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Taking the first ten books of Livy's history of Rome as his starting point, Niccolò Machiavelli asks why the Roman Republic grew so great and lasted so long…
Taking the first ten books of Livy's history of Rome as his starting point, Niccolò Machiavelli asks why the Roman Republic grew so great and lasted so long, and what modern states could learn from it. He argues that a republic in which nobles and people struggle within the law is stronger and freer than a monarchy, that good laws and good armies go together, that religion can hold a state together, and that states must be renewed from time to time by a return to their first principles.
Context and significance
Machiavelli wrote the Discourses between about 1513 and 1519, alongside The Prince, and many readers think they show his true republican convictions; they were published in 1531, after his death. This translation is by Ninian Hill Thomson. For more in the same vein, read his History of Florence.
About the author
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) served the Florentine republic for fourteen years as a senior official and diplomat, meeting kings, popes and the ruthless Cesare Borgia. When the Medici family returned to power in 1512 he lost his post, was imprisoned and tortured, and retired to his small farm outside Florence.
There, in the evenings, he put on his best clothes to read the ancient historians, and wrote The Prince, his Discourses on Livy and the comedy The Mandrake. His frank description of how power really works made his name a byword for cunning, but he was also a passionate defender of republics.