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1DESCRIPTION OF THE METHODS ADOPTED BY THE DUKE VALENTINO WHEN MURDERING VITELLOZZO VITELLI, OLIVEROTTO DA FERMO, THE
2SIGNOR PAGOLO, AND THE DUKE DI GRAVINA ORSINI THE LIFE OF CASTRUCCIO CASTRACANI OF LUCCA Nicolo Machiavelli, born at
3Florence on 3rd May 1469. From 1494 to 1512 held an official post at Florence which included diplomatic missions to
4various European courts. Imprisoned in Florence, 1512; later exiled and returned to San Casciano. Died at Florence on
522nd June 1527. INTRODUCTION Nicolo Machiavelli was born at Florence on 3rd May 1469. He was the second son of Bernardo
6di Nicolo Machiavelli, a lawyer of some repute, and of Bartolommea di Stefano Nelli, his wife. Both parents were members
7of the old Florentine nobility. His life falls naturally into three periods, each of which singularly enough constitutes
8a distinct and important era in the history of Florence. His youth was concurrent with the greatness of Florence as an
9Italian power under the guidance of Lorenzo de' Medici, Il Magnifico. The downfall of the Medici in Florence occurred in
101494, in which year Machiavelli entered the public service. During his official career Florence was free under the
11government of a Republic, which lasted until 1512, when the Medici returned to power, and Machiavelli lost his office.
12The Medici again ruled Florence from 1512 until 1527, when they were once more driven out. This was the period of
13Machiavelli's literary activity and increasing influence; but he died, within a few weeks of the expulsion of the
14Medici, on 22nd June 1527, in his fifty-eighth year, without having regained office. YOUTH -- Æt. 1-25--1469-94 Although
15there is little recorded of the youth of Machiavelli, the Florence of those days is so well known that the early
16environment of this representative citizen may be easily imagined. Florence has been described as a city with two
17opposite currents of life, one directed by the fervent and austere Savonarola, the other by the splendour-loving
18Lorenzo. Savonarola's influence upon the young Machiavelli must have been slight, for although at one time he wielded
19immense power over the fortunes of Florence, he only furnished Machiavelli with a subject of a gibe in The Prince, where
20he is cited as an example of an unarmed prophet who came to a bad end. Whereas the magnificence of the Medicean rule
21during the life of Lorenzo appeared to have impressed Machiavelli strongly, for he frequently recurs to it in his
22writings, and it is to Lorenzo's grandson that he dedicates The Prince. Machiavelli, in his "History of Florence," gives
23us a picture of the young men among whom his youth was passed. He writes: "They were freer than their forefathers in
24dress and living, and spent more in other kinds of excesses, consuming their time and money in idleness, gaming, and
25women; their chief aim was to appear well dressed and to speak with wit and acuteness, whilst he who could wound others
26the most cleverly was thought the wisest." In a letter to his son Guido, Machiavelli shows why youth should avail itself
27of its opportunities for study, and leads us to infer that his own youth had been so occupied. He writes: "I have
28received your letter, which has given me the greatest pleasure, especially because you tell me you are quite restored in
29health, than which I could have no better news; for if God grant life to you, and to me, I hope to make a good man of
30you if you are willing to do your share." Then, writing of a new patron, he continues: "This will turn out well for you,
31but it is necessary for you to study; since, then, you have no longer the excuse of illness, take pains to study letters
32and music, for you see what honour is done to me for the little skill I have. Therefore, my son, if you wish to please
33me, and to bring success and honour to yourself, do right and study, because others will help you if you help yourself."
34OFFICE -- Æt. 25-43--1494-1512 The second period of Machiavelli's life was spent in the service of the free Republic of
35Florence, which flourished, as stated above, from the expulsion of the Medici in 1494 until their return in 1512. After
36serving four years in one of the public offices he was appointed Chancellor and Secretary to the Second Chancery, the
37Ten of Liberty and Peace. Here we are on firm ground when dealing with the events of Machiavelli's life, for during this
38time he took a leading part in the affairs of the Republic, and we have its decrees, records, and dispatches to guide
39us, as well as his own writings. A mere recapitulation of a few of his transactions with the statesmen and soldiers of
40his time gives a fair indication of his activities, and supplies the sources from which he drew the experiences and
41characters which illustrate The Prince. His first mission was in 1499 to Catherina Sforza, "my lady of Forli" of The
42Prince, from whose conduct and fate he drew the moral that it is far better to earn the confidence of the people than to
43rely on fortresses. This is a very noticeable principle in Machiavelli, and is urged by him in many ways as a matter of
44vital importance to princes. In 1500 he was sent to France to obtain terms from Louis XII for continuing the war against
45Pisa: this king it was who, in his conduct of affairs in Italy, committed the five capital errors in statecraft
46summarized in The Prince, and was consequently driven out. He, also, it was who made the dissolution of his marriage a
47condition of support to Pope Alexander VI; which leads Machiavelli to refer those who urge that such promises should be
48kept to what he has written concerning the faith of princes. Machiavelli's public life was largely occupied with events
49arising out of the ambitions of Pope Alexander VI and his son, Cesare Borgia, the Duke Valentino, and these characters
50fill a large space of The Prince. Machiavelli never hesitates to cite the actions of the duke for the benefit of
51usurpers who wish to keep the states they have seized; he can, indeed, find no precepts to offer so good as the pattern
52of Cesare Borgia's conduct, insomuch that Cesare is acclaimed by some critics as the "hero" of The Prince. Yet in The
53Prince the duke is in point of fact cited as a type of the man who rises on the fortune of others, and falls with them;
54who takes every course that might be expected from a prudent man but the course which will save him; who is prepared for
55all eventualities but the one which happens; and who, when all his abilities fail to carry him through, exclaims that it
56was not his fault, but an extraordinary and unforeseen fatality. On the death of Pius III, in 1503, Machiavelli was sent
57to Rome to watch the election of his successor, and there he saw Cesare Borgia cheated into allowing the choice of the
58College to fall on Giuliano delle Rovere (Julius II), who was one of the cardinals that had most reason to fear the
59duke. Machiavelli, when commenting on this election, says that he who thinks new favours will cause great personages to
60forget old injuries deceives himself. Julius did not rest until he had ruined Cesare. It was to Julius II that
61Machiavelli was sent in 1506, when that pontiff was commencing his enterprise against Bologna; which he brought to a
62successful issue, as he did many of his other adventures, owing chiefly to his impetuous character. It is in reference
63to Pope Julius that Machiavelli moralizes on the resemblance between Fortune and women, and concludes that it is the
64bold rather than the cautious man that will win and hold them both. It is impossible to follow here the varying fortunes
65of the Italian states, which in 1507 were controlled by France, Spain, and Germany, with results that have lasted to our
66day; we are concerned with those events, and with the three great actors in them, so far only as they impinge on the
67personality of Machiavelli. He had several meetings with Louis XII of France, and his estimate of that monarch's
68character has already been alluded to. Machiavelli has painted Ferdinand of Aragon as the man who accomplished great
69things under the cloak of religion, but who in reality had no mercy, faith, humanity, or integrity; and who, had he
70allowed himself to be influenced by such motives, would have been ruined. The Emperor Maximilian was one of the most
71interesting men of the age, and his character has been drawn by many hands; but Machiavelli, who was an envoy at his
72court in 1507-8, reveals the secret of his many failures when he describes him as a secretive man, without force of
73character--ignoring the human agencies necessary to carry his schemes into effect, and never insisting on the fulfilment
74of his wishes.
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