The Discourses

The sourcebook for the Discourses is a large history of Rome by Titus Livius, or Livy, called Ab Urbe Condita (“From the Founding of the City,” but more commonly translated as “The History of Rome”), which traces Rome from 753 BCE to the reign of the first emperor, Augustus. Essentially a history of the Roman Republic, it sets out the main characters, events and beliefs of the ancient Romans that Machiavelli so admires. Ab Urbe Condita is written in Latin, which is sometimes translated into Italian by Machiavelli. Although most of its chapters are lost to history, what is left is a work important to scholars, historians, and politicians. 

Traditionally the founder of the Roman Republic, the first Brutus (as contrasted with the later Brutus who helps assassinate Caesar) overthrows the last of the seven kings of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and has his fellow citizens pledge that they will never again permit a king to rule over them. Brutus is an iconic character in the Discourses who represents the republican virtues espoused by Machiavelli, including courage, virtue, and protection of the people. 

Hannibal leads a Carthaginian army into Italy, where he tries for several years to defeat the Romans. He fails, but his mastery of strategy puts him in the pantheon of great military leaders. Machiavelli cites him many times, especially as a foil for the great Roman generals Fabius and Scipio. 

Scipio Africanus leads a Roman army against Carthage on its home territory in northern Africa, defeating Hannibal there and ending the First Punic War. Machiavelli cites him for his courage and daring, and contrasts him with his counterpart in the war, Fabius, who is cautious. 

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, five times a consul of the Roman Republic, is the general who holds off Hannibal when Rome is too weak to defeat him. His strategy of delay, skirmishing, and raiding keeps Rome safe until Scipio Africanus can stage a counterattack against Carthage. Fabius is cautious, in contrast to Scipio’s daring; in Machiavelli’s hands his story becomes an object lesson on how one leader can be right for one situation and useless in another.  

Julius Caesar’s conquest of Rome serves as a warning in the Discourses, as he is the military and political leader who brings down Machiavelli’s beloved Roman Republic. Caesar’s dictatorship is the culmination of decades of misrule and corruption and the beginning of centuries of rule by Roman tyrants. 

One of the most important families in Italy, the Medicis periodically rule Florence and the papacy; they are for a time Machiavelli’s employer and, at one point, his torturer and exiler. They play a part in some of the battles mentioned by Machiavelli in the Discourses. 

Leader of the Florentine Republic, Soderini tries to rule by being nice, but this proves a weakness, and he is deposed by the Medici family. Machiavelli, who works under Soderini, criticizes his administration for its failures, especially its ignorance of the effective rules of governance and foreign affairs set down by the ancient Romans. 

An anti-corruption campaigner and religious zealot, Friar Girolamo Savonarola overthrows the Medicis and rules Florence briefly in the 1490s, but for his extremism he is excommunicated by the pope, and Florentines tire of him; he is executed in 1498.