Read Online The essential writings of Machiavelli by Niccolò Machiavelli; Peter Constantine - Free Book Online
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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be several negotiations: those between the Venetians and the emperor, those between the emperor and France, those between the emperor and the pope, and those between the emperor and you. When it comes to your negotiations, you ought to have no difficulty making the right conjecture and weighing what the emperor’s intentions are, what he really wants, which way his mind is turning, and what might make him move ahead or draw back. Once you have figured this out, you must judge whether it will be more to your advantage to be decisive or to play for time. It will be up to you to reach these decisions within the limits of your mission.
A C AUTION TO THE M EDICI
In 1512 the Medici returned to power in Florence, ousting and exiling Piero Soderini, who had been Machiavelli’s patron, and whom Machiavelli had served in the highest political capacities. With the return of the Medici, Machiavelli was stripped of all his authority and influence and was forbidden to set foot in the Signoria. “A Caution to the Medici,” first published in Italian in 1866 under the title Ai Palleschi (To the Medici Faction), was a desperate attempt by Machiavelli to regain some of his standing. However, he was to face brief imprisonment and even torture for alleged conspiracy against the Medici, before being temporarily banished from the city .
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I wish to caution you against the counsel of those who argue that you would benefit by exposing Piero Soderini’s shortcomings in order to blacken his name among the populace, and you would do well to look those individuals carefully in the eye and see what is motivating them. What you will see is that their motivation is not to benefit the new Medici government, but to strengthen their own faction. It does not seem to me that anything for which Piero Soderini might have been at fault would strengthen the position of the new Medici government in the eyes of the people, because the Medici government could easily be suspected and inculpated of the same things as Soderini. Hence, exposing Soderini’s defects will not empower this government, but only those who were his enemies, who persistently countered him in Florentine politics. 32
The current opinion of the people is that the faction in question wished Soderini ill so it could seize the government for itself. If, however, Soderini could be defamed to the Florentine people, they would say: “The enemies of Soderini were telling the truth! They are, after all, upright citizens who are blackening Soderini because he merits it! If things have turned as they have it is not because they planned it that way.”
Consequently the new Medici government, by exposing Soderini, would destroy his reputation but not in any way strengthen its own position, only that of the individuals who were his enemies and who were badmouthing him. These enemies would then have more influence with the populace. This is in no way to the advantage of the Medici government, because it must find a way for this faction to be despised, not prized, by the people, so that the faction will be compelled to maintain its allegiance to the Medici, thus sharing the Medici’s good or bad fortune.
If you look into who these people are, you will see that what I am saying is true. As they see it, their having been enemies of Soderini, their faction will have drawn the hatred of the populace upon themselves unless they can now prove that he was evil and deserved their enmity. The reason they want to free themselves of the populace’s hatred is so that they can promote their own interests, not those of the Medici. The cause of the tensions between the populace and the Medici is not Soderini or his fall, but simply the change in government. So I repeat: Airing Soderini’s defects does not raise the standing of the Medici government but that of Soderini’s enemies, while the Medici government would only weaken itself by attacking a man who is in exile and cannot harm it, all the while
A C AUTION TO THE M EDICI
In 1512 the Medici returned to power in Florence, ousting and exiling Piero Soderini, who had been Machiavelli’s patron, and whom Machiavelli had served in the highest political capacities. With the return of the Medici, Machiavelli was stripped of all his authority and influence and was forbidden to set foot in the Signoria. “A Caution to the Medici,” first published in Italian in 1866 under the title Ai Palleschi (To the Medici Faction), was a desperate attempt by Machiavelli to regain some of his standing. However, he was to face brief imprisonment and even torture for alleged conspiracy against the Medici, before being temporarily banished from the city .
—
I wish to caution you against the counsel of those who argue that you would benefit by exposing Piero Soderini’s shortcomings in order to blacken his name among the populace, and you would do well to look those individuals carefully in the eye and see what is motivating them. What you will see is that their motivation is not to benefit the new Medici government, but to strengthen their own faction. It does not seem to me that anything for which Piero Soderini might have been at fault would strengthen the position of the new Medici government in the eyes of the people, because the Medici government could easily be suspected and inculpated of the same things as Soderini. Hence, exposing Soderini’s defects will not empower this government, but only those who were his enemies, who persistently countered him in Florentine politics. 32
The current opinion of the people is that the faction in question wished Soderini ill so it could seize the government for itself. If, however, Soderini could be defamed to the Florentine people, they would say: “The enemies of Soderini were telling the truth! They are, after all, upright citizens who are blackening Soderini because he merits it! If things have turned as they have it is not because they planned it that way.”
Consequently the new Medici government, by exposing Soderini, would destroy his reputation but not in any way strengthen its own position, only that of the individuals who were his enemies and who were badmouthing him. These enemies would then have more influence with the populace. This is in no way to the advantage of the Medici government, because it must find a way for this faction to be despised, not prized, by the people, so that the faction will be compelled to maintain its allegiance to the Medici, thus sharing the Medici’s good or bad fortune.
If you look into who these people are, you will see that what I am saying is true. As they see it, their having been enemies of Soderini, their faction will have drawn the hatred of the populace upon themselves unless they can now prove that he was evil and deserved their enmity. The reason they want to free themselves of the populace’s hatred is so that they can promote their own interests, not those of the Medici. The cause of the tensions between the populace and the Medici is not Soderini or his fall, but simply the change in government. So I repeat: Airing Soderini’s defects does not raise the standing of the Medici government but that of Soderini’s enemies, while the Medici government would only weaken itself by attacking a man who is in exile and cannot harm it, all the while
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