The essential writings of Machiavelli by Niccolò Machiavelli; Peter Constantine Page B
Tags: General, Political, History & Theory, Political Science, Philosophy, Machiavelli, Political ethics, Early works to 1800, Political Process, Niccolo - Political and social views
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will bring them.
Unlike Italian gentlemen, they are usually not very particular about their honor. They were not overly concerned about losing face when they sent to Siena to demand the town of Montepulciano and were not obeyed. 8
They are capricious and nonchalant.
They have the arrogance of the victor.
They are enemies of the Latin language and of the glory of Rome.
Italians have a bad time at the French court, except for those whose ship is heading for the rocks and who have nothing more to lose.
6. Cesare Borgia, as head of the papal army, with assistance from Louis XII of France, marched through Florentine territory in 1501. (Machiavelli was one of the Florentine ambassadors attached to his camp.)
7. In 1496, Robert de Balzac, Comte d’Entragues, returned the occupied citadel of Pisa to the populace against the wishes of Charles VIII, and in 1500 the French army refused to help the Florentines recapture Pisa, despite a promise by Louis XII, Charles’s successor, to do so.
8. Louis XII sent Francesco da Narni to Siena to ask Pandolfo Petrucci, Lord of Siena, that the town of Montepulciano be returned to Florence, which Petrucci refused to do, despite being an ally of Louis XII.
D ISCOURSE ON THE A FFAIRS OF G ERMANY AND I TS E MPEROR
In 1509, Gianvittorio Soderini and Piero Guicciardini sought Machiavelli’s advice on the German emperor Maximilian, the Holy Roman Emperor, and his court before setting out from Florence on a diplomatic mission. To oppose Venice, Maximilian had entered into the League of Cambrai with France, Spain, and the pope in 1508. Now Venice had been defeated, and the powers were in negotiations about how to proceed .
—
When I returned from Germany last year [1508], I wrote a few things about the emperor of Germany and am not quite sure what else to add: so I shall say only some things about his character. The emperor is a spendthrift without equal, either in our times or in times past. Consequently he is always short of funds, and no sum of money can ever be sufficient, regardless of his situation or fortune. He is changeable: One day he will want something, the next day not. He confers with no one, but believes everyone. He wants all the things he cannot have, but turns his back on anything he can have. Therefore, he invariably reaches contradictory decisions. But he is also a man of military acumen: He keeps his army in excellent order, commands it with justice and discipline, bears fatigue as well as the most indefatigable man, and faces danger with courage, so that as commander he is second to none. He is forthcoming in the audiences that he grants, but will grant them only at his own initiative—nor does he like applications from ambassadors, unless he himself calls them into his presence. He is very secretive. He is in continuous agitation of body and mind, but will often undo in the evening what he has done in the morning. This makes legations to him difficult, because the most important duty of the envoy, whether sent by a prince or a republic, is to conjecture the future through negotiations and incidents. After all, the envoy who conjectures wisely and conveys his conjectures well to his government will assure his government the advantage, allowing it to take measures at an appropriate time. When the envoy conjectures well, this honors the envoy and his government, but if he conjectures badly he and his government are dishonored. To give you a better example, imagine yourself at a point where either going to war or negotiating is on the table. If you want to perform your duty well, you will have to say that existing opinion favors war as much as it does negotiation. War must be measured by the available forces, money, quality of government, and Fortune. And the side that has most of these is likely to be victorious. After evaluating who might be victorious, the ambassador must make his evaluation understood at home, so that he and his state can better deliberate.
There will now
Unlike Italian gentlemen, they are usually not very particular about their honor. They were not overly concerned about losing face when they sent to Siena to demand the town of Montepulciano and were not obeyed. 8
They are capricious and nonchalant.
They have the arrogance of the victor.
They are enemies of the Latin language and of the glory of Rome.
Italians have a bad time at the French court, except for those whose ship is heading for the rocks and who have nothing more to lose.
6. Cesare Borgia, as head of the papal army, with assistance from Louis XII of France, marched through Florentine territory in 1501. (Machiavelli was one of the Florentine ambassadors attached to his camp.)
7. In 1496, Robert de Balzac, Comte d’Entragues, returned the occupied citadel of Pisa to the populace against the wishes of Charles VIII, and in 1500 the French army refused to help the Florentines recapture Pisa, despite a promise by Louis XII, Charles’s successor, to do so.
8. Louis XII sent Francesco da Narni to Siena to ask Pandolfo Petrucci, Lord of Siena, that the town of Montepulciano be returned to Florence, which Petrucci refused to do, despite being an ally of Louis XII.
D ISCOURSE ON THE A FFAIRS OF G ERMANY AND I TS E MPEROR
In 1509, Gianvittorio Soderini and Piero Guicciardini sought Machiavelli’s advice on the German emperor Maximilian, the Holy Roman Emperor, and his court before setting out from Florence on a diplomatic mission. To oppose Venice, Maximilian had entered into the League of Cambrai with France, Spain, and the pope in 1508. Now Venice had been defeated, and the powers were in negotiations about how to proceed .
—
When I returned from Germany last year [1508], I wrote a few things about the emperor of Germany and am not quite sure what else to add: so I shall say only some things about his character. The emperor is a spendthrift without equal, either in our times or in times past. Consequently he is always short of funds, and no sum of money can ever be sufficient, regardless of his situation or fortune. He is changeable: One day he will want something, the next day not. He confers with no one, but believes everyone. He wants all the things he cannot have, but turns his back on anything he can have. Therefore, he invariably reaches contradictory decisions. But he is also a man of military acumen: He keeps his army in excellent order, commands it with justice and discipline, bears fatigue as well as the most indefatigable man, and faces danger with courage, so that as commander he is second to none. He is forthcoming in the audiences that he grants, but will grant them only at his own initiative—nor does he like applications from ambassadors, unless he himself calls them into his presence. He is very secretive. He is in continuous agitation of body and mind, but will often undo in the evening what he has done in the morning. This makes legations to him difficult, because the most important duty of the envoy, whether sent by a prince or a republic, is to conjecture the future through negotiations and incidents. After all, the envoy who conjectures wisely and conveys his conjectures well to his government will assure his government the advantage, allowing it to take measures at an appropriate time. When the envoy conjectures well, this honors the envoy and his government, but if he conjectures badly he and his government are dishonored. To give you a better example, imagine yourself at a point where either going to war or negotiating is on the table. If you want to perform your duty well, you will have to say that existing opinion favors war as much as it does negotiation. War must be measured by the available forces, money, quality of government, and Fortune. And the side that has most of these is likely to be victorious. After evaluating who might be victorious, the ambassador must make his evaluation understood at home, so that he and his state can better deliberate.
There will now
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