, must give into the hands of the Samnites as prisoners himself and all the others who made the agreement With such firmness he stuck to this beliefthat the Senate accepted it, and sending him and the others as prisoners to Samnium, declared to the Samnites that the treaty was not valid In this in~ stance Fortune was so favorable to Postumius that the Samnites did not hold him; when he had returned to Rome, Postumius was more renowned among the Romans after losing than Pontius was among the Samnites for winning Here two things are to be noted One is that fame can be gained in any action whatever In victory it normally is gained; in defeat it can be gained either by showing that such loss has not come about through your fault or by doing immediately some prudent and courageous action that cancels it The other is that it is not disgrace~ ful not to keep promises that you are forced to make Forced promises in public matters, when the force is removed, will always be broken, without disgrace for him who breaks them Of this we read examples in all the histories, and every day in the present times we see them I [When princes not keep promises] And not merely are forced promises not kept among princes when the force is removed, but also all other promises are not kept when their causes are removed Whether this is praiseworthy con~ duct or not, and if such methods should be used by a prince or not, we debate at length in our tractate On the Prince;2 therefore at present we shall say nothing on it Livy 9.8-12 THE PRINCE 18 see 2.1 above Machiavelli here uses the Latin title DE PRINCIPE; for a variant National Traits 521 CHAPTER 43 THA T MEN BORN IN ANY REGION SHOW IN ALL TIMES ALMOST THE SAME NATURES [The world the same] Prudent men are in the habit of saying-and not by chance or without basis-that he who wishes to see what is to come should observe what has already happened, because all the affairs of the world, in every age, have their individual counterparts in ancient times The reason for this is that since they are carried on by men, who have and always have had the same passions, of necessity the same results appear It is true that human activity is at one time more efficacious in this region than in that, and more in that than in this, according to the nature ofthe training from which the people acquire their manner of life Future things are also easily known from past ones if a nation has for a long time kept the same habits, being either continuously avaricious or continuously unreliable, or having some other similar vice or virtue I [The qualities of the French and the Germans] He who reads of early events in our city of Florence and con;, siders as well those of recent times will find the German and the French people full of avarice, pride, cruelty and treachery, because all four ofthese things at different times have greatly injured our city As to treachery, everybody knows how many times Florence gave money to King Charles VIII, and he promised to hand over to her the fortresses of Pisa, yet he never did hand them over In this affair that King showed his treachery and his great avarice But let us pass over these recent things Everybody knows what happened in the war the Florentine people fought against the Visconti, dukes of Milan When the Florentines were deprived of other possibilities, they planned to bring the Emperor into Italy, so that with his in;, Ruence and his forces he would attack Lombardy The Emperor promised to come with many soldiers and to carry on war against the Visconti and to protect Florence from their power, ifthe Florentines would give him a hundred thousand ducats when he started and a hundred thousand more when he was in Italy To these conditions CJ the preface to CLIZIA 522 DISCOURSES 3· 43, 44 the Florentines agreed Yet though they paid him the first sum and then the second, when he had reached Verona he turned back with~ out doing anything, pretending that they had impeded him by not carrying out their agreements with him Hence, if Florence had not been forced by necessity or conquered by passion, and had read or learned the ancient habits ofthe barbarians, she would not have been deceived by them at this and many other times, for they have always been of one sort and have under all conditions and with everybody shown the same habits [The qualities of the ancient French] So they did in ancient times to the Tuscans These, oppressed by the Romans and many times put to Right and defeated by them, seeing that with their own forces they could not sustain the Roman attack, agreed to give the French who lived in Italy on this side ofthe Alps a sum of money, on their promise to unite their armies with the Tuscan armies and march against the Romans What resulted was that the French, after getting the money, would then not take arms, saying that they accepted it with the condition not that they would fight the Tuscans' enemies but that they would abstain from plun~ dering their territory Thus the Tuscans, through the avarice and treachery of the French, were deprived at once of their money and of the aid they hoped for Thus it appears from this instance of the ancient Tuscans and from that of the Florentines that the French have always used the same methods From this it easily can be inferred how much princes can trust them 2 Livy 10 10 CHAPTER44 BY VIOLENCE AND AUDAC~ ITY WE MANY TIMES GAIN WHA T WITH ORDINARY METHODS WE NEVER WOULD GAIN [Do not allow time for consideration] When the Samnites were attacked by the Roman army and were not strong enough to keep their army in the field facing the Romans, they determined to leave all their cities in Samnium guarded and to "Take Time When Time Is" 523 move their entire army into Tuscany, which was at truce with the Romans, to see if through such a movement they could by the presJ' ence oftheir army induce the Tuscans to take up arms again, though they had refused this to the Samnite ambassadors In the speech the Samnites made to the Tuscans, especially in showing for what reaJ' sons they had taken up arms, they used a striking expression, namely that "they had rebelled because peace is harder for slaves than war is for the free" (Livy 10 16) Thus, partly with persuasions, partly through the presence oftheir army, they induced the Tuscans to take up arms again From this I infer that when a wise prince hopes to obtain something from another, he does not, if the opportunity allows, give the other prince time for consideration, but manages to make him see the necessity for quick decision; that is, the other prince sees that refusing or putting off will cause sudden and dangerous anger [Pope Julius' impetuosity] This method was well used in our times by Pope Julius against the French, and by Monsieur de Foix, general for the King ofFrance, against the Marquis of Mantua Pope Julius, planning to drive the Bentivogli from Bologna, judged that for his purpose he needed French forces and the Venetians must remain neutral Having made trial of both and got uncertain and shifty replies, he determined, by giving them no time, to make them come to his view So leaving Rome with all the soldiers he could gather, he went toward Bologna, and sent to the Venetians to tell them to remain neutral and to the King of France to send him forces Hence both ofthem, limited by lack of time and seeing that they would cause the Pope evident anger if they delayed or refused, yielded to his wishes The King sent aid and the Venetians remained neutral [De Foix's promptness] Monsieur de Foix, when in Bologna with his army, hearing of the rebellion at Brescia, decided to recapture the place He had two roads, one through the King's territory, long and slow; the other, short, through Mantuan territory And not merely did he have to pass through the territory of that marquis, but of necessity he would go into certain narrow places between swamps and lakes, of which that region is full, which with fortresses and other means were locked 52 DISCOURSES 3· 44"46 and guarded against him Hence, deciding to go by the shorter road, de Foix, in order to overcome every difficulty and not to give the Marquis time for thought, at once moved his army by that road and requested the Marquis to send him the keys of the passage The Marquis, overcome by this rapid decision, sent him the keys; yet he never would have sent them if Foix had conducted himself more timidly, since the Marquis was in league with the Pope and the Venetians, and one of his sons was in the Pope's power-things that gave him many honorable excuses for refusal But when assailed by that rapid determination, he yielded, for the reasons mentioned above So the Tuscans yielded to the Samnites, on account of the presence of the army, taking up those arms they had at other times refused to employ CHAPTER 45 WHETHER IN BATTLES THE BETTER PLAN IS TO RECEIVE THE ENEMY'S ATTACK AND, HAVING RECEIV~ ED IT, TO CHARGE HIM, OR AT THE BE" GINNING TO A TT ACK HIM WITH FURY Decius and Fabius, the Roman Consuls, with two armies were confronting the armies of the Samnites and the Tuscans; since they came to combat and to battle at the same time, we can learn from such an action which of the two different ways of proceeding used by the two Consuls is better Decius with great vehemence attacked the enemy with all his power Fabius merely resisted them, judging the delayed attack more useful and reserving his vehemence to the last, when the enemy had lost their first ardor for fighting and, as we say, their wind From the outcome of the affair, we see that Fabius was much more successful with his plan than was Decius The latter was disordered in the first assaults in such a way that, seeing his division in flight rather than otherwise, in order to gain in death the glory he had not attained by victory, in imitation of his father he sacrificed himself for the Roman legions Learning this, Fabiusthat he might not gain less honor while living than his colleague had gained by dying-pushed forward all the forces he had reserved for such a necessity, and thereby won a most complete victory From I Livy 10 28) 29 Family Traits 525 this we see that Fabius' way of proceeding is safer and more to be imitated CHAPTER 46 WHY AT ANY ONE TIME THE HABITS OF A FAMILY IN A CITY ARE UNIFORM It seems that not merely one city has certain methods and customs different from those of another, and produces men who are either more vigorous or more effeminate, but that in the same city such differences exist between one family and another This is true in all cities, and in the city of Rome we read of many instances: the Manlii were hard and stubborn, the Publicoli were kind and loved the people, the Appii were ambitious and hostile to the plebeians; and similarly many other families had their qualities distinct from the others These differences cannot come solely from their blood, be" cause that will vary with diverse marriages; it must come from the different training in one family and in another It is very important that a boy of tender years hears praise or blame of a certain thing, because it will of necessity make an impression according to which he will govern his conduct in all periods of his life If this were not so, it would have been impossible for all the Appii to have the same ambition and to be disturbed by the same passions, as Titus Livius notes of many of them The last instance is that when one of them was Censor, and at the end of eighteen months his colleague, as the law directed, laid the magistracy down, Appius would not consent to lay it down, saying he could hold it five years, according to the law first enacted on the Censors Though over this affair many assemblies were held, and many disturbances raised, nonetheless there never was such a solution that he consented to lay it down, though he was opposing the will ofthe people and ofthe greater part of the Senate Anybody who reads the speech he made against Publius Sempronius, Tribune of the People, will observe all the Appian haughtiness, and all the goodness and kindness practiced by countless citizens in order to obey the laws and conform to the authority of their country I Livy 21, 23, 56, 58; 3· 32-58; 5· 2; 9· 33,34· DISCOURSES 3· 47"49 CHAPTER 47 A GOOD CITIZEN FOR LOVE OF HIS NATIVE CITY WILL FORGET PRIVATE INJURIES Marcus the Consul was with the army opposed to the Samnites; when he was wounded in battle, and his soldiers therefore were in some danger, the Senate decided that it must send Papirius Cursor there as Dictator, to make up for the disability of the Consul It was necessary that the Dictator be named by Fabius, who was Consul with the armies in Tuscany Fearing that he would not be willing to name Papirius, who was his enemy, the Senators sent two ambas" sadors to beg that, laying aside his private hatred, he would for the benefit of the state consent to name him Fabius did so, moved by love for his native city, though with silence and in many other ways he indicated that such a nomination was hard for him to bear He may be an example to all who wish to be considered good citizens I Livy 9· 38 CHAPTER 48 WHEN AN ENEMY SEEMS TO BE MAKING A GREAT MISTAKE, WE SHOULD BELIEVE IT HIDES A TRICK When Fulvius was left as Legate with the Roman army in Tuscany, since the Consul had gone to Rome for some ceremonies, the Tuscans, to see if they could catch him by a stratagem, put an ambush near the Roman camp and sent some soldiers in the dress of shepherds, with large Rocks, who were to come into the view of the Roman army So disguised, they approached the stockade of the camp The Legate, puzzled by their presumption, which he thought unreasonable, managed to discover their deception Thus the Tuscan plan was ruined It is fitting to observe here that the general of an army should put no faith in a mistake the enemy make openly; it always hides some stratagem, since it is unreasonable for men to be so incautious But often the desire for victory so blinds men's percep" tions that they see nothing except what appears to their advantage The French, after defeating the Romans at the Allia, when they reached Rome and found the gates open and without guards, waited I Livy 10·3, Stratagem 527 all that day and that night without going in; they feared a stratagem and could not believe there was in Roman hearts such cowardice and imprudence that they would abandon their native city.2 [A Florentine instance] When in 1508 the Florentines were besieging Pisa, they held as prisoner Alfonso del Mutolo, a Pisan citizen He promised that ifhe were free he would deliver to the Florentines one of the gates of Pisa He was freed Then, to carry the business along, he came many times to speak with the appointees ofthe Florentine commissioners, coming not secretly but openly and accompanied by Pisans, whom he left waiting while he talked with the Florentines He did this in such a way that his treacherous purpose could be inferred, because it was unreasonable, if his dealings were honest, that he would carry them on openly But their wish to take Pisa so blinded the Florentines that, going according to his arrangements to the Lucca Gate, to their disgrace they left there many of their leaders and other soldiers, as a result of the said Alfonso's simulated treachery Livy 5· 39 CHAPTER 49 A REPUBLIC, IF SHE IS TO BE KEPT FREE, REQUIRES NEW ACTS OF FORESIGHT EVERY DAY; AND FOR WHAT GOOD QUALITIES QUINTUS FABIUS WAS CALLED MAXIMUS [Rome's severity in punishment] It must be, as I have said before, that every day in a large city emergencies will occur that have need of a physician, and in propor; tion as they are more important, a wiser physician is needed If ever in any city there were such emergencies, they occurred in Romestrange and unexpected ones Such was the emergency when it seemed that all the Roman wives had conspired against their hus; bands to kill them-there were so many who did poison them and so many who had prepared poison for doing so Such was also the conspiracy of the Bacchanals, discovered in the time of the Macedo; nian war, in which actually thousands of men and women were concerned Ifit had not been discovered it would have been danger; 528 DISCOURSES 3· 49 ous to the city, or ifthe Romans had not been accustomed to punish large numbers of those who did wrong If countless other indica" tions did not show the greatness ofthat republic and the power of her deeds, the punishments she inflicted on vvrong"doers would show them She did not hesitate to punish with death a whole legion at once, and an entire city, and to banish eight or ten thousand men under penalties so strange that they could not be carried out by one man alone, much less by so many For example, those soldiers who fought unsuccessfully at Cannae she banished to Sicily, requiring them to find lodgings outside the cities and to eat standing Up.l [Decimation as a military punishment] Of all her actions the most terrible was the decimation of an army, in which by lot one out of every ten men in a whole army was put to death It is not possible, chastising a multitude, to find a punishment more terrifying than this When a multitude commits a crime in which the one responsible is not evident, all cannot be pun" ished because there are too many To punish part of them and leave part unpunished would wrong those who are punished, and the unpunished would have courage to wrong another time But if the tenth part are killed by lot, when all deserve it, he who is pun" ished grieves for his fate; he who is not punished fears that another time the lot will fallon him, and is careful not to wrong The poisoners and the Bacchanals, then, were punished as their crimes deserved Though in a republic these sicknesses produce bad effects, they are not fatal, because there is almost always time to cure them But there is not time in those sicknesses that have to with the government If they are not cured by a prudent man, they ruin the city [Quintus Fabius Maximtis] In Rome, through the liberality practiced by the Romans in giving citizenship to foreigners, so many children were born in new families that soon such numbers of them obtained the right to vote that the administration was growing uncertain and moving away from the policies and men formerly important When Quintus Fabius, who was Censor, realized this, he put all those new families1 Livy 18; 39 41; 23· 2S An Early Remedy 529 the cause of the difficulty-into four tribes, so that, shut into a small space, they could not infect all Rome This matter was clearly under~ stood by Fabius, who applied to it, without any revolution, a good remedy, so well received by that commonwealth that he deserved to be called great .1 Livy 46 ... FATHER 10 12 TWO SONNETS TO GIULIANO, SON OF LORENZO DE'MEDICI 10 13 A THIRD SONNET TO GIULIANO 10 1 SERENADE 10 16 VOLUME THREE Page THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE 10 2 THE NATURES OF FLORENTINE MEN 14 36... APPROPRIAT, ING MONEY 14 39 FIRST DECENNALE, ten years of Florentine history 14 94 ;15 04 14 44 SECOND DECENNALE,jive years of Florentine history 15 04 ;15 09 14 57 EPIGRAM, PIERO SODERINI 14 63 EPIGRAM, ARGUS,... Polidori, Firenze 18 52 IL PRINCIPE DI NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, Firenze (Giunta) 15 32 IL PRINCIPE DI NICCOLb MACHIAVELLI, Rome (Blaao) 15 32 DISCORSI DI NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, Firenze (Giunta) 15 31 TUTTE LE