101+lecture+4 - Niccolo Machiavelli(1469-1527 Overview...

Niccolo Machiavelli
(1469-1527)

Overview

Machiavelli: Life and Times
–
Savonarola and the Bonfire of the Vanities
–
Career in Florentine politics
–
Letter to Vettori (1513)

“Machiavellianism”

The Prince
–
Dedicatory Letter
–
An “ economy of violence”
–
Cruelty well-used and cruelty abused

Machiavelli: Life and Times
Savonarola and the Bonfire of the Vanities
all armed prophets are victorious, and
disarmed ones are crushed….This is what
happened, in our own day, to Friar Girolamo
Savonarola (Machiavelli, The Prince , ch. 6)

Machiavelli: Life and Times
Letter to Vettori (1513) [on Sakai]
When evening comes, I go back home, and go to my study.
On the threshold I take off my work clothes, covered in mud
and filth, and put on the clothes an ambassador would
wear. Decently dressed, I enter the ancient courts of rulers
who have long since died. There I am warmly welcomed….
I am not ashamed to talk to them, and to ask them to
explain their actions. And they, out of kindness, answer
me. Four hours go by without my feeling any anxiety.