# CHAPTER 1 — What the Beginnings of Cities Have Always Been, and What the Beginnings of Rome Were Like

Those who read about the beginnings of the city of Rome, about its lawgivers, and how it was organized will not be surprised that so much ability was preserved there over so many centuries, nor that afterwards it gave rise to the imperial power which that republic attained. In wishing first to discuss its birth, I must say that all cities are built either by men who are natives of the place where they are built or by foreigners. The first situation comes about when the inhabitants, scattered in many small groups, feel they are not living in security, since each group on its own, because of both its location and its small size, cannot resist the onslaught of anyone who may attack it, and in uniting for their defence when the enemy comes, they are either not in time, or even if they are, they are forced to abandon many of their strongholds, and in this way come to be ready prey to their enemies. Hence, to escape these dangers, moved either by themselves or by someone among them of greater authority, they draw closer to each other to settle in a place they have chosen which is more convenient to live in and easier to defend.

Among many others, Athens and Venice were cities of this type. The first, under the authority of Theseus, was built for similar reasons by scattered inhabitants; as for the second, once many peoples took refuge upon certain small islands that stood at the end of the Adriatic Sea to escape those wars that arose in Italy every day because of the arrival of new barbarians after the decline of the Roman empire, they began, without any particular ruler to give them orders, to live under those laws that they felt were most apt to sustain them. This turned out happily for them because of the long peace that the site afforded them; the sea had no harbour and the peoples tormenting Italy did not possess ships with which to harass them, with the result that this meagre beginning enabled them to reach the level of greatness they presently enjoy.

The second situation comes about when a city is built by foreigners and is born either of free men or of those who depend on others, such as the colonies sent either by a republic or by a prince to relieve their lands of inhabitants, or to defend newly acquired territory which they wish to maintain securely and without expense (the Roman people built many of these cities throughout its empire); or they may be built by a prince not as a place to live but to his own glory, as the city of Alexandria was built by Alexander. And since these cities do not have free origins, it rarely happens that they make great advances and can be numbered among the chief cities of kingdoms. The building of Florence was like this, for (either built by the soldiers of Sulla or perhaps by the inhabitants of the mountains of Fiesole who, trusting in the long peace that arose in the world under Octavius, came to dwell on the plain above the Arno), Florence was built under the Roman empire, and it could not in its beginnings undergo any growth except that which the generosity of its prince allowed it.

The builders of cities are free when any people, either under a prince or on its own, is forced by disease, famine, or war to abandon its native land and seek a new home: such peoples as these either settle in the cities they discover in the lands they acquire, as Moses did, or they build new cities, as Aeneas did. In this case, we recognize the ability of the builder and the fortune of what he has built: this is more or less remarkable according to whether he who has been its founder is more or less able. His ability is recognized in two ways: the first is in his selection of a site, and the other is in his organization of the laws. Moreover, because men act either out of necessity or by choice, and since ability is greater where choice has less authority, it must be considered whether, for the building of cities, it is preferable to select barren sites, so that men, forced to work industriously and less occupied in idle pursuits will live more united, having less reason for disagreements because of the poverty of the site, as happened in Ragusa * and many other cities built in similar places; such a choice would no doubt be wiser and more useful if men were content to live on their own resources and did not insist on seeking others. Nevertheless, since men cannot live in security without power, they must avoid such barrenness in a country and situate themselves in the most fertile regions, where, since the richness of the site allows them to expand, they can defend themselves from those who attack them and subdue anyone who opposes their greatness. As for the idleness that the site brings to the city, it is essential to organize things in such a way that the laws force upon the city those necessities that the site does not impose, and to imitate those who have been wise and have lived in the most pleasant and most fertile countries, those more apt to produce idle men unfit for any useful activity, where in order to avoid the harm the pleasant nature of the country might have caused due to idle pursuits, the people made training compulsory for those who were to become soldiers, so that as a result of this regulation, they became better soldiers than men in those countries which were naturally harsh and barren. Among countries such as these was the kingdom of the Egyptians, where although the country was very pleasant, the necessity imposed by the laws was so powerful that they produced the most excellent men, and if their names had not been erased by the passing of the ages, we would see that they would deserve more praise than Alexander the Great and many others of whom memory is still fresh. And whoever might have considered the kingdom of the Sultan and the organization of the Mamelukes * and that of their militia before Selim, the Grand Turk, had destroyed it, would have seen in it many such exercises for the soldiers and would have, in fact, recognized how much they feared that idleness that the beneficence of the land could have brought upon them, had they not prevented this with the strictest laws.

Let me say, therefore, that it is more prudent to select a fertile site when this fertility can be kept within proper bounds by the laws. When he wished to construct a city to his glory, the architect Dinocrates * came to Alexander the Great and showed him how he could build a city on the top of Mount Athos, a location which, besides being a fortified position, could be shaped in such a fashion that the city would take on a human form, something which would be an astonishing and rare thing, worthy of his greatness. When Alexander asked him what the inhabitants would live on, Dinocrates answered that he had not thought about it: Alexander laughed at this, and, abandoning that mountain, built Alexandria, where its inhabitants willingly lived because of the richness of the land and the convenience of the sea and the Nile.

Anyone, therefore, who examines the founding of Rome, if he takes Aeneas as its first father, will consider it as one of the cities built by foreigners; if he takes Romulus as Rome’s first father, he will consider it as one of the cities built by men who are natives of the place; and in any case, he will see it as having had a free beginning without depending upon anyone; and, as will be discussed below, he will also see how many necessities were imposed upon this city by Romulus, Numa, and the others, so that the fertility of the site, the convenience of the sea, the frequent victories, and the great size of its empire were unable to corrupt it for centuries, and these laws kept it full of as much exceptional ability as ever adorned any other city or republic.

And because the deeds performed by this city, and celebrated by Livy, came about either through public or private consultation, either within or outside the city, I shall begin to discuss those matters which occurred within the city through public assemblies which I judge to be most worthy of comment, adding to them everything that depended upon them: this first book, or rather this first part, will end with these commentaries.