The Machiavellian Cosmos

219 Pages·1992·20.777 MB·English

by  Anthony J. Parel

The
Machiavellian
Cosmos
Anthony J. Pare I
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11 •
THE MACHIAVELLIAN COSMOS

THE MACHIAVELLIAN
COSMOS
Anthony]. Pare!
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON • 1992
Copyright © 1992 by Anthony J. Pare!
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the pubhc press), without written permission from the publishers.
Set in Bembo by Textflow Services Ltd.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by The Bath Press, A von
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pare!, Anthony.
The Machiavellian cosmos I by Anthony J. Pare!.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and mdex.
ISBN Q-300--05169-7
1. Machiavelli, Niccolo, 1469-1527-Contributions in political
science. I. Title.
JC143.M4P35 1992
320'.01.'1092-dc20
91-26722
CIP
of
To the memory my mother and to my father
Never was Machiavelli more wrong than when he wrote gli uomini
sdimenticano piu presto Ia morte del padre che Ia perdita del patrimonio.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Vlll
Abbreviations
1X
Notes on the use of Machiavelli's texts
X
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 The Astrological Debate 11
Chapter 2 Heaven, History, and Politics 26
Chapter 3 Heaven, Religion, and Politics 45
Chapter 4 Fortune 63
Chapter 5 Virtu 86
Chapter 6 Humours 101
Chapter 7 The Prince 113
Chapter 8 The Discourses 122
Chapter 9 Humours and Licenzia 140
Conclusion 153
Notes 162
Bibliography 188
Index 196
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The argument developed in this book first took shape in the Fellows
Seminar given at Lonergan College, Concordia University, Montreal, for
the academic year 1982-83. I thank the then Principal Sean McEvenue for
inviting me to be the Lonergan Visiting Fellow, and James Moore and the
other members of the Fellows Seminar for their stimulating comments and
criticisms. The late Professor Felix Gilbert and Professor Harvey C. Mansfield,
Jr. read specific sections of an earlier draft of this book; Professors Sergio
Bertelli, John G. A. Pocock and Nicolai Rubinstein read the entire text and
made many valuable suggestions for improvement. My intellectual debt to
all of them is gratefully acknowledged. Many thanks to Professors Kenneth
Minogue, Barry Cooper, Edmund Jacobitti, and Victor Santi for their
interest and encouragement. Judi Powell prepared the various drafts of this
text with her customary speed, cheerfulness, and efficiency. Robert Baldock
and Rosemary Amos, both ofYale University Press, have been extremely
generous with their expert advice and guidance.
My deepest debt, however, is to the members of my family - Rolande,
Tara, and Kamala - who cheerfully tolerated my decade-long association
with Machiavelli and his very interesting cosmos.
Calgary, October 3rd, 1991
ABBREVIATIONS
P. The Prince.
D. The Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livy.
I. F. Florentine Histories.
A. G. Art of War.
'Discursus' A Discourse on Remodeling the Government of
Florence.
'Ghiribizzi' Ghiribizzi Scripti in Perugia al Soderino.