Niccolò Machiavelli e "Il Principe"

Machiavelli was undoubtedly a man of great observation, acuteness, and industry; noting with appreciative eye whatever passed before him, and with his supreme literary gift turning it to account in his enforced retirement from affairs. He does not present himself, nor is he depicted by his contemporaries, as a type of that rare combination, the successful statesman and author, for he appears to have been only moderately prosperous in his several embassies and political employments. He was misled by Catherina Sforza, ignored by Louis XII, overawed by Cesare Borgia; several of his embassies were quite barren of results; his attempts to fortify Florence failed, and the soldiery that he raised astonished everybody by their cowardice. In the conduct of his own affairs he was timid and time-serving; he dared not appear by the side of Soderini, to whom he owed so much, for fear of compromising himself; his connection with the Medici was open to suspicion, and Giuliano appears to have recognized his real forte when he set him to write the "History of Florence," rather than employ him in the state. And it is on the literary side of his character, and there alone, that we find no weakness and no failure.

Although the light of almost four centuries has been focused on "The Prince," its problems are still debatable and interesting, because they are the eternal problems between the ruled and their rulers. Such as they are, its ethics are those of Machiavelli's contemporaries; yet they cannot be said to be out of date so long as the governments of Europe rely on material rather than on moral forces. Its historical incidents and personages become interesting by reason of the uses which Machiavelli makes of them to illustrate his theories of government and conduct.

So ancora a memoria il passo sugli uomini ingrati, volubili, simulatori e dissimulatori, fuggitori de' pericoli...

decisamente toscanaccia

a me invece era piaciuto tantissimo il capitolo sulla doppia natura dell'uomo..

Nondimanco, perché el nostro libero arbitrio non sia spento, iudico potere essere vero che la fortuna sia arbitra della metà delle azioni nostre, ma che etiam lei ne lasci governare l'altra metà, o presso, a noi.

Ma, restringendomi più a' particulari, dico come si vede oggi questo principe felicitare, e domani ruinare, sanza averli veduto mutare natura o qualità alcuna: il che credo che nasca, prima, dalle cagioni che si sono lungamente per lo adrieto discorse, cioè che quel principe che s'appoggia tutto in sulla fortuna, rovina, come quella varia.

poiché la fortuna vuol fare ogni cosa, ella si vuole lasciarla fare, stare quieto e non le dare briga e aspettar tempo che la lasci fare qualche cosa agli uomini; e allora starà bene a voi durare più fatica, vegghiare più le cose, e a me partirmi di villa e dire: eccomi.

perché io mi logoro, e lungo tempo non posso star cosí che io non diventi in povertà contennendo, appresso al desiderio arei che questi signori Medici mi cominciassino adoperare, se dovessino cominciare a farmi voltolare un sasso