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Note Hub on Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy

By Spencer Saar Cavanaugh

Index

Handwritten Notes

A scanned copy of my handwritten notes on Discourses on Livy, by Niccolo Machiavelli.

Discourses on Livy: Passages by Topic

Political Stability

Interpretation

Discourses on Livy, Bernard Crick’s introduction:

But what is it, strictly speaking, a theory of? Man? No, that is too general. I think Felix Raab is right: ‘It does Machiavelli no violence to regard him as the apostle of political stability’.32 ‘Apostle’? Yes, that was his political ethic. But he is also the theorist of political stability. And we need not swallow our moral dislike of certain regimes to see that the centre of the study of politics is to understand how they are maintained, and why they change, the good, the bad and the indifferent.

Adapting to the Times

Book 3, Discourse 9:

For this reason a republic has a fuller life and enjoys good fortune for a longer time than a principality, since it is better able to adapt itself to diverse circumstances owing to the diversity found among its citizens than a prince can do. For a man who is accustomed to act in one particular way, never changes, as we have said. Hence, when times change and no longer suit his ways, he is inevitably ruined.

Interpretation

Discourses on Livy, Bernard Crick’s introduction:

But is it simply a truism? That if we do not adapt, we do not survive? It is not a truism while any dominant tradition of thought holds that there is a single correct solution and that it will endure if adhered to strictly and with no compromises (as true for capitalism as for Marxism). Machiavelli’s argument implies that adaptability through freedom is the key to the survival of human societies, just as the anthropologist Malinowski was to argue explicitly in his great work, Freedom and Civilization.

Utility of Class Conflict

Interpretation

Discourses on Livy, Bernard Crick’s introduction:

Far from believing that it is the business of social science to eliminate conflict, we may want, instead, to follow Machiavelli’s lead and to define and study it more precisely, so many types of conflict and so many different circumstances. Plainly Machiavelli exaggerates, his instincts and situation lead him to dramatize rather than consciously to abstract and to build models of social systems and processes as do modern students of society, but he does point to a whole dimension of understanding, still not sufficiently explored, but a closed door entirely before he wrote: the civilizing of conflict, not its enervating elimination.

Republicanism

Interpretation

Discourses on Livy, Bernard Crick’s introduction:

The threads can now be drawn together. Machiavelli considers that republics can flourish, or that principalities can only be created with extraordinary difficulty, when six conditions exist: (i) that there is a respect for custom and tradition; (ii) that the town dominates the country; (iii) that a large middle class exists; (iv) that popular power is institutionalized; (v) that civic spirit or virtù has not decayed; and (vi) that there is a knowledge of these things. If these conditions prevail, he is absolutely clear that men should support republican government and should not, although it is possible, subvert it. If they do not prevail, men should not ordinarily attempt republican government – the result will be ruin for themselves and the state; but it is just possible for a really extraordinary individual to create a republic out of unlikely and rotten material, but only success can justify it: it is so difficult that Machiavelli never argues that it should be attempted, only that, if attempted and successful, it is the greatest feat in the world – the memory of those few who have done it will live for ever, they are among the Immortals.

Virtu, Necessity, Fortune

Interpretation

Discourses on Livy, Bernard Crick’s introduction:

This virtù, if it studies necessity, can combat fortune. This is the theory to be pursued, but there are no guaranteed methods of success or certain methods of drawing lessons from the past: only probable ones. And these we should follow, as the best we can do – which is a lot better than before, he modestly implies, I, Niccolò Machiavelli, wrote my two great manuscripts.

Morality

Interpretation

Discourses on Livy, Bernard Crick’s introduction:

Some such ruthlessness, however, he considers is necessary also in the glorious actions, which deserve to be ever memorable, of creating or defending a republic.35 Here we have – what? A decision to take between two conflicting moralities? Or simply two conflicting moralities? I follow Sir Isaiah Berlin in thinking the latter to be true, and that this is Machiavelli’s terrible originality. He never denies that what Christians call good, is in fact good: ‘humility, kindness, scruples, unworldliness, faith in God, sanctity …’36 But there is also the morality of the pagan world: virtù, citizenship, heroism, public achievement, and the preservation and the cultural enrichment of the city-state.

Historical Context

Discourses on Livy, Bernard Crick’s introduction:

He is not a modern social scientist. He is a Renaissance state-councillor in enforced retirement (and thus freed from many inhibitions) giving maxims to politicians and princes.