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NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI E I SUOI TEMPI

VOLUME I

ULZZICO HOEPLI

EDITORE-LIBRAIO DELLA REAL CASA MILANO 1912

To

LINDA VILLARI

To you, my beloved companion in the studies, joys, and sorrows of life, I dedicate this book with an affection for which I would in vain seek words to describe.

P. VILLARI.

WARNING

In presenting this third edition of my work to the public, I have only to say that I have endeavored to take into account the publications that have appeared in recent years concerning Machiavelli.

Florence, October 1911.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

In presenting a new edition of this book to the reader, I need add but few words. It suffices to say that I have revised it with the utmost diligence I could command, correcting errors that came to my notice, and taking into account all observations made by critics and all new writings that have appeared on Machiavelli. I feel it my duty, however, to sincerely thank my friends Professor Cesare Paoli and Cavaliere Alessandro Gherardi. The former assisted me by reading all the proofs, and the latter, at my frequent request, made numerous cross-references for me in the Florentine Archives.

Florence, 1895.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

So much has been written, and continues to be written, about Machiavelli that, in publishing a new biography of him, I feel some explanation is necessary.

For a long time, he seemed to be a sphinx whose enigma no one could comprehend. Some painted him as a monster of perfidy, while others declared him animated by the purest and noblest patriotism. According to some, his writings offered wicked advice to secure tyranny; according to others, The Prince was a bloody satire of despots, intended to sharpen daggers against them and incite the people to rebellion. To those who praised the literary and scientific merit of his works, others responded by asserting they were a collection of erroneous and dangerous doctrines, capable only of corrupting and ruining any society foolish enough to accept them. And thus, the very name of Machiavelli became an insult in popular language.

It is true that many of these exaggerations have disappeared over time, thanks to the work of authoritative critics; but anyone who believes that, at least on points of capital importance, there is now a universally accepted judgment would be mistaken. Many will recall the outcry of indignation, especially in France, that arose against the Provisional Government of Tuscany when, from the very first days of the 1859 revolution, it decreed a new edition of all the works of the Florentine Secretary. To the insults then hurled against Italians in general, and Machiavelli in particular, others responded by exalting his political genius and incorruptible spirit. It has been only a few years since a new History of the Republic of Florence was published, written by one of the most beloved and revered men in Italy. In it, we find a very eloquent comparison, full of acute and sound observations, between Guicciardini and Machiavelli, in which, after expressing a decided preference for the former writer, it is stated that Machiavelli had "an evil intellect, his soul corrupted by despair of good."[1] This judgment is certainly not improvised; it is, rather, the result of much study and long meditation, and it is given by a most authoritative historian among us. The two Tuscan scholars who began the most recent edition of Machiavelli's works in 1873 allude repeatedly to the intimate and cordial friendship they believe he had with Cesare Borgia, whom they portray as his advisor even when Borgia was staining his hands with the most atrocious crimes; and they publish some unpublished documents to confirm their assertion. On the other hand, the most recent biographers, although not always in agreement, again exalt Machiavelli's patriotism as well as his intellect, and some, after meticulous investigation of his works and unpublished documents, praise his generosity, nobility, and exquisite delicacy of spirit, making him an unparalleled model of public and private virtue. All this proves, it seems to me, that we are far from a concordant judgment or opinion, and that therefore new research and studies are not entirely superfluous.

The causes of such great and continuous disagreement have been varied. The times in which Machiavelli lived are, for the historian, full of difficulties and contradictions, which are personified and multiplied in him in such a way as to make him seem, at times, an inexplicable mystery. To see a man who in some passages extols liberty and virtue with unsurpassable eloquence; in others, teaches how to deceive and betray, how to oppress peoples and secure tyrants, must certainly give rise to many doubts. To see him serve the Republic faithfully for fifteen years, then endure hardship and persecution for his love of liberty, and later still see him recommend himself to serve the Medici, even if it were "to roll a stone," certainly cannot dispel these doubts. Yet, contradictions in history and human nature are many, and in this case, they would have been explained much more easily if the majority of writers had not in every way sought to be accusers or defenders of Machiavelli, acting as judges of his morality and patriotism, not always impartially, rather than true biographers. It seemed to many, especially in Italy, that it was enough to have proven that he loved the freedom, unity, and independence of his country to be lenient about everything else, to exalt his doctrines and moral character, even before having diligently and critically examined them.

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