Description
Book SynopsisMachiavelli was painfully aware of living in a disastrous moment of Italy''s history: foreign invasions, occupations and shattered states. He was harshly critical of Italy''s princes (such as Francesco Sforza), its professional military class (especially Cesare Borgia), and the Church (Pope Julius II), and this is a study of his evaluation of their failures and of their underlying causes. He believed that the root of Italy''s political weakness was the excessive ambition of its elite classes, who, like their counterparts in ancient Rome, were prepared to overthrow governments that obstructed their ambition. Machiavelli formulates this phenomenon, first theoretically, then historically in the context of the Florentine Republic''s descent into family-based factionalism, which culminated in the brittle Medici regime. The most damaging tyranny, according to Machiavelli, was the collective tyranny of wealthy elites ready to undermine law and government to preserve and augment their power and wealth.
Trade ReviewOne cannot finish this book without developing a deep appreciation for Machiavelli's perceptive insights into the nature of political power and the author's ability to uncover and synthesize those perceptions from the corpus of Machiavelli's pertinent works...Scholars interested in historiography will appreciate the explication of Machiavelli's use of ancient Roman history (e.g., the Gracchi) to compare and contrast the events of his world. * Choice *
Table of ContentsPreface 1: The Travails of Italy viewed from the Chancery 2: Sins of Princes 3: Mercenaries and Cesare Borgia 4: The Papacy and Julius II 5: Momentous and Natural Enmities 6: Family and Faction 7: Faction and Regime 8: Regime and Repression 9: Repression and Conspiracy 10: Corruption and Tyranny
