Discourses on Livy, Niccolo Machiavelli
Discourses on Livy, Niccolo Machiavelli
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Discourses on Livy

Author: Niccolò Machiavelli

Narrator: Auto-narrated

Unabridged: 14 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/11/2023


Synopsis

Discourses on Livy is the founding document of modern republicanism, and Harvey C. Mansfield and Nathan Tarcov have provided the definitive English translation of this classic work. Faithful to the original Italian text, properly attentive to Machiavelli’s idiom and subtlety of thought, it is eminently readable. With a substantial introduction, extensive explanatory notes, a glossary of key words, and an annotated index, the Discourses reveals Machiavelli’s radical vision of a new science of politics, a vision of “new modes and orders” that continue to shape the modern ethos.
“[Machiavelli] found in Livy the means to inspire scholars for five centuries. Within the Discourses, often hidden and sometimes unintended by their author, lie the seeds of modern political thought. . . . [Mansfield and Tarcov’s] translation is careful and idiomatic.”—Peter Stothard, The Times
”Translated with painstaking accuracy—but also great readability.”—Weekly Standard
”A model of contemporary scholarship and a brave effort at Machiavelli translation that allows the great Florentine to speak in his own voice.”—Choice

About Niccolò Machiavelli

Considered one of the great early political analysts, Niccolò Machiavelli is a historical figure in the turning point from the Middle Ages to the Modern World. He was born in Florence, Italy, on May 3, 1469. He was the second son of Bernardo di Niccolo Machiavelli, a lawyer of some repute, and of Bartolommea di Stefano Nelli. Both parents were members of the old Florentine nobility.

In Machiavelli's youth, Florence was a great Italian power under the leadership of Lorenzo de' Medici, Il Magnifico. In 1494, the downfall of the Medici and the establishment of a free republican government gave Machiavelli his entrance into politics. After four years in a minor post, he rose to chancellor and secretary to the Second Chancery, the commission that oversaw military matters and foreign affairs.

However, the republic collapsed in 1512, and the Medici returned to power. Although Machiavelli vainly hoped to serve the new rulers, he was dismissed from his post. Shortly thereafter, having been accused of involvement in a conspiracy against the Medici, he was imprisoned and tortured before being released.

For the next eight years, Machiavelli lived quietly at his small property in San Casciano, near Florence, and he devoted himself to literature. Here he wrote The Prince, his most famous work, which, ironically, he dedicated to the very man who had ordered his imprisonment in hopes of regaining his lost office.

Gradually, his literary fame grew, and he returned to Florence in 1520, where he became involved in the attempt to reform the city's constitution. This was the height of Machiavelli's literary activity and increasing influence. Coincidentally, he died within a few weeks of the second expulsion of the Medici in 1527, at the age of 58.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Teggan on September 17, 2007

Yes, you had to read The Prince, because your professor had to fit something of Machiavelli's into the class, and so she chose the shortest of his works to keep the students bitching to a minimum. The Prince represents a small subset of Machiavelli's concept of government. The recommendations from T......more

Goodreads review by Bertrand on February 13, 2013

The common wisdom goes that Machiavelli's discourses present to the reader the author's republican side, whereas The Prince was more aimed at the 'godlike rulers' - indeed, under the cover of a commentary of Livy, one of the foremost classical text of Roman origin, Nicolo takes us on a journey not u......more

Goodreads review by Beauregard on January 13, 2021

I once started reading this book before having read Livy. That was a mistake. How Livy thinks and the stories he told are necessary in order to follow Machiavelli's methodology. Machiavelli weaves Livy’s History of Rome by using the past to enlighten his present while shaping the present to reflect......more