By Ross King
A part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives sequence, Machiavelli is an excellent portrait of the bright and progressive political philosopher—history’s most renowned theorist of “warfare, terror, homicide, and bloodshed”—and the age he embodied. Ross King, the New York Times bestselling writer of Brunelleschi’s Dome, argues that the writer of The Prince was once a much more complicated and sympathetic personality than is usually portrayed.
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Additional resources for Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power (Eminent Lives)
131 Chapter Fourteen M achi av el l i wa s f ort y- thr ee years outdated in 1512. If he, just like the Medici, took stock of every thing that were confiscated from him, he should have felt he had little to teach for his decades of carrier to the Republic. He used to be banned from the construction that for nearly fifteen years have been his domestic even more than the Casa Machiavelli around the river. Worse nonetheless, the guy who used to be so hooked on “riding, wandering, and roaming approximately” was once confined to Florentine dominions, with out outlet for his energies, abilities, and targets. probably worst of all, he, like Soderini, had misplaced his acceptance and status. Machiavelli’s sacking should have been made extra grievous via the data that he and Biagio Buonaccorsi have been the one contributors of the Chancellery to lose their posts. the truth that Machiavelli’s dismissal used to be now not a part of a fresh sweep within the Palazzo della Signoria indicated the extent of his unpopular132 MACHIAVELLI ity—and not only with the Mediceans and the ottimati. through the years he had alienated many Florentine businessmen and politicians, first together with his vanity and abrasiveness, after which with scandalous habit that turned the fodder for therefore a lot gossip. eventually, the drastic dereliction of his vaunted defense force in Florence’s hour of direst want appeared to turn out the worthlessness of either this puppy undertaking and, extra in most cases, his talents as a pacesetter. The plaudits gained at the Fiume Morto in 1509 had became, 3 years later, into common grumbling approximately folly and incompetence. 1 nonetheless, if he felt that autumn that his state of affairs couldn't get any worse, he used to be unfortunately wrong: inside of months he was once arrested and thrown into criminal. Machiavelli’s arrest got here at the evening of February 18, 1513. He used to be certainly one of a couple of dozen males arrested through the 8 of the Watch in reference to an assassination plot opposed to Giuliano de’ Medici. The plot used to be stumbled on whilst a section of paper directory a few twenty conspirators was once by chance dropped through the intended ringleader, Agostino Capponi, a tender guy from one in all Florence’s so much favorite households. The 7th identify on Capponi’s checklist was once Machiavelli’s. Arrested in addition to Capponi and different intended conspirators, he was once taken to the Stinche, an historic criminal close to the church of Santa Croce. Ominously, this used to be the very felony within which his far-off relative, Francesco Machiavelli, his father’s moment cousin, were beheaded in 1459 for his competition to Cosimo de’ Medici. It now appeared attainable that the Medici ax could terminate the political profession of one other Machiavelli. 2 Machiavelli used to be in no way averse to political assassina133 Ross King tion, particularly if it intended the deliverance of a urban or kingdom from tyranny. yet his involvement within the plot through Agostino Capponi was once peripheral to claim the least. He did be aware of the various conspirators, certainly one of whom used to be Niccolò Valori, a former ambassador to France who used to be a long-standing good friend. but if he shared their confidence, he turns out to not have participated actively of their conspiracy.