Machiavelli in Context | Discourses: A Principality or a Republic? (Lecture 16)
Lecture 16: After contrasting a virtuous republic with a city without virtue, Machiavelli writes about his beliefs in signs and prophecies, a reminder to us that Machiavelli is both a man of his time and a “modern man.”
In the last sections of his first discourse on Livy, Machiavelli makes the strong case for the superiority of a republican form of government. The people are more stable than princes, and although princes are better than the people in establishing republics, the people are superior to princes in maintaining them. He even criticizes what Livy seems to have said about the fickleness of crowds, pointing out that the great historian of Rome was referring only to an uncontrolled multitude. It is in these direct comparisons of princes and the people that Machiavelli’s deeply held republicanism is powerfully demonstrated.
Recommended Readings:
Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, translated by Julia Bondanella and Peter Bondanella, Discourse I, chapters 55–60.
-
30:32
The Great Courses
8 months agoMachiavelli in Context | Discourses: Why Machiavelli Is a Republican (Lecture 13)
147 -
30:38
The Great Courses
8 months agoMachiavelli in Context | Discourses: The Workings of a Good Republic (Lecture 14)
140 -
50:10
Professor Barth
2 months agoMachiavellian Politics in Florence and Renaissance Italy (Machiavelli, Pt. 2)
111 -
43:11
Professor Barth
2 months agoMachiavelli: Master Political Strategist (Machiavelli, Pt. 1)
101 -
22:15
Charles Haywood (The Worthy House)
1 year agoDiscourses on Livy (Niccolò Machiavelli)
309 -
5:15
History Myths & Myth-Conceptions
1 year agoMyth: Machiavelli Endorsed Tyranny
4 -
23:26
TopThangs
3 months agoMachiavelli: The Master of Power Politics
58 -
33:02
Professor Barth
2 months agoVirtue and Vice in The Prince (Machiavelli, Pt. 3)
101 -
5:15
AnyQoutes
1 year agoQUOTES FROM Niccolo Machiavelli
3.39K -
3:50
Wisdom
1 year agoWho Has POWER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes
6