Machiavelli’s Politics

511 Pages·2017·4.86 MB·English

by  Catherine H. Zuckert

machiavelli’s politics

Machiavelli’s
Politics
o
Catherine H. Zuckert
the university of chicago press
chicago and london
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
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Published 2017
Printed in the United States of America
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ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 43480- 3 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 43494- 0 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226434940.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Zuckert, Catherine H., 1942– author.
Title: Machiavelli’s politics / Catherine H. Zuckert.
Description: Chicago ; London :
The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016033961|
ISBN 9780226434803 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780226434940 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469–1527—
Criticism and interpretation. | Political science.
Classification: LCC JC143.M4 Z935 2016 | DDC 320.1—dc23 LC
record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016033961
♾ This paper meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Contents
acknowledgments vii
abbreviations ix
Introduction
reading machiavelli 1
PArT I
Machiavelli’s Comprehensive Treatises
one Machiavelli’s New Approach to the
Study and Practice of Politics
the prince 41
two Machiavelli’s New republic
discourses on livy 108
PArT II
Later Developments
three In What Mode Private Individuals
Should Keep Faith
mandragola 283
four Machiavelli’s Defense
the art of war 298
five Why Machiavelli’s Prince Is neither
a Soldier of Fortune nor a Socratic
Philosopher
the life of castruccio castracani 335
six On the Evils Caused by
Unchecked Eros
clizia 364
seven The Failed republic
florentine histories 381
conclusion Machiavelli’s Enduring Interest 458
index 479
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the University of Notre Dame for supporting my
research on this book and the Institute for Scholarship in the College of
Arts and Letters for supporting its publication. I am also grateful to the
National Endowment for the Humanities, the Earhart Foundation, and the
Social Philosophy and Policy Center for granting me fellowships that en-
abled me to work full- time on this project.
Parts of this book were published earlier as journal articles or a book
chapter, and are reprinted here with permission of the publishers. Parts of
chapter 1 appeared in “Machiavelli and the End of Nobility,” Social Research
81, no. 1 (2014): 85– 106, and “Machiavelli’s revolution in Thought,” Machi-
avelli’s Legacy, ed. Timothy Fuller (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylva-
nia Press, 2016), 54– 69. An earlier and much shorter version of chapter 2
was published as “Machiavelli’s Democratic republic,” History of Politi-
cal Thought 35, no. 2 (2014): 262– 94. Chapter 6 contains a slightly revised
version of “The Life of Castruccio Castracani: Machiavelli as Literary Artist,
Historian, Teacher and Philosopher,” History of Political Thought 31, no. 4
(Winter 2010): 577– 603.
I would also like to thank the many students who helped me think about
Machiavelli’s politics in four graduate seminars. Their questions provoked
me to delve ever deeper into his texts. I am also grateful to my friends
Vickie B. Sullivan, who read an early version of part of the argument of
chapter 1, and David Schaefer, who read a great deal of the manuscript, for
their thoughtful responses. The two anonymous readers for the Univer-
sity of Chicago Press also raised some important questions and suggested
ways in which the manuscript could be improved, as did the copyeditor,
acknowledgments / viii
Susan Tarcov. John Tryneski and rodney Powell also provided crucial as-
sistance in the long road from submission to publication.
Finally, I wish to recognize the assistance, both supportive and critical,
of my husband, Michael. He was not easily persuaded that my reading
of Machiavelli was correct, but from the beginning he encouraged me to
develop and refine it.
Abbreviations
AW Art of War (Dell’arte della guerra)
CC The Life of Castruccio Castracani (La vita di Castruccio Castracani)
D Discourses on Livy (Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio)
FH Florentine Histories (Istorie fiorentine)
P The Prince (Il Principe)
TM Leo Strauss, Thoughts on Machiavelli
I have cited The Prince by chapter, the Discourses and Florentine Histories by
book and chapter, the Art of War by book, and the comedies by act and
scene, because these are standard in the many editions and translations
of Machiavelli’s works. I have used the Italian edition of Tutte le Opere di
Machiavelli, ed. Guido Mazzoni and Mario Casella (Florence: G. Barbèra,
1929), except for La vita di Castruccio Castracani, for which I used the critical
edition by riekie Brakkee (Naples: Pubblicato da Liguori, 1984); citations
are to pages in this edition. I have quoted the following English transla-
tions: The Prince, trans. Harvey C. Mansfield, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1998); Discourses on Livy, trans. Harvey C. Mansfield and
Nathan Tarcov (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996); Mandragola,
trans. Mera J. Flaumenhaft (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1981);
Art of War, trans. Christopher Lynch (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
2003); Clizia, trans. Daniel T. Gallagher (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland
Press, 1996); Florentine Histories, trans. Laura E. Banfield and Harvey C.
Mansfield Jr. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988). Translations
from the Life of Castruccio Castracani are my own.