# Chapter 5 Chapter I I.Letter to Vettori,December IO, I513. 2.Of the I42 chapter headings of the Discourses,39 contain proper names. 3. Discourses IIr(234),III I9 and 42;cf.II 20 beginning. 4.Cf. Prince, ch.I5 beginning. 5.See page 23 above. 6.Cf.the Epistle Dedicatory of the Prince. 7.We are thus not unprepared to find that the most extraordinary con- queror,Alexander (the Great),is mentioned twice in the heading of the following chapter. 8.Di scourses, I pr. 9.The tacit emphasis on ancient examples in ch.9 has a special reason. It draws our attention to the im- propriety of discussing in the Prince the most important modern example of civil principalities i.e.,the rule of the Medici.Machiavelli leaves it at discussing the ancient counterpart: Nabis of Sparta.Cf.ch.21(73). 1o.Compare also the chief example of ch.Io(the German cities which are free to the highest degree)with the remark about the Swiss in ch. I2(the Swiss are armed to the highest degree and free to the highest).This distinction is developed somewhat more fully in Discourses II 19(286- 287I)I..Chs.I2(41)and 13(43,44). Cf.the letter to Piero Soderini of January 15I2. I2.Chs.I7(52)and 18(55).In the only intervening reference to lit- erature-ch.I7(54)-Machiavelli at- tacks“the writers”and no longer merely as he did at the beginning of ch.I5,“many”writers.Incidentally, “many writers”are attacked in the Discourses as early as the tenth chap- ter;the break with the tradition be- comes explicit in the Discourses pro- portionately much earlier than in the PrceC.f. the relation of princes and ministers as it appears in ch.22 with the relation of Cesare Borgia and his minister as presented in ch.7(24). 14.Chs.20,22 and 23 contain only modern examples.The explicit em- phasis on modern examples in ch.I8 (How princes should keep faith)has a special reason just as had the tacit emphasis on ancient examples in ch. 9: Machiavelli draws our attention to the modern form of faithlessness or hypocrisy which strikingly differs from the Roman form (cf. Discourses II3 end).There is a connection be- tween this thought and the reference to “pious cruelty”in ch.21.Machia- velli indicates that the argument of ch.I8 requires a special act of dar- in (55)h..I9 is the center not only of the third part but of the whole section of the Prince which follows the discussion of the various kinds of principality,i.e.,of that whole section which in the light of the beginning NOTES of the Prince comes as a surprise(cf. ch.I where the theme"the various kinds of principality” is announced with the beginnings of chs.I2,I5 and 24).Whereas the first,second,and fourth parts of the Prince each con- tain one Latin quotation,the third part contains two of them.-Compare the beginning of ch.6 with the be- ginnings of chs. 2I-23 in the light of the observation made in the text. 16.Cf.pages 46-47 above. 17.Ch,20(67-68).The opinion de- scribed there as held by“our an- cients” is described in Discourses III 27(403)as a modern opinion held by "the sages of our city sometime ago." 18.Shortly before,Machiavelli men- tions "natural affection" for a prince. He had not used that expression since early in ch. 4. But there he had spoken of the natural affection of the subjects for the French barons,their lords from time immemorial;now he speaks of natural affection for a new prince.The transition is partly ef- fected by what he says in ch.I9 (6o) about the hatred,founded in fear, of the French people against the French magnates. 19. Ch. 2I (7 2). Cf. ch. 3 end. 20.The most unqualified attack in the Prince on ancient writers in gen- eral ("the writers")-ch.I7(54)—OC- curs within the context of a praise of ancient statesmen or captains.—The fourth part of the Prince contains one Latin quotation and the only Italian quotation occurring in the book. 21. Prince chs.6(18)and I(36). 22.To"treat"something means to “reason”about it(Prince,ch.2 be- ginning and ch.8 beginning).Ma- chiavelli calls his discourse on the Decemvirate,which includes an ex- tensive summary of Livy's account of the Decemvirate and therefore in particular of the actions of the would- be tyrant Appius Claudius,the “above written treatise”(Discourses I 43), whereas he calls his discourse on the 》307《 liberality of the senate"the above written discourse”(Discourses I 52 beginning).In Discourses II 32(323) trattato means "conspiracy."He calls Xenophon's Hiero a"treatise”on tyranny(II 2)while he calls Dante's Monarchia a“discourse”(I 53).In Florentine Histories I 2,he calls the First Book of that work nostro tra.oas.o the end of ch.I3 with ch.25.-In the first chapter Ma- chiavelli indicates I3 subjects whose treatment might seem to require I3 chapters,and he indicates in the fif- teenth chapter II subjects whose treat- ment might seem to require II chap- ters. 24.Chs.26 and 4 of the Prince begin with practically the same word. 25.Cf.Di scourses I 23(I53). 26.Only at the end of ch. 4 does Machiavelli allude to Italy by men- tioning the failure of Pyrrhus,i.e., his failure to keep his conquests in Italy. 27. Prince ch.7(23-25); cf.O pere I 637.Consider Machiavelli's state- ment on the pernicious character of the feudal nobility in Discourses I 55. 28.The term “fatherland”which occurs in chs. 6,8 and g is avoided in ch.7, the chapter devoted to Cesare Borgia. 29.The subject-matter of ch.5 is slightly concealed(see the unobtru- sive transition from states in general to cities i.e.,republics,near the be- ginning:volerli ... ruinarle).It al- most goes without saying that almost all examples in this chapter are an- cient. All the more striking is Machia- velli's silence about the Roman mode of ruling republican cities by making them allies;see Discourses II 24(303) and 19(285);he tacitly rejects this mode in the Prince because it is im- practicable for a prince who is to become prince of a united Italy.一 When discussing the badness of mer- cenary armies, Machiavelli uses almost exclusively examples which show that 》308《 mercenary armies have ruined or en- dangered republics.He thus shows in effect that mercenaries can be emi- nently good for a leader of mer- cenary armies,like Sforza who by being armed became a new prince; compare ch.I2 with chs.7(21)and 14 (36).As we learn from Livy (XXXVII 27.15),Nabis of Sparta whom Machiavelli praises,placed the greatest confidence in his mercenary troops.(This report of Livy precedes almost immediately his account of Philopoemen which Machiavelli uses in Prince ch.I4).These remarks taken together with those about the soldiers of the Roman emperors in ch.I9 and about the impossibility of arming all able-bodied Italian subjects in ch.20(67)reveal a possibility which deserves attention.In this con- nection one should also consider what Machiavelli says toward the end of the ninth chapter,immediately after having praised(the tyrant)Nabis of Sparta,about the superiority of ab- solute principalities,i.e.,about the kind of principality which was tradi- tionally called tyranny (Discourses I 25 end),and compare it with the confrontation of the Turkish and the 3n)ohi .() .. Discourses I I2(I30). 31.Compare Discourses I 26 with Prince chs.7(24),8(30),I3 end, 17 and 21 beginning.Just as Philip became "from a little king,prince of Greece”by the use of the most cruel means,Ferdinand of Aragon be- came "from a weak king,the first king of the Christians”by the use of “pi- ous cruelty.” 32. Prince chs.3(II-I3),7(23,26), II(37-38); cf.D iscourses III 29.We note in passing that in the Prince ch.16(50-51)Machiavelli holds up "the present king of France,"“the present king of Spain,"and Pope Jul- ius II but not the present Pope,Leo NOTES X,who possesses“goodness and in- finite other virtues,"(ch.II end)as models of prudent stinginess which is the indispensable condition for"do- ing great things."Cf.Ranke,Die Roemischen Paepste, ed.by F.Baeth- gen, I,273 on Leo X's extravagance. 一 In the Prince Machiavell i tells two stories about private conversations which he had had(chs.3 and 7).Ac- cording to the first story Machiavelli once told a French cardinal that the French know nothing of politics,for otherwise they would not have per- mitted the Church to become so great (through the exploits of Cesare Bor- gia).The second story deals with what Cesare told Machiavelli on the day on which Pope Julius II was elected,i.e.,on which Cesare's hopes were dashed through his insufficient control of the Church:Cesare had in fact committed the same mistake as the French,but he had the excuse that he had no choice.In Florentine Histories I 23,Machiavelli alludes to the possibility that the papacy might become hereditary.Could he have played with the thought that a new Cesare Borgia might redeem Italy after.'having himself become Pope and the founder of a papal oyV.stoues Apil I22.6C,. letter 34. Discourses I 27; Opere I 683. 35.Machiavelli prepares for the si- lence about Romulus in ch.26 in the following manner:in ch.6 he enu- merates the four heroic founders three times and in the final enumeration he relegates Romulus to the end.Cf. Florentine Histories VI 29. 36.Prince chs.I,6(17-19),8(29- 30),14(48),19(66),20(67)and 24 (77);cf. Art of War VII(616-617). 37.Cf. Prince ch.22. 38. Ch. 7(21-22 ). Cf. pages 22-23 above. 39.Letter to [Ricciardo Bechi], March 8,I497 · 40.The shift in Prince ch.26 from NOTES Lorenzo to his family can be under- stood to some extent from the point of view indicated in the text.As for the unreliability of promises stemming from passion,cf.Discourses II 31;as for the popularity of grand hopes and valiant promises, cf. Discourses I 53 · 4I.This is not to deny the fact that the miracles attested to by Ma- chiavelli are without example inso- far as their sequence differs from the sequence of the Mosaic miracles. chs.3(I3),I2(39,41), 25(8o-8I);cf.Dis- courses I 27.One can express the progress of the argument in the last part of the Prince as follows: I) r;)t mendpen onvi. but chance can be kept down by the right kind of man (ch. 25);3)chance has done the most difficult part of the work required for liberating Italy, only the rest needs to be done by means of virtue(ch.26). 43.The 7 real defeats must be taken together with the 4 invented miracles if one wants to grasp Machia- velli's intimation. 44. Discourses II 3o end. 45.In the "highest"part of the Prince Machiavelli speaks of "us Florentines," (chs .I5 and 20)while in the other parts of the book he speaks of“us Italians”(chs.2,I2,I3 and 24).-The tyrant Nabis had de- stroyed the freedom of many Greek cities (Justinus XXXI, 1); by his assassination that freedom was re- stored.Cf. note 9 above. 1 》309《 47. Discourses III 2 end and 35 (422-423). 48.Compare Discourses I 30(163) with 29(16o-161). 49.Apart from the Epistle Dedica- tory and ch.26 where Machiavelli, speaking of Lorenzo to Lorenzo uses the plural of reverence,he uses the second person plural only in con- nection with verbs like "seeing," “finding,"“considering,"and “under- standing.”There are,I believe,II cases of the latter kind in the Prince while in the Discourses, if I remem- ber well,there are only 2(I 58 [221] and II 30 [317]):i n the Discourses which are addressed to potential princes,the need to distinguish be- tween doers and thinkers does not arise to the same extent as it does in the Prince.Consider Discourses II pr. (230). In the chapter of the Prince on flatterers-ch.23(75)-Machiavelli uses Thou when speaking of the prince to the prince,while he uses the third person when speaking of the prudent prince:he is not a flat- terer.Ch.3(I0-II)beautifully illus- trates how Machiavelli the teacher works together with his readers in examining certain things as well as how his contribution differs from that of his readers. 50. Prince chs.18(55)and 19(62). 51.Swift's Houyhnhnms,being rea- sonable horses,are centaurs if a cen- taur is a being which combines the perfection of a horse with the per- fection of man.In order to under- stand what the recommendation to imitate these beast-men means in Gul- liver's Travels,one would have to 53.Machiavelli does not even sug- 》3IO《 gest that Cesare Borgia,the model, was animated by patriotism or con- cerned with the common good.It is true that he contrasts Cesare with the criminal Agathocles by not call- ing Cesare a criminal.But if one looks at the actions of the two men,the contrast vanishes:in describing Ag- athocles as a criminal,he provisional- ly adopts the traditional judgment on that man,whereas there does not yet exist a traditional judgment on Cesare.The traditional condemnation of Agathocles was partly based on the fact that he had risen to princely power from“a base and abject con- dition.”Machiavelli refers to a simi- lar consideration when explaining the failure of Maximinus-Prince ch.I9 (64-65)-but it is irrelevant for his own judgment as can be seen from Discourses II I3,to say nothing of the Epistle Dedicatory to the Prince where he describes himself as“a man of low and base state."The main reason why Machiavelli had to speak of a criminal ruler was that he was compelled to indicate that he was questioning the traditional distinction between the criminal and the non- criminal as far as founders are con- cerned.He thus presents Agathocles as the classical example of the crimi- nal ruler,as a breaker of all divine and human laws,a murderer and a traitor ,a man without faith,mercy and religion;Agathocles possessed in- deed greatness of mind;although a most excellent captain,he cannot be counted among the most excellent men;his actions could acquire for him empire but not glory;he bene- fited indeed his subjects,or rather the common people,but he did this of course entirely for selfish reasons. In the sequel Machiavelli retracts everything he had said in connection with Agathocles about the difference between an able criminal ruler and an able non-criminal ruler.The first step is the praise of Nabis whom he calls a prince in the Prince while he NOTES calls him in the Discourses a tyrant: Nabis'policy was fundamentally the same as that of Agathocles(compare Prince chs.9 [33]and I9 [58]with Discourses I io [122]and ch.40 [187]). The second step is the questioning of the difference between“most ex- cellent captain”and “most excellent man”:good arms are the necessary and sufficient condition of good laws, and Agathocles had good arms; Cy- rus,the excellent man most em- phatically praised,is not said to have possessed faith, mercy and religion, but he is distinguished by greatness of mind,i.e.,by a quality which Ag- athocles also possessed.One reason why Agathocles cannot be counted among the most excellent men is his savage cruelty and inhumanity;but Hannibal who is likewise characterized by inhuman cruelty is a most excel- lent man.(Compare Prince chs.I2 [38-39],14 [47-48],17 [54],26 [81] with Discourses II 18 [28o]and II 21 end).The last step is to show that glory can be acquired by crime or in spite of crime.This is shown most clearly by the case of Severus (see pages 46-47 above),but hardly less clearly by Prince ch.18 toward the end,to say nothing of Machiavelli's observations regarding Giovampagolo Baglioni in Discourses I 27. 54. Prince chs.6(18),8(27,29,30), 9 ( 3I,33),26(84). 55. Prince ch.26(83); Discourses II 4 toward the end and III 43;Art of War,at the end;compare Dis- courses Ir end with Livy I 34.I2- 35.I2,also Livy V 15.Cf.note 45 above. 56.Cf.Art of War II(489). 57.Cf. Discourses I 53 · 58.P rince ch.5; Discourses II 2 (239-240).In the preceding chapter of the Discourses(2 34)there occurs one of the few references to the Prince; the reference is to the third chapter i.e.,to the section which deals with conquest. 59. Princ e ch.21(71-73). NOTES 6o.P rince chs.I2(38- 39)a nd 19 (58); Discourses I4(I03);Opere I 473· 61. Prince chs. 3 (6),6(I9),9 (3I,32),Io(35-3 6),I7(53),18(57), 23(75),24(78);Discourses I 57 and 58(217-2I9).In the Prince chs.7(22) and 8(28)he applies expressions to Cesare Borgia and to Agathocles which he had applied to himself in the Epistle Dedicatory. 62.Cf. Discourses Epistle Dedica- tory and the letter to Vettori of De- 》3II《 cember Io,I513 · 63.The I pairs of moral qualities mentioned in ch.I5 and the II rules of conduct discussed in chs.20-2I prove on examination to be I0. Compare Hobbes're-writing of the decalogue in Leviathan, ch.30. 65.Compare Discourses III 35 be- ginning with Prince ch.6(19).