PROLOGUE: THE MALICE OF FATE
“And as for turning my face toward fortune”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 226–27.
“I have, Giuliano”: Machiavelli, Chief Works, II, 1013.
“What gave me most torment”: Ibid.
“post res perditas”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 197.
“Hence often you labor in serving”: Machiavelli, Chief Works, II, 744.
“I can tell you nothing else in this letter”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 306.
“I wander over to the road by the inn”: Ibid., 307–8.
“Having eaten”: Ibid., 308.
“for fortune is a woman”: Machiavelli, The Prince, 86.
“my loyalty and honesty are proven by my poverty”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 310.
“I love my city more than my own soul”: Ibid., 525.
“fortune has arranged it”: Ibid., 229.
“I am wasting away”: Ibid., 310.
“Come evening, I return to my house”: Ibid., 308–9.
“an enemy of the human race”: Anglo, Machiavelli: The First Century: Studies in Enthusiasm, Hostility, and Irrelevance, 126.
I. BORN IN POVERTY
“I was born poor”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 227.
loggia known as the chorte di Machiavelli: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 56.
Bernardo, in recognition of his role as fatherly protector: Ibid., 38.
“friend and familiar”: Ibid., 151.
“Well, let them be”: Atkinson, “Niccolò Machiavelli: A Portrait,” in The Cambridge Companion to Machiavelli, 14.
“pygmies . . . attacking giants”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 4.
“And whoever would wish justly to weigh”: Ibid., 3.
“a man who doesn’t have pull with the government”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, in Chief Works, II, 788–89.
“a man of low and poor station”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, 84.
among the prominent Guelphs: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 27.
“through Hell [Florence’s] name is spread abroad”: Dante, Inferno, XXVI.
“notable” citizen families of the Oltrarno neighborhood: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 27.
“if in any other republic there were ever notable divisions”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, 6–7.
“in my judgment no other instance appears”: Ibid., 7.
“[H]aving eliminated their nobility”: Ibid., I, 50.
Three Majors: Herlihy, Klapisch-Zuber, and Mohlo, Online Tratte of Office Holders, 1282–1532.
purchased by the family from the powerful Pitti clan: Pitti, Diario of Buonacorso Pitti, in Two Memoirs of Renaissance Florence, 21.
where Niccolò would retire to write The Prince: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 31.
patronage rights over the small chapel of San Gregorio: Ibid., 35.
payment for a delivery of spring lambs for Easter: Bernardo Machiavelli, Libro di Ricordi, 28–30.
a dealer in secondhand clothes: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 63.
“messer Bernardo . . . practices no gainful employment”: Ibid., 53.
“I have never practiced any profession”: Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo, 13.
“all the cities and mountains and rivers that are mentioned”: Bernardo Machiavelli, Libro di Ricordi, 14.
“He spent his time as a good man should”: Machiavelli, Clizia, in Chief Works, II, 835–36.
while she was living under Bernardo’s roof: Bernardo Machiavelli, Libro di Ricordi, 15ff.
“For it often happens that men who are just”: Atkinson, Debts, Dowries, Donkeys, 152.
“Above all else stick together with your neighbors and kinsmen”: Kent, The Rise of the Medici Faction in Florence, 1426–1434, 17.
“This is an age of gold”: Schevill, History of Florence, 416.
“The city enjoyed perfect peace”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, IX.
“Florentines lived in very great prosperity”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 36.
“discordant Italy opened into herself”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1445.
“Maestro Matteo, master of grammar”: Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy, 76.
“For when a child of tender years begins to understand”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 46.
“We call these studies liberal”: Vergerio, “The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth,” in Humanist Educational Treatises, 14.
“Leaving the woods, I go to a spring”: Machiavelli et al, Lettere Familiari, 307.
“threaten bar keepers”: Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, 389.
his eyes sparkled with mirth: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 245.
“For now the baby is well”: Marietta Corsini in Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 114.
“Write to Niccolò Capponi”: Biagio Buonaccorsi in Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 178–79.
“partly in studies, partly in amusement”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, in Chief Works, II, 778.
“Because life is short”: Ibid., 776.
“by eagerness for praise and inflamed by love of glory”: Vergerio, “The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth,” in Humanist Educational Treatises, 4.
II. A SWORD UNSHEATHED
“countless men who, that they might fall to earth”: Machiavelli, “On Fortune” in Chief Works, II, 749.
“O Italy! O Princes!”: Villari, The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola, I, 334.
“The people of Florence do not think”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XI, 105.
“Here come the boys of the friar!”: Landucci, Diary, 121.
“a friar of Saint Francis”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 313–14.
“suffer fire and sack”: Ibid., 314.
“I didn’t actually hear the preacher”: Ibid., 314–15.
“I believe Christ speaks through my mouth”: Martines, Fire in the City, 27.
“to give you, as you wished”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 4.
“[H]e began with great terrors: Ibid., 5.
“he follows the mood of the times”: Ibid., 8.
“[H]ad you heard with what audacity”: Ibid., 5.
“But the more they oppressed them”: Ibid., 5–8.
“[H]e seeks to set all of [the people]”: Ibid.
“So, you are allowing Friar Girolamo to preach again”: Martines, Fire in the City, 202.
“filled with blood and dead men”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1445.
“But that which to many was far more distressing”: Ibid., 1448.
“With them a flame and a plague”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XI, 19–20.
“Our Italian princes”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 339.
“discordant Italy”: Machiavelli, First Decennale in Chief Works, III, 1445.
“because of his dark complexion”: Guicciardini, The History of Italy, III, 304.
“for when Italy was left deprived of his advice”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 363.
“He was a haughty and cruel man”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XI, 21.
where Charles was encamped with the bulk of his army: Landucci, Diary, 58.
“[H]e threw out confetti”: Ibid., 60.
“We’re finished!”: Martines, Fire in the City, 38.
“kneeling with joined hands”: Landucci, Diary, 62.
to signify his role as a conqueror: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XII, 30.
“Viva Francia!”: Landucci, Diary, 66.
“when he was seen on foot”: Ibid.
“a sight in itself very beautiful”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XII, 30.
“King Charles of France was allowed to conquer Italy with chalk”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XII, 133.
“[Y]our coming has lightened our hearts”: Martines, Fire in the City, 50.
“After 1494 when those who had been princes”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 227.
“[T]he will of God is that the city of Florence”: Martines, Fire in the City, 71.
“Now the Florentine people”: Savonarola, “Treatise on the Constitution and Government of Florence,” in Humanism and Liberty, 237.
“After [the fall of the Medici], the city decided”: Machiavelli, “A Discourse on the Remodeling of the Government of Florence,” in Chief Works, I, 103.
“Never will the generality of the Florentine citizens”: Ibid., 110–11.
“the Ten Expenders”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 251.
“So all Tuscany was in confusion”: Machiavelli, First Decennale in Chief Works, III, 1445.
“So with his conquering army”: Ibid., 1446.
“When the report of victory so great”: Ibid.
“We were then pressed to join the league”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XIII, 47.
“a great slaughter”: The History of Italy, IX, 247.
“[Charles] ignored the treat made with us”: The History of Florence, XIII, 46.
“scourgings and terrible tribulations”: Ibid., 47.
“false, proud whore”: Martines, Fire in the City, 12.
“[Alexander] was not disturbed by those things”: Guicciardini, The History of Italy, III, 356.
“It is not my habit to seek human glory”: Martines, Fire in the City, 137.
“Long live Christ and the Virgin”: Landucci, Diary, 100–110.
“extinguished the carnal heat of desire”: Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence, 81.
“Thus a great division and violent hatred”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XIII, 50.
“[I]t seemed a mistake to me”: Landucci, Diary, 131.
“This man preaches that the Pope is not the Pope”: Martines, Fire in the City, 214.
Backed by Venetian money and a papal blessing: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XV.
“I could not refrain from weeping”: Landucci, Diary, 126.
“When [the accused] wished to appeal”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 221.
“unarmed prophet”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VI, 106.
“[T]his excommunication is a diabolical thing”: Martines, Fire in the City, 206.
“[H]e seeks to turn all against the supreme pontiff”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 8.
“diverse figures and monstrous animals”: Martines, Fire in the City, 146.
“[W]hen the dispute ended in the Franciscans leaving”: Landucci, Diary, 136.
“To San Marco!”: Martines, Fire in the City, 232.
“Kill the traitor!”: Ibid., 233.
a man who struck him from behind: Landucci, Diary, 137.
was led from San Marco in irons: Ibid., 138.
“Regarding my own aim or ultimate purpose”: Martines, Fire in the City, 250.
“[H]e whom we had held to be a prophet”: Landucci, Diary, 139.
“Now listen to me”: Martines, Fire in the City, 259.
the dying men were blessed martyrs: Landucci, Diary, 143.
now seeking to regain its balance after the recent convulsions: See Rubinstein, “The Beginnings of Niccolò Machiavelli’s Career in the Florentine Chancery,” 72, for a full discussion of the date of Machiavelli’s election.
III. THE CIVIL SERVANT
June 15, 1498, marks a turning point: Meinecke, Machiavelli, 39.
I have set down all that I know: Machiavelli, Discourses, Dedication, 93.
“my knowledge of the actions of great men”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, Dedication, 83.
“it seems best to me to go straight to the actual truth of things”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XV, 147.
which started at 192 florins a year: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 243–44.
“it is ill living in Florence”: Ross, Lives of the Early Medici, 150–56.
snide comments about their colleagues: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 26.
“If I have not written as often as I would have liked”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 13.
“[M]any believed that by overthrowing the friar”: Guicciardini, The History of Florence, XVI, 79.
“[I]f [the ottimati] complain that this tax will impoverish them”: Najemy, A History of Florence, 402.
“What a disgusting thing it is”: Ibid., 406.
“[I]n every republic”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 113.
“The reason why all these governments”: Machiavelli, “A Discourse on the Remodeling of the Florentine Government,” in Chief Works, I, 103.
“[A] prince is successful”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XXV, 85.
“The rule for our Italian soldiers”: Landucci, Diary, 22.
“A prince must have no other objective”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XIV, 53.
Biagio Buonaccorsi requested that his friend: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 19.
“crowded with Florentines”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 255.
“having thought the matter over in the night”: Ibid., 255–56.
“had always satisfied her”: Ibid., 255.
“that spirit of yours, so eager for riding”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 50.
“most highly praised”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 24.
“If you do as I advise”: Ibid., 20.
“few little parties at Biagio’s house”: Ibid., 34–35.
They were now inside the walls of the city: Landucci, Diary, 159.
about how to punish the rebellious city: Ibid.
“We have granted the captain”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 260.
“[H]aving expended up to this date”: Ibid.
“We should have preferred defeat to inaction”: Ibid.
some sort of treasonous arrangement with Piero de’ Medici: Ibid., 262.
risked less and promised greater returns: Ibid.
“this was the end of Pagolo Vitegli”: Ibid.
“[H]ad it not been for Vitelli’s treachery”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 28.
“And in brotherly love”: Ibid., 29.
“[J]udging the prudence and intelligence of all the others”: Guicciardini, The History of Italy, III, 304.
promised to supply men and money: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 267.
“who had opened the gates”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 88–89.
“So his shrewdness was mocked”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1450.
at the exorbitant price of 24,000 ducats a month: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 268.
“He who is afraid”: Ibid., 270.
“It might . . . be well”: Ibid., 272.
“But when they confronted the Pisans”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1,451.
IV. SIR NIHIL
“Benefices are sold here like melons”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 44–45.
“who, of all the pontiffs that have ever been”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XI, 130–31.
“Alexander VI . . . never thought of anything but deception”: Ibid., XVIII, 157.
“a very mean young man”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 96.
“shutting himself away in a room”: Ibid., 107.
“Life has lost all interest for us”: Ibid., 108.
“Even more than by anger”: Ibid., 92.
“[I]t would have been safer for her”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XX, 175.
“This lord knows very well”: Machiavelli, “Legation 11.40,” in Chief Works, I, 130.
“The French are blinded by their own power”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 277–78.
“I don’t want to forget to tell you”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 31–32.
“he threatens to erect Pisa”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 277–78.
“[W]hen the Cardinal of Rouen told me”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 97.
“if the King had conceded everything”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 278.
“The Pope tries by all means”: Ibid., 279.
if only Piero de’ Medici were restored: Ibid.
“There can be no proper relation”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XIV, 54.
“not upon their good faith”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 279.
“[H]e who causes another to become powerful”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 98.
“Every day Ser Antonio’s stomach bothers him”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 34.
“When in jest and to relax our minds”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 32.
“I have heard that history is the teacher”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 296–97.
“[A]s long as the Roman republic continued incorrupt”: Machiavelli, The Art of War, I, 17–18.
“Mercenary captains are either skilled at arms”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XII, 134.
“The whole morning we heard nothing”: Landucci, Diary, 181.
Florence was forced to buy him off: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 285.
“They killed without pity”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 182.
“obedience [to her husband]”: Barbaro, “On Wifely Duties,” in Kohl and Witt, The Earthly Republic, 193.
“to wish to appear a woman of honor”: Alberti, I Libri della Famiglia, 97.
“I hope I shall never be a husband”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, in Chief Works, II, 792.
“with gentle words”: Ibid., 790.
“fortune is a woman”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XXV, 86.
“Lady Marietta curses God”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 99.
“My dearest Niccolò”: Ibid., 114–15.
“I’ll go to your house”: Ibid., 133.
“This Lord is of such splendid and magnificent bearing”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, II, 125.
“We heard that Valentino had sent to say”: Landucci, Diary, 196.
“Well I know that your city”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, II, 120–21.
looting the very people: Landucci, Diary, 199.
“Lucius Furius Camillus entered the Senate”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 296.
“One can therefore approve”: Ibid., 297.
“[M]en must either be coddled or destroyed”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 91.
V. EXIT THE DRAGON
“devoured one by one by the dragon”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 234.
he presented himself cavalchereccio: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 174, 195.
“declared that he had always desired”: Ibid.
“his enemies can no longer do much harm”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 61.
“with the king of France in Italy”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 174, 197.
“too forceful”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 74.
“I think taking a stand”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 304.
“The writer who wrote this”: Ibid., 50.
“I believe he has become your great friend”: Ibid., 59.
“Your Lordships write to me about temporizing”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 182, 218.
“the new law [for the Gonfaloniere]”: Ibid., no. 179, 212.
“Because courts always include different kinds of busybodies”: Machiavelli, “Advice to Rafaello Girolami when he went as Ambassador to the Emperor,” in Chief Works, I, 117.
“[W]hoever examines the quality of one side”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 196, 247.
“a very skillful dissembler”: Machiavelli, “A Description of the Method Used by Duke Valentino in Killing Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, and Others,” in Chief Works, 1, 165.
real power remained in his rivals’ hands: Ibid.
“[S]weetly this basilisk whistled”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 388–94.
“dressed as a courier”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 196, 245.
“to excuse and justify what had occurred”: Ibid., 246.
“the Orsini might be very sure”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 327.
“[T]hey write me pleasing letters”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 193, 240.
“money, robes, and horses”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VII, 112.
“it is impossible to belive”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 196, 247–48.
“[I]f one must do harm to another”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 91.
“Mona Marietta sent to me via her brother”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 60.
he remained short of cash: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 63.
“Stick it up your ass”: Ibid., 79.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 97.
“to relieve the government of this expense”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, 314–15.
“I say that you are to observe”: Machiavelli, “Advice to Raffaello Girolami when he went as Ambassador to the Emperor,” in Chief Works, I, 118–19.
“was ruled by impotent lords”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VII, 112–13.
“Cesare Borgia was considered cruel”: Ibid., XVII, 151–52.
“no doubt [Remirro] will be sacrificed”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, no. 255, 363.
“Messer Remirro this morning has been found cut in two”: Ibid., no. 256, 365.
“Recognizing that past severities”: Machiavelli, The Prince, VII, 31–32.
“Vitellozzo, Pagolo, and the Duke”: Machiavelli, “A Description of the Method Used by Duke Valentino in Killing Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, and Others,” in Chief Works, 1, 168.
“with the brightest face in the world”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 322.
“Everyone knows how laudable it is”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XVIII, 155.
“Since a prince is required to play the beast”: Ibid., 156.
“every moment thinking to see the executioner”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 346.
“had changed to the color of blackest cloth”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 251.
held a knife to Cardinal Casanova’s throat: Burchardus, Pope Alexander and His Court, 180.
“[H]e should never have allowed any cardinal”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VII, 116.
“[A]t present, you are incapable”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 339–40.
“[A]lways transported by his daring confidence”: Ibid., 360.
“We want the states to return to the Church”: Hibbert, The Borgias and Their Enemies, 267–68.
“I had no lack of things to say in reply”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 360.
“since he is taken”: Ibid., 364.
“[T]hus it would seem”: Ibid., 365.
“Cesare Borgia, called by the masses Duke Valentino”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VII, 109.
VI. MEN OF LOW AND POOR STATION
“I am fully conscious”: Masters, Fortune Is a River, 25.
“Nor do I wish it thought a presumption”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, “Dedication,” 84.
Unfortunately, neither man left an account: Roger Masters chronicles the collaboration between Leonardo and Machiavelli in his book Fortune Is a River. Sometimes he goes beyond the available evidence, but his conclusion that the two must have met on numerous occasions in the fall of 1502 seems indisputable.
“little better than a fanstasy”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 371.
“that the defenders feared only one thing”: Masters, Fortune Is a River, 117.
“Your delay makes us fear”: Ibid., 130.
“Notable man and very dear compare”: Ibid., 135.
“your devoted friend”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 79.
“‘I have never commissioned anything from that clown’ ”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 154.
“[I]t seems best to me to go straight”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XV, 147.
“For when the safety of one’s country”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 515.
first articulated by the humble Florentine chancellor: For an in-depth investigation of Machiavelli as the father of “reason of state,” see Friedrich Meinecke’s seminal Machiavellism: The Doctrine of Raison d’Etat and Its Place in Modern History.
“A prince must show himself a lover of virtue”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXI, 180.
“[H]e turned to making his city more beautiful”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 361.
“When, therefore, I consider in what honor”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 97–98.
That Machiavelli himself was instrumental: See N. Rubinstein “Machiavelli and the Mural Decoration of the Hall of the Great Council of Florence” (pp. 275–85) for a summary of the evidence regarding Machiavelli’s participation in the scheme for decorating the Hall.
“Enacted in the palace of the aformentioned Lords”: Masters, Fortune Is a River, 114–15.
“Florentines who had voluntarily joined on horseback”: Rubinstein, “Machiavelli and the Mural Decoration of the Hall of the Great Council of Florence,” 285.
“[T]hus with the sculptor Michelangelo”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 424.
“This block of marble was nine braccia high”: Vasari, “Michelangelo Buonarotti,” in Lives of the Artists, II, 653.
“It happened at this time”: Ibid., 654–55.
“that the author, too, knows how to find fault”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, in Chief Works, II, 778.
“I never practiced any profession”: Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo, 13.
VII. THE STARS ALIGN
“I have three sons”: Unger, Magnifico, 218.
“make it clearly understood”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 368.
“[M]y spirit is all aflame”: Machiavelli, First Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1457.
“Yet we trust in the skillful steersman”: Ibid.
“[T]he worst thing about weak republics”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 206.
“[H]e was like the other pillagers of Rome”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 357.
“above all other things, it is necessary”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXVI, 193.
“Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless”: Ibid., XII, 133.
“[W]here military organization is good”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 113.
“that the little people, all in arms”: Parenti, Ricordi Storici, 126–27.
“Your letter being longer”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 165.
“There was a muster in the Piazza”: Landucci, Diary, 218.
“it daily increases and flourishes”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 409.
Soderini’s “puppet”: Ibid., 460.
“[I] promise you”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 166.
“Between Geneva and Constance I made four halts”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 462.
“There can be no doubt of the power of Germany”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 474.
“so that it is easy to comprehend why”: Ibid., 475.
“It is difficult to forecast events”: Ibid., 464–65.
“Your Excellencies have spun so fine a web”: Ibid., 466.
“It’s as if I’m here on a desert island”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 191.
“I shall do here what little good”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 167.
“it would be the most inopportune thing”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 465.
“A woman of Pisa”: Landucci, Diary, 232–33.
“with great sufferings and much toil”: Machiavelli, Second Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1460.
“even the horses of Xerxes might ford it”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 485.
“[T]he more powerful must always be right”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 179.
“that the way of this world”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 179.
“Captain General”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 177.
“[I]f I wished to avoid fatigue and danger”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 489.
“[The Ten] desired obedience”: Ibid., 488.
“I would like you”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 182.
“Suffice it that your opinion”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 103.
“The wise man will control the stars”: Ibid., 459.
“in the world most men”: Machiavelli, “On Ambition,” in Chief Works, II, 739.
“At about 18 in the afternoon”: Landucci, Diary, 235.
“If I did not think it would make you too proud”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 181.
“May a thousand good fortunes result”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 493.
“Whoever reads of the doings of republics”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 179.
“He who becomes master of a city”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, V, 102–3.
“And though she was a stubborn enemy”: Machiavelli, Second Decennale, in Chief Works, III, 1461.
VIII. REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
“Pope Julius II acted impetuously”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXV, 189.
“Julius not only pursued the same goals”: Ibid., XI, 131.
“It is the Church”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 145.
“that he would in no way tolerate”: Machiavelli, Legazioni, Commissarie, Scritti di Governo, III, 404.
“And I make, in short”: Ibid., 403.
“Venice lost in a single day”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XII, 137.
“At twenty-two hours Piero Mazaruol”: Sanudo, Venice: Citta Excellentissima, 174.
“very often undid in the evening”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 499.
“The invading soldiers have set to robbing”: Machiavelli, “Legation,” in Chief Works, II, 738.
“Let him turn his eyes here”: Machiavelli, “On Ambition”, in Chief Works, II, 738.
“And thus so great a desire of death”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 500.
“if these powers had not been blinded”: Guicciardini, The History of Italy, III, 280.
“Against barbarian rage”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XXI, 90.
“[He] contended that having been born of a father, etc.”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 196–97.
“although the Pope as a friend”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 195.
“save that of keeping your Excellencies”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 509.
“[T]here is no way out”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 195.
“Your Excellencies may believe”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 510.
“if they make war alone”: Ibid., 510.
Medici sympathizer Prinzivalle della Stufa: Landucci, Diary, 242.
“No one shows any wish to attend the Council”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, I, 524–25.
“it was fought with more virtue than any other”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 346.
“flying like mist before the wind”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 7.
“Seeing the great utility of the Infantry Ordinance”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 10.
“To test the mood of the people”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 215–16.
“It was decided initially”: Ibid., 214.
“were of such a sort”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 12.
“Prudent Princes and Republics”: Machiavelli, Discourses, II, 365.
“[A]fter minimal resistance”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 216–17.
“The taking of Prato, so speedily”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 14.
“[E]veryone began to fear a sack”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 217.
“relying on idle dreams of his own”: Ibid.
“Piero Soderini . . . conducted all his affairs”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 431.
“in conformity with the times”: Ibid., 430.
“The night that Piero Soderini ceased to breathe”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 37.
“all the citizens who considered themselves friends”: Landucci, Diary, 258.
“In this way the liberty of Florence”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 22.
“The city was reduced”: Ibid.
“The city remains most peaceful”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 219.
IX. DISMISSED, DEPRIVED, AND TOTALLY REMOVED
“In the belief that affection may serve”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 26.
“their seizure . . . will generate inextinguishable hatred”: Ibid., 27.
“who can come to terms”: Ibid.
“as many dead, as many exiles”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, “Preface,” 7.
“He who becomes prince”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, IX, 122–23.
“my poverty is a testament”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 310.
“Boscoli and Capponi, young men of good families”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 34.
“There is no . . . enterprise in which private persons”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 398.
“I maintain that one finds in history”: Ibid., 402.
“One must recognize that there is nothing more difficult”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VI, 105.
“that I bore it with such stoicism”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 226–27.
“it is something of a miracle”: Ibid., 246.
“One is chained up and another is unironed”: Machiavelli, “Sonnet to Giuliano, Son of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” in Chief Works, II, 1013.
“Last night, beseeching the Muses”: Ibid., 1014.
“I am accustomed to spending”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 356.
“[F]ortune has left me nothing”: Ibid., 396.
“[B]linded by matrimonial famine”: Ibid., 194.
“la brigatata”: Ibid., 232.
“We dined, and when it came time”: Ibid., 232–33.
“count Orlando”: Ibid., 233.
“slobbering, totally consumed by Gostanza”: Ibid., 329.
“I have met a creature”: Ibid., 360.
“I have found nothing but pain”: Ibid., 361.
“When dinnertime comes”: Ibid., 308.
“Marietta gave birth to a baby girl”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 244.
“Thus I will remain”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 356.
“The duty of a father”: Alberti, The Family in Renaissance Florence, I, 36.
“Since I do not know how to talk”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 225.
“I send you, Giuliano, some thrushes”: Machiavelli, “Third Sonnet to Giuliano, Son of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” in Chief Works, II, 1015.
“Come evening, I return to my house”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 308–9.
“I am dedicating it to his Magnificence Giuliano”: Ibid., 310.
“[T]hrough this work, were it to be read”: Ibid.
X. THE PRINCE
“[I]t is customary for those hoping to win the favor”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, “Dedication to Lorenzo de’ Medici,” 83.
“I am wasting away”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 265.
“Take, then, this little gift”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, “Dedication to Lorenzo de’ Medici,” 84.
But even his harshest critics: Leo Strauss uses the memorable phrase “that greater Columbus” to describe Machiavelli’s contribution to political science. (Leo Strauss, “On the Spirit of Hobbes’ Political Philosophy,” in Essays in the History of Political Thought, 168.)
can still be read with pleasure: Books offering to package Machiavelli’s philosophy as a guide to modern living remain popular. A few recent examples include: The New Prince: Machiavelli Updated for the Twenty-first Century (Dick Morris); What Would Machiavelli Do: The Ends Justify the Meanness (Stanley Bing); Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli’s Iron Rules Are as Important Today as Five Centuries Ago (Michael A. Ledeen).
He was clearly familiar with his predecessors’ work: For anyone interested in the topic, a good place to start is Allan H. Gilbert’s Machiavelli’s Prince and Its Forerunners.
“Since I know that many have already written”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XV, 146–47.
“I proclaim justice is nothing else”: Plato, The Republic, I, in The Works of Plato, 18.
“the knowledge by which we are to make”: Wolin, “Plato: Political Philosophy Versus Politics,” in Essays in the History of Political Thought, 4–5.
“the good lawgiver and the genuine politician”: Aristotle, The Politics, IV, 150.
“as an association of persons”: Aristotle, The Politics, I, 25.
“Wisdom is not only an extraordinary attribute”: Erasmus, Education of a Christian Prince, “Dedicatory Epistle,” 133.
“Should you read diligently and consider”: Machiavelli, The Prince, XXVI, 88.
“it ought to be welcomed by a prince”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 265.
“are acquired, how they are retained”: Ibid., 264.
“In our change-loving Italy”: Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, I, 21.
“Many have imagined republics and principalities”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XV, 147.
“Let the teacher paint a sort of celestial creature”: Erasmus, Education of a Christian Prince, 162.
“[W]e take it for granted”: Aristotle, The Politics, III, 108.
“The worthy exercise of the kingly office”: Aquinas, “On Princely Government,” in Selected Political Writings, 49.
“[A]ll human affairs are ever in a state of flux”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 123.
“the things of this world are so variable”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, X, 128.
“turns states and kingdoms upside down”: Machiavelli, “On Fortune,” in Chief Works, II, 746.
“No one can be called a good prince”: Gilbert, Machiavelli’s Prince and Its Forerunners, 83.
“must be prepared to shift”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XVIII, 157.
“when he acts in harmony with the times”: Ibid., XXV, 187–88.
“are sustained by superior causes”: Ibid., XI, 44.
“Anyone who gains [new territories]”: Ibid., III, 90.
“Cesare Borgia was considered cruel”: Ibid., XVII, 151–52.
“infinitely cruel, and inimical to society”: Machiavelli, Discorsi, I, 49.
“Nonetheless, for he who would not wish to follow”: Ibid.
“that ‘the good’ is ‘that’ ”: Aristotle, Ethics, I, 25.
“Having reviewed all the Duke’s actions”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, VII, 115.
“that the prudence of men cannot manage”: Ibid., XXV, 84.
“I believe that even if it is true”: Ibid., 186–87.
“proves adaptable when unforseen events occur”: Ibid., II, 13–14.
“Fortune in her furious onrush”: Machiavelli, “On Fortune,” in Chief Works, II, 748.
“O great and wonderful happiness of man!”: Pico della Mirandola, On the Dignity of Man, 5.
“I must be cruel to be kind”: Shakespeare, Hamlet, III, IV.
“For where men have but little virtue”: Machiavelli, Discorsi, II, 159.
allowed themselves to be mastered by others: Ibid., 104.
“Everywhere Ambition and Avarice penetrate”: Machiavelli, “On Ambition,” in Chief Works, II, 735.
“But if they cannot succeed and still persist”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, III, 96.
“In all men’s acts”: Ibid., XVIII, 64.
“[I]t is the part of a prudent man”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, in Chief Works, II, 793.
“It is . . . necessary that the prince”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 157.
“[O]ne should note”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XIX, 164.
“It may also be disputed whether fraud”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 157.
“Tyrannical science”: Anglo, Machiavelli: The First Century, 285.
“The universe is so constituted”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXI, 179–80.
“[n]ot a thing in the world is eternal”: Machiavelli, “On Fortune,” in Chief Works, II, 748.
“redeem [Italy] from barbarian insolence”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXVI, 191.
“[G]overnment by one person, being the best”: Aquinas, “On Princely Government,” in Selected Political Writings, 29.
“All states—all those dominions”: Machiavelli, The Prince, I, 13.
“it seems to me that now so many factors”: Ibid., XXVI, 190.
“Everyone knows how laudable it is”: Ibid., XVIII, 155.
“a deceiver will never lack victims”: Ibid., 63.
“[T]here is such a chasm”: Ibid., XV, 147.
“Surely, it is not without purpose”: Deane, “The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine,” in Essays in the History of Political Thought, 90.
“evil”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XVIII, 156.
“One cannot call it virtue”: Ibid., VIII, 118.
“It is a sound maxim”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 132.
“[A] prince must not care”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XVII, 152.
“It must be understood”: Ibid., XVIII, 157.
“states cannot be held with paternosters”: Viroli, Niccolò’s Smile, 13.
“[W]hen the safety of one’s country”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 515.
“wicked”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XVII, 153.
“[I]t is impossible to go against what nature”: Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 431.
“As for the lies of these citizens”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 337.
“[A] wise prince cannot keep his word”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XVIII, 156.
“If all men were good”: Ibid.
“I know everyone agrees that it would be laudable”: Ibid., XV, 148.
“[S]o great is man’s ambition”: Machiavelli, Discourses, II, 341.
“[H]uman appetites are insatiable”: Ibid., 268.
“Almost bereft of life”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXVI, 191.
“I claim that republics”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 196.
“And although someone may already have given”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XXVI, 191.
“Nor at the moment can one see”: Ibid., 191.
“Should your house wish to emulate”: Ibid., 193.
“more oppressed than the Hebrews”: Ibid., 191.
“the only art which is of concern to one who commands”: Mansfield, Machiavelli’s Virtue, 45.
“I have discussed this little study of mine”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 265.
“When I have seen it”: Ibid., 269.
“Against barbarian rage”: Machiavelli, The Prince, “Exhortation to Free Italy from the Hands of the Barbarians,” 90. Machiavelli is quoting famous lines from Petrarch’s “Italia Mia.”
XI. VITA CONTEMPLATIVA
“sordid and ignominious”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 295.
“I have been living in the country”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 306.
“Leaving the woods”: Ibid., 307.
“[T]o live as a malcontent”: Machiavelli, “On Ingratitude or Envy,” in Chief Works, II, 740.
“He lives happily on a little”: Horace, “Otium,” ode II, 16.
“According to your letter of the 21st”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 231.
“you were right and I was mistaken”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 247.
“If things had gone better”: Cicero, On the Good Life, 121.
“I believe that if his Holiness”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 234.
“[I]n this work I have expressed”: Machiavelli, Discorsi, “Dedication to Zanobi Buondelmonit and Cosimo Rucellai,” 3.
“a thousand squabbles and angry words”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 308.
“who live in idleness”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 245–46.
I have no greater gift to offer you”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, “Dedication,” 83–84.
“I shall leave out any discussion of republics”: Ibid., II, 86.
“A prince, therefore, cannot in fact possess”: Ibid., XVIII, 157.
“a new argument, never (that I know)”: Villiari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 288.
“for the common benefit of all”: Machiavelli, Discorsi, “Preface,” 5.
“I intend to depart substantially”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XV, 146–47.
“[I]n the governing of kingdoms”: Machiavelli, Discourses, “Preface,” 98.
“When, therefore, I consider in what honor”: Ibid., 97–98.
“[S]ince fortune is changeable”: Machiavelli, Discorsi, II, 159.
“If one asks oneself how it comes about”: Machiavelli, Discourses, II, 277–78.
“your honor . . . would be darkened”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 421.
“On feast days I hear mass”: Ibid., 303.
“It was religion that facilitated”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 139.
“pattern of life”: Ibid., II, 278.
“the pusillanimity of those who have interpreted”: Ibid.
“the finger of Satan”: Anglo, Machiavelli: The First Century, 126.
“It is the Church that has kept”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 145.
“[O]wing to the bad example”: Ibid., 144.
“All states and all dominions”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, I, 85.
“that in all cities where the citizens”: Machiavelli, “Discourse on Remodeling the Government of Florence,” in Chief Works, I, 106.
“[I]t is the man who uses violence”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 132.
“Wherever you turn your eyes”: Machiavelli, “On Ambition,” in Chief Works, II, 738.
“[A] republic has a greater life”: Machiavelli, Discorsi, III, 187.
“government by the populace is better”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 256.
“dictatorship, so long as it was bestowed”: Ibid., 194.
“imminent danger”: Ibid., 196.
“[F]or it is not the well-being of individuals”: Ibid., II, 275.
“One should take it as a general rule”: Ibid., I, 132.
“[I]t must needs be taken for granted”: Ibid., 112.
“[I]n every republic”: Ibid., 113.
“good laws . . . [came] from those very tumults”: Ibid., 114.
“The enmities in Florence”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VII, 277.
“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition”: Madison, Federalist no. 51, 323.
“every man is naturally impelled”: Pangle, The Spirit of Modern Republicanism, 71.
“[I]f we ask what it is the nobility”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 116.
“I believe it is necessary”: Machiavelli, “Discourse on the Remodeling of the Florentine Government,” in Chief Works, I, 109.
“When the three natural orders”: Thompson, “John Adams’ Machiavellian Moment,” 412.
“the sinking foundations of morality”: Livy, Early History of Rome, I, 30.
“The study of history is the best medicine”: Ibid.
“lack a proper appreciation of history”: Machiavelli, Discourses, “Preface to Book I,” 98.
“If the present be compared with the remote past”: Ibid., I, 208.
“There are two reasons why”: Ibid., III, 431–32.
“Such is the recurring cycle of constitutions”: Polybius, The Histories, VI, 220.
“[I]f anyone sets up one of the three”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 106.
“Thus [states] are always descending”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, V, 185.
XII. THE SAGE OF THE GARDEN
“So if at times I laugh or sing”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 233.
“so the poets are treated!”: Machiavelli, “Sonnet to Giuliano, Son of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” in Chief Works, II, 1013.
“[E]very day we go to the house of some girl”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 228.
“Lady Marietta curses God”: Ibid., 99.
“marriage yoke”: King, Machiavelli, 182.
“A fine miracle, a monk making a woman pregnant!”: Machiavelli, Clizia, in Chief Works, II, 835.
“his affairs are neglected”: Ibid., 836.
“My dearest Guido”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 413–14.
“Honored and dearest foster father”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 399.
“aside from my own children”: Ibid., 404.
“at the sign of the horn”: Ibid., 233.
“It is certainly an amazing thing”: Ibid., 322.
“an unnatural sex act”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 492.
“who like all her kind”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 446.
“[W]hile in the country I have met”: Ibid., 360–61.
“the old game”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 293.
“With your prudence and intelligence”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 363.
“Anyone who read our letters”: Ibid., 392–93.
“that little thief”: Ibid., 391.
“I fear for my liberty”: Ibid., 392.
“fortune has left me nothing”: Ibid., 396.
“write to [Paolo] on my behalf”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 162.
“noontime friends”: King, Machiavelli, 170.
“I never met anyone”: Machiavelli, The Art of War, I, 7.
“friends of the cool shade”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 180.
“Fabrizio freely accepted the invitation”: Machiavelli, The Art of War, I, 9.
“not to those who are princes”: Machiavelli, Discourses, “Dedication,” 94.
“has filled the entire city with high hopes”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 283.
“And our ass”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 166.
“These days I have been reading”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 402–3.
“I do not mind bites or blows”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 166.
“The writer is not very famous”: Machiavelli, La Mandragola, “Prologue,” in Chief Works, II, 777–78.
“Yet if anyone supposes that by finding fault”: Ibid., II, 778.
“Because life is short”: Ibid., 776.
“Your cleverness”: Ibid., V, 819.
“[I] put my finger in sin”: Ibid., IV, 810.
“many times one comes to harm”: Ibid., II, 810.
“If into the same world the same men”: Machiavelli, Clizia, “Prologue,” in Chief Works, II, 823.
“It remains for me to tell you”: Ibid., 824.
the scenery painted by Andrea del Sarto and Bastiano (Aristotle) da Sangallo: Vasari, Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, II, 432.
“a most amusing comedy”: Ibid., 431.
“acquired so great a name”: Ibid., 432.
“[t]he stage was so full of people”: Sanudo, Cità Excelentissima, 492.
“Niccolò Machiavelli, Historian”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 465.
“everyone admires . . . much more than anything else”: Ibid., 410.
“Eat plain food”: Ross, Lives of the Early Medici, 332–35.
“Giuliano, now that God has given us the papacy”: Sanudo, Cita Excellentissima, 180.
“I am very glad you took Machiavelli”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 177.
“[H]e willingly conversed in his leisure time”: Ibid.
“Zanobi Buondelmonti and even Niccolò Machiavelli”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 353.
“The Pope and his Medici”: Ibid., 252–53.
“The Medici who were governing then”: Machiavelli, “A Discourse on Remodeling the Government of Florence,” in Chief Works, I, 104–5.
“[T]o form a princedom where a republic”: Ibid., 107.
“there are three sorts of men”: Ibid., 109.
“all decided it was a good thing”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 414–15.
a sample of what he could achieve in the genre: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 181.
“He is to be hired for”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 329.
“It was certainly good judgment”: Ibid., 335.
“To speak of the people”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 90–91.
“to wish to speak of the affairs of the world”: Ibid., 89.
“easier to describe in books”: Ibid., 155.
“The Italians are not strong enough for resistance”: Ibid., 500.
“Magnificent Lord Francescus Guicciardinis”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 422–23.
“My dearest Machiavelli”: Ibid., 427–28.
“I must tell you that when the crossbowman”: Ibid., 424.
“gobbl[ing] up”: Ibid., 430.
“a good man could not make war”: Machiavelli, The Art of War, I, 17.
“common soldiers [who] laid down their arms”: Ibid., 17–18.
“For the enmities between the people”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, III, 105.
“The night that Piero Soderini ceased to breathe”: Villori, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 37.
he was a decent man but an inffectual leader: See especially Machiavelli, Discourses, III, 393–94.
“there are very few, if any”: Ibid., 402.
“I’ll send your regards to the chickens”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 435.
XIII. NIGHTMARE AND DREAM
“My dear friend”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 437–38.
“I well understand that just now”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 500.
“[T]he matter is of great importance”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 213.
“[I]f it could be brought to the desired fruition”: Ibid.
“When I asked him again”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 438.
“sow in sand and in water”: Machiavelli, “On Ingratitude or Envy,” in Chief Works, II, 740.
“I must warn you”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 444–45.
“[F]or three miles about”: Ibid., 441.
“You are accustomed to your Barbera”: Ibid., 446.
a concoction of bitter aloe, saffron, and Armenian bole: Ibid., 454.
making him a full-fledged citizen: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 365.
“double tertian fever”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 459.
“Honored Niccolò, I shall begin”: Ibid., 468.
“time is endlessly repeating”: Ibid., 460.
“I have to conclude that this gang here”: Ibid., 468.
“Since a prince is required to play the beast”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, XVIII, 156.
“I vent my feelings against these princes”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 465.
“As to public affairs”: Ibid., 469.
“It would be, as I have said”: Ibid., 477.
“[T]here will be war in Italy, and soon”: Ibid., 479.
“Those dreading war should be shown”: Villari, The Life and Times of Niccolò Machiavelli, II, 500–1.
“Machiavelli has left with the orders”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 553.
“[M]y head is so full of ramparts”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 487–88.
“He came to reorganize the militia”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 376.
“I am glad that Machiavelli gave the orders”: Ibid.
“How great the difference is”: Ibid.
“daily stages”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 325.
“[T]he Spaniards could have beaten us”: Ibid., 233.
“made in Rome, but not observed in Lombardy”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 523.
“living in Rome”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 233.
“[O]bserving the behavior of France and the Venetians”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 523.
“We began . . . to divide the army at Parma”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 240.
“As for the lansquenets”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 526.
“I do not believe there were ever more troubling matters”: Ibid., 525.
“I have taken on my own initiative”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 241.
“I love Messer Francesco Guicciardini”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 525.
“whom I remarked to be higher than the rest”: Cellini, Vita, I, 66.
“the dreadful news from Rome”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 247.
“Wherever you turn your eyes”: Machiavelli, “On Ambition,” in Chief Works, II, 738.
“he heard him sigh many times”: Ridolfi, The Life of Niccolò Machiavelli, 329.
“[The common people] hated him”: Viroli, Niccolò’s Smile, 257.
“My very dear Francesco”: Machiavelli et al., Lettere Familiari, 530.
“We are the saintly and the blessed”: Viroli, Niccolò’s Smile, 3.
“We are the damned of Hell”: Ibid.
XIV. FINGER OF SATAN
“if one wishes to put this state on a proper footing”: Najemy, A History of Florence, 462.
“to bite and tear him”: Anglo, Machiavelli: The First Century, 165.
“that those who teach the use of herbs”: Ibid., 166.
“Although owing to the envy inherent in man’s nature”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 97.
“we are much beholden to Machiavel”: Bacon, Advancement of Learning, II, 222.
“It is a sound maxim”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 132.
“I have not adorned this work”: Machiavelli, Il Principe, “Dedication,” 84.
“wholly destitute of religion and a contemner thereof”: Anglo, Machiavelli: The First Century, 169.
“This poison is spread”: Ibid., 17.
“enemy of the human race”: Ibid.
“[M]y intent and purpose”: Ibid., 285.
“the odious maxims”: Skinner et al., Great Political Thinkers, 9.
“All these discoveries and complaints”: Pangle, The Spirit of Modern Republicanism, 32.
“subtle policie, cunning roguerie”: Anglo, Machiavelli: The First Century, 3.
“ruin[ing] anyone who might someday ruin you”: Ibid., 165.
“I count religion but a childish toy”: Marlowe, The Jew of Malta, “Prologue.”
“I’ll slay more gazers than a basilisk”: Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, III, ii.
“O great and wonderful happiness of man!”: Pico, On the Dignity of Man, 5, Portable Renaissance Reader, p. 478–79.
“What a piece of work is a man!”: Shakespeare, Hamlet, II, ii.
“the dispositions of men are naturally such”: Rauch, The Political Animal, 28.
“all human affairs are ever in a state of flux”: Machiavelli, Discourses, I, 123.
“Fitted out appropriately”: Machiavelli et al., Machiavelli and His Friends, 264.