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1The remaining years of Machiavelli's official career were filled with events arising out of the League of Cambrai, made
2in 1508 between the three great European powers already mentioned and the pope, with the object of crushing the Venetian
3Republic. This result was attained in the battle of Vaila, when Venice lost in one day all that she had won in eight
4hundred years. Florence had a difficult part to play during these events, complicated as they were by the feud which
5broke out between the pope and the French, because friendship with France had dictated the entire policy of the
6Republic. When, in 1511, Julius II finally formed the Holy League against France, and with the assistance of the Swiss
7drove the French out of Italy, Florence lay at the mercy of the Pope, and had to submit to his terms, one of which was
8that the Medici should be restored. The return of the Medici to Florence on 1st September 1512, and the consequent fall
9of the Republic, was the signal for the dismissal of Machiavelli and his friends, and thus put an end to his public
10career, for, as we have seen, he died without regaining office. LITERATURE AND DEATH -- Æt. 43-58--1512-27 On the return
11of the Medici, Machiavelli, who for a few weeks had vainly hoped to retain his office under the new masters of Florence,
12was dismissed by decree dated 7th November 1512. Shortly after this he was accused of complicity in an abortive
13conspiracy against the Medici, imprisoned, and put to the question by torture. The new Medicean pope, Leo X, procured
14his release, and he retired to his small property at San Casciano, near Florence, where he devoted himself to
15literature. In a letter to Francesco Vettori, dated 13th December 1513, he has left a very interesting description of
16his life at this period, which elucidates his methods and his motives in writing The Prince. After describing his daily
17occupations with his family and neighbours, he writes: "The evening being come, I return home and go to my study; at the
18entrance I pull off my peasant-clothes, covered with dust and dirt, and put on my noble court dress, and thus becomingly
19re-clothed I pass into the ancient courts of the men of old, where, being lovingly received by them, I am fed with that
20food which is mine alone; where I do not hesitate to speak with them, and to ask for the reason of their actions, and
21they in their benignity answer me; and for four hours I feel no weariness, I forget every trouble, poverty does not
22dismay, death does not terrify me; I am possessed entirely by those great men. And because Dante says: Knowledge doth
23come of learning well retained, Unfruitful else, I have noted down what I have gained from their conversation, and have
24composed a small work on 'Principalities,' where I pour myself out as fully as I can in meditation on the subject,
25discussing what a principality is, what kinds there are, how they can be acquired, how they can be kept, why they are
26lost: and if any of my fancies ever pleased you, this ought not to displease you: and to a prince, especially to a new
27one, it should be welcome: therefore I dedicate it to his Magnificence Giuliano. Filippo Casavecchio has seen it; he
28will be able to tell you what is in it, and of the discourses I have had with him; nevertheless, I am still enriching
29and polishing it." The "little book" suffered many vicissitudes before attaining the form in which it has reached us.
30Various mental influences were at work during its composition; its title and patron were changed; and for some unknown
31reason it was finally dedicated to Lorenzo de' Medici. Although Machiavelli discussed with Casavecchio whether it should
32be sent or presented in person to the patron, there is no evidence that Lorenzo ever received or even read it: he
33certainly never gave Machiavelli any employment. Although it was plagiarized during Machiavelli's lifetime, The Prince
34was never published by him, and its text is still disputable. Machiavelli concludes his letter to Vettori thus: "And as
35to this little thing [his book], when it has been read it will be seen that during the fifteen years I have given to the
36study of statecraft I have neither slept nor idled; and men ought ever to desire to be served by one who has reaped
37experience at the expense of others. And of my loyalty none could doubt, because having always kept faith I could not
38now learn how to break it; for he who has been faithful and honest, as I have, cannot change his nature; and my poverty
39is a witness to my honesty." Before Machiavelli had got The Prince off his hands he commenced his "Discourse on the
40First Decade of Titus Livius," which should be read concurrently with The Prince. These and several minor works occupied
41him until the year 1518, when he accepted a small commission to look after the affairs of some Florentine merchants at
42Genoa. In 1519 the Medicean rulers of Florence granted a few political concessions to her citizens, and Machiavelli with
43others was consulted upon a new constitution under which the Great Council was to be restored; but on one pretext or
44another it was not promulgated. In 1520 the Florentine merchants again had recourse to Machiavelli to settle their
45difficulties with Lucca, but this year was chiefly remarkable for his re-entry into Florentine literary society, where
46he was much sought after, and also for the production of his "Art of War." It was in the same year that he received a
47commission at the instance of Cardinal de' Medici to write the "History of Florence," a task which occupied him until
481525. His return to popular favour may have determined the Medici to give him this employment, for an old writer
49observes that "an able statesman out of work, like a huge whale, will endeavour to overturn the ship unless he has an
50empty cask to play with." When the "History of Florence" was finished, Machiavelli took it to Rome for presentation to
51his patron, Giuliano de' Medici, who had in the meanwhile become pope under the title of Clement VII. It is somewhat
52remarkable that, as, in 1513, Machiavelli had written The Prince for the instruction of the Medici after they had just
53regained power in Florence, so, in 1525, he dedicated the "History of Florence" to the head of the family when its ruin
54was now at hand. In that year the battle of Pavia destroyed the French rule in Italy, and left Francis I a prisoner in
55the hands of his great rival, Charles V. This was followed by the sack of Rome, upon the news of which the popular party
56at Florence threw off the yoke of the Medici, who were once more banished. Machiavelli was absent from Florence at this
57time, but hastened his return, hoping to secure his former office of secretary to the "Ten of Liberty and Peace."
58Unhappily he was taken ill soon after he reached Florence, where he died on 22nd June 1527. THE MAN AND HIS WORKS No one
59can say where the bones of Machiavelli rest, but modern Florence has decreed him a stately cenotaph in Santa Croce, by
60the side of her most famous sons; recognizing that, whatever other nations may have found in his works, Italy found in
61them the idea of her unity and the germs of her renaissance among the nations of Europe. Whilst it is idle to protest
62against the world-wide and evil signification of his name, it may be pointed out that the harsh construction of his
63doctrine which this sinister reputation implies was unknown to his own day, and that the researches of recent times have
64enabled us to interpret him more reasonably. It is due to these inquiries that the shape of an "unholy necromancer,"
65which so long haunted men's vision, has begun to fade.
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