Piccinni or Piccini, Niccolò, 1728-1800, Italian composer of more than 100 operas. His early works were very successful in Italy, and La buona figliuola, also known as Cecchina maritata (1760), an opera buffa, established his reputation. In 1776 he went to Paris, where the opponents of Gluck made him their unwilling champion in the quarrel over Italian operatic tradition versus Gluck's new realism. When the French Revolution began, Piccinni returned to Italy, but shortly before his death he was recalled to France to receive a position at the Paris Conservatory.

Tartaglia, Niccolò, c.1500-1557, Italian engineer and mathematician. Largely self-educated, he taught mathematics at Verona, Brescia, and Venice. A pioneer in applying mathematics to artillery, he recorded his results in Della nova scientia (1537). He developed a solution for cubic equations that Geronimo Cardano (with his pupil Ludovico Ferrari) completed and published in his Ars magna (1545), thereby precipitating a bitter dispute; Tartaglia published his version as Quesiti et invenzioni diverse (1546). He wrote also a treatise on pure and applied mathematics, General trattato di numeri et misure (6 parts, 1556-60) and made Italian translations of works of Euclid and Archimedes.

Paganini, Niccolò, 1782-1840, Italian violinist, whose virtuosity became a legend. He extended the compass of the violin by his use of harmonics, perfected the use of double and triple stops, and revived the practice of scordatura, the diverse tunings of the strings. Paganini made his debut as a child prodigy in 1793 at Genoa, his birthplace. In 1801 he retired to a villa in Tuscany and did not resume his concerts until 1805, when he became court violinist to the princess of Lucca. After he left (1813) her court, his success in Milan carried his fame throughout Europe. His retirement in 1835 was followed by the loss of his voice and, later, by death from cancer of the larynx. Paganini composed numerous pieces, most of them bravura variations for violin. Among the few compositions published during his lifetime are the 24 caprices for violin that were adapted for piano by both Schumann and Liszt.

Jommelli, Niccolò, 1714-74, Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school, who worked variously in Vienna, Rome, Stuttgart, and eventually Naples, successfully fusing German, French and Italian elements in his operas. His earliest works, such as L'errore amoroso (1737) and Ezio (1741), were very successful. He produced operas in Vienna (1749-50). While he was choir director (1751-54) at St. Peter's in Rome, he composed church music. Jommelli was musical director (1754-69) to the duke of Württemberg at Stuttgart. After his return to Naples his last operas, such as Armida abbandonata (1770) and Ifigenia in Tauride (1771), were rejected by the public as too learned and too German. In his operas he introduced recitativo accompagnato and anticipated many of the reforms of Gluck.

Tommaseo, Niccolò, 1802-74, Italian poet and critic, b. Sibenik, Dalmatia. In addition to poetry, novels, and literary criticism, he wrote well in history, philosophy, lexicography, and philology. He was perhaps most distinguished as a philologist, and his Dizzionario dei sinonimi (1830) is still in use. Una serva (1837), stories in verse, is among the best of Italian romantic poetry. His attacks on the Austrian rule of Italy resulted in a long exile, interrupted by participation in the unsuccessful Revolution of 1848 in Venice.

Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527, Italian author and statesman, one of the outstanding figures of the Renaissance, b. Florence.

Life

A member of the impoverished branch of a distinguished family, he entered (1498) the political service of the Florentine republic and rose rapidly in importance. As defense secretary he substituted (1506) a citizens' militia for the mercenary system then prevailing in Italy. This reform sprang from his conviction, set forth in his major works, that the employment of mercenaries had largely contributed to the political weakness of Italy. Machiavelli became acquainted with power politics through his important diplomatic missions. He met Cesare Borgia twice and was sent by way of Florence to Louis XII of France (1504, 1510), to Pope Julius II (1506), and to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1507).

The Medicis' return (1512) to Florence caused his dismissal; in 1513 he was briefly imprisoned and was tortured for his alleged complicity in a plot against the Medici. Machiavelli retired to his country estate, where he wrote his chief works. He humiliated himself before the Medici in a vain attempt to recover office. When, in 1527, the republic was briefly reestablished, Machiavelli was distrusted by many of the republicans, and he died thoroughly disappointed and embittered.

Principal Writings

Machiavelli's best-known work, Il principe [the prince] (1532), describes the means by which a prince may gain and maintain his power. His "ideal" prince (seemingly modeled on Cesare Borgia) is a supremely adaptable, amoral, and calculating tyrant who would be able to establish a unified Italian state. The last chapter of the work pleads for the eventual liberation of Italy from foreign rule. Interpretations of The Prince vary: it has been viewed as sincere advice, as a plea for political office, as a detached analysis of Italian politics, as evidence of early Italian nationalism, and as political satire on Medici rule. However, the adjective Machiavellian has come to be a synonym for amoral cunning and for justification by power.

Less widely read but more indicative of Machiavelli's politics is his scholarly Discorsi sulla prima deca di Tito Livio [discourses on the first 10 books of Livy] (1531). In it Machiavelli expounds a general theory of politics and government that stresses the importance of an uncorrupted political culture and a vigorous political morality. Vaster in conception than The Prince, the Discourses shows clearly Machiavelli's republican ideals and principles, which are also reflected in his Istorie Fiorentine [history of Florence] (1532), a historical and literary masterpiece, entirely modern in concept.

Other works include Dell'arte della guerra [on the art of war] (1521), which viewed military problems in relation to politics, and numerous reports and brief works. He also wrote many poems and plays, notably the lively, satiric, and ribald comedy Mandragola [the mandrake], an extremely popular work first performed in 1520. His correspondence has been preserved and is of great interest. The chief works of Machiavelli are available in several popular English editions.

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (May 3, 1469 – June 21, 1527) was an Italian diplomat, political philosopher, musician, poet and playwright. Machiavelli was a figure of the Italian Renaissance, and a servant of the Florentine republic. In June of 1498, following the ouster and execution of Savonarola, the Great Council elected Machiavelli as the Secretary to the second Chancery of the Republic of Florence.

He is most famous — or notorious — for one of his shorter works, The Prince, sometimes described as a work of realist political theory. However, both that text and the more substantial republican Discourses on Livy — as well as History of Florence (commissioned by the Medici family) — were printed only after his death, all appearing in the early 1530s. In his own lifetime, while he circulated The Prince among friends, the only work Machiavelli promoted through printing was his dialogue on The Art of War. But generations from the sixteenth century onwards were most attracted and repelled by the cynical approach to power on display in The Prince, Discourses and History. Whatever Machiavelli's own intentions (and they remain a matter of hot debate), his name became synonymous with ruthless politics, deceit and the pursuit of power by any means.

Life

Machiavelli was born in Florence, the second son of Bernardo di Niccolò Machiavelli, a lawyer, and of Bartolommea di Stefano Nelli. His family were believed to be descendants of the old marquesses of Tuscany, and to have included 13 Florentine gonfaloniers of justice.

Machiavelli was born into a tumultuous era in which Popes were leading armies, and wealthy city-states of Italy would fall one after another into the hands of foreign powers — France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. It was a time of constantly shifting alliances, condottieri who changed sides without warning, and governments rising and falling in the space of weeks. Perhaps most significant during this erratic upheaval was the sack of Rome in 1527 by rampaging soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire, the first time that Rome had been sacked by a Germanic army in nearly twelve centuries. Rich cities such as Florence and Genoa suffered a similar fate during these years.

Machiavelli, trained as a man with severe rigor by his father, was educated to be skilled in Latin, but had little Greek. He entered governmental service as a clerk and ambassador in 1494; that same year, Florence had restored the republic and expelled the Medici family, rulers of the city for nearly sixty years. Machiavelli was placed as a member of a Council responsible for diplomatic negotiations and military matters. Between 1499 and 1512, he undertook a number of diplomatic missions to the court of Louis XII in France, Ferdinand II of Aragón, and the Papacy in Rome. From 1502 to 1503, he was a witness to the effective statebuilding methods of the soldier/churchman Cesare Borgia, who was at that time enlarging his territories in central Italy through a mixture of audacity, prudence, self-reliance, firmness and, not infrequently, cruelty.

Between 1503 to 1506, Machiavelli was responsible for the Florentine militia including the defense of the city. He distrusted mercenaries (a sentiment he explained in the Discourses and in the Prince) and much preferred a citizen militia. This philosophy bore fruit when, in 1509, Florence's citizen forces defeated Pisa under Machiavelli's direction. However, in August 1512, the Medici with the help of Pope Julius II used Spanish troops to defeat the Florentine forces at Prato. The Florentine head of state, Piero Soderini, resigned and went into exile, and Florence and the republic was subsequently dissolved. Machiavelli, having played a significant role in the republic's anti-Medici government, was removed from office and in 1513 he was accused of conspiracy and arrested. Although tortured "by the rope" (a practice wherein one's hands were bound behind one's back and connected to a pulley which would lift the victim off the ground, dislocating one's shoulders), he denied his involvement and was eventually released. He retired to his estate at Sant'Andrea in Percussina near Florence and began writing the treatises that would ensure his place in the development of political philosophy and conduct.

In a famous letter to his friend Francesco Vettori, he described how he spent his days in exile:

When evening comes, I return home [from work and from the local tavern] and go to my study. On the threshold I strip naked, taking off my muddy, sweaty workday clothes, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death; I pass indeed into their world.

Machiavelli himself identified a unifying theme in The Prince and the Discorsi:

All cities that ever at any time have been ruled by an absolute prince, by aristocrats or by the people, have had for their protection force combined with prudence, because the latter is not enough alone, and the first either does not produce things, or when they are produced, does not maintain them. Force and prudence, then, are the might of all the governments that ever have been or will be in the world.

Machiavelli died in San Casciano, a few miles outside of Florence, in 1527. His resting place is unknown; however a cenotaph in his honor was placed at the Church of Santa Croce in Florence. The Latin sentence on the tomb — TANTO NOMINI NULLUM PAR ELOGIUM — is translated as either 'for so great a name, no praise is adequate' or 'No elegy is equal to such a name'

Works

Il Principe

Machiavelli's best known book is The Prince, in which he describes the arts by which a Prince (a ruler), can retain control of his realm. He focuses primarily on what he calls the "new prince", under the assumption that a hereditary prince has an easier task since the people are accustomed to him. All a hereditary prince needs to do is carefully maintain the institutions that the people are used to; a new prince has a much more difficult task since he must stabilize his newfound power and build a structure that will endure. This task requires the Prince to be publicly above reproach but privately may require him to do immoral things in order to achieve his goals.

Machiavelli explains through examples which princes are the most successful in obtaining and maintaining power. He draws his examples from personal observations made while he was on diplomatic missions for Florence and from his readings in ancient history. He periodically uses Latin phrases, and many examples are drawn from Classical sources.

Machiavelli does not dispense entirely with morality nor advocate wholesale selfishness or degeneracy. Instead he outlines his definition of, for example, the criteria for acceptable cruel actions (it must be swift, effective, and short-lived). Machiavelli also does not miss the irony in the fact that good can come from evil actions. Notwithstanding the mitigating themes in The Prince, the Catholic Church put the work in its Index Librorum Prohibitorum and it was viewed in a negative light by many Humanists such as Erasmus.

The primary contribution of The Prince to the history of political thought is its fundamental break between realism and idealism. The Prince is a guide to acquiring and keeping power. In contrast with Plato and Aristotle, the ideal society is not the aim. In fact, Machiavelli emphasizes the need for the exercise of brute power when necessary and rewards, patron-clientelism etc. to preserve the status quo.

The term "Machiavellian" was adopted by some of Machiavelli's contemporaries, often used in the introductions of political tracts of the sixteenth century that offered more 'just' reasons of state, most notably those of Jean Bodin and Giovanni Botero. The pejorative term Machiavellian as it is used today (or anti-Machiavellism as it was used from the sixteenth century) is thus a misnomer, as it describes one who deceives and manipulates others for gain; whether the gain is personal or not is of no relevance, only that any actions taken are only important insofar as they affect the results. It fails to include some of the more moderating themes found in Machiavelli's works and the name is now associated with the extreme viewpoint.

Discorsi

Machiavelli's Discourse on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy comprises the early history of Rome. It constitutes a series of lessons on how a republic should be started and structured, including the concept of checks and balances, the strength of a tripartite structure and the superiority of a republic over a principality.

From The Discourses:

• "In fact, when there is combined under the same constitution a prince, a nobility, and the power of the people, then these three powers will watch and keep each other reciprocally in check." Book I, Chapter II
• "Doubtless these means [of attaining power] are cruel and destructive of all civilized life, and neither Christian nor even human, and should be avoided by every one. In fact, the life of a private citizen would be preferable to that of a king at the expense of the ruin of so many human beings." Book I, Chapter XXVI
• "Now in a well-ordered republic it should never be necessary to resort to extra-constitutional measures...." Book I, Chapter XXXIV
• "...the governments of the people are better than those of princes." Book I, Chapter LVIII
• "...if we compare the faults of a people with those of princes, as well as their respective good qualities, we shall find the people vastly superior in all that is good and glorious." Book I, Chapter LVIII
• "For government consists mainly in so keeping your subjects that they shall be neither able nor disposed to injure you...." Book II, Chapter XXIII
• "...no prince is ever benefited by making himself hated." Book III, Chapter XIX
• "Let not princes complain of the faults committed by the people subjected to their authority, for they result entirely from their own negligence or bad example." Book III, Chapter XXIX

Other works

Machiavelli also wrote plays (Clizia, Mandragola), poetry (Sonetti, Canzoni, Ottave, Canti carnascialeschi) and novels (Belfagor arcidiavolo) as well as translating classical works.

• Discorso sopra le cose di Pisa (1499)
• Del modo di trattare i popoli della Valdichiana ribellati (1502)
• Del modo tenuto dal duca Valentino nell' ammazzare Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, etc. (Description of the Methods Adopted by the Duke Valentino when Murdering Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, the Signor Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina Orsini, 1502)
• Discorso sopra la provisione del danaro (1502)
• Decennale primo (1506, poem in terza rima)
• Ritratti delle cose dell'Alemagna (1508-1512)
• Decennale secondo (1509)
• Ritratti delle cose di Francia (1510)
• Andria (1517, comedy translated from Terence)
• Mandragola (The Mandrake - 1518, prose comedy in five acts, with prologue in verse)
• Della lingua (1514, dialogue)
• Clizia (1525, comedy in prose)
• Belfagor arcidiavolo (1515, novel)
• Asino d'oro (The Golden Ass - 1517, poem in terza rima, a new version of the classic work by Apuleius)
• Dell'arte della guerra (The Art of War, 1519-1520)
• Discorso sopra il riformare lo stato di Firenze (1520)
• Sommario delle cose della citta di Lucca (1520)
• Vita di Castruccio Castracani da Lucca (The Life of Castruccio Castracani of Lucca, 1520)
• Istorie fiorentine (Florentine Histories - 8 books, 1520-1525, commissioned by Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici who went on to become Pope Clement VII).
• Frammenti storici (1525)

Notes

References

• Machiavelli, Niccolò (1531). The Discourses. Translated by Leslie J. Walker, S.J, revisions by Brian Richardson (2003). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-140-44428-9

Further reading

• Baron, Hans (1961). "Machiavelli: the Republican Citizen and Author of The Prince". English Historical Review lxxvi (76): 217–253.
• Bock, Gisela; Quentin Skinner and Maurizio Viroli, ed. (1990). Machiavelli and Republicanism. Cambridge University Press.
• (2007). The Essential Writings of Machiavelli. New York: Random House Modern Library.
• Donaldson, Peter S. (1989). Machiavelli and Mystery of State. Cambridge University Press.
• (1983, 2000). The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. University of Chicago Press.
• Ingersoll, David E. "The Constant Prince: Private Interests and Public Goals in Machiavelli". Western Political Quarterly (21): 588–596.
• Magee, Brian (2001). The Story of Philosophy. New York: DK Publishing.
• Mattingly, Garrett (Autumn 1958). "Machiavelli’s Prince: Political Science or Political Satire?". The American Scholar (27): 482–491.
• Marriott, W.K.. (2008). The Prince. Red and Black Publishers. ISBN 978-0-934941-003
• Najemy, John M. (1996). "Baron's Machiavelli and Renaissance Republicanism". American Historical Review 101 (101,1): 119–129.
• Parel, Anthony (1972). The Political Calculus: Essays on Machiavelli's Philosophy. Toronto:
• Pocock, J.G. A. The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition. Princeton.
• Soll, Jacob (2005). Publishing The Prince: History, Reading and the Birth of Political Criticism. University of Michigan Press.
• Sullivan, Vickie B., ed. (2000). The Comedy and Tragedy of Machiavelli: Essays on the Literary Works. Yale U. Press.
• Sullivan, Vickie B. (1996). Machiavelli's Three Romes: Religion, Human Liberty, and Politics Reformed. Northern Illinois University Press.
• Viroli, Maurizio (2000). Niccolò's Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
• Whelan, Frederick G. (2004). Hume and Machiavelli: Political Realism and Liberal Thought. Lexington:
• Wootton, David, ed. (1994). Selected political writings of Niccolò Machiavelli. Indianapolis: Hackett Pubs..
• Dirk Hoeges, Niccolò Machiavelli. Dichter-Poeta. Mit sämtlichen Gedichten, deutsch/italienisch. Con tutte le poesie, tedesco/italiano, Reihe: Dialoghi/Dialogues: Literatur und Kultur Italiens und Frankreichs, Band 10, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt/M. u.a. 2006, ISBN 3-631-54669-6.

External links

• Machiavelli: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• eMachiavelli.com, works and summaries of Machiavelli
• Works by Machiavelli at Project Gutenberg
• Machiavelli at the Marxists Internet Archive, including some of his works
• Works by Niccolò Machiavelli: text, concordances and frequency list
• Machiavelli on the Net, a Machiavelli webliography with a short introduction.
• Works of Machiavelli: Italian and English text
• Podcast of Nigel Warburton on Machiavelli's The Prince
• Interview with Quentin Skinner on The Prince