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Niccolo Machiavelli Biography

Niccolo Machiavelli Image

Machiavelli, Niccolò (1469-1527). An Italian historian, statesman, and man of letters. He was born in Florence, May 3, 1469, the second of four children of Bernardo Machiavelli and Bartolomea dei Nelli. His family belonged to the Tuscan nobility, but for some time had been poor in worldly goods. Of his early life we have little authentic information. He had the literary education of a well-born Florentine of his day, knew some law, wrote Latin readily, but had no acquaintance with Greek. His abundant knowledge of later years was the result of private study, thought, and observation of men and events. In 1494 he obtained a post in the Second Chancellery of Florence, comprising the bureaus of Foreign Affairs and War. This was at the time of the expulsion of the Medici and the establishment of a new republican government under the auspices of Savonarola. He became first Secretary of the Ten in 1498, and held the position for 14 years. The office was more responsible and important than lucrative, and Machiavelli was throughout his life a poor man. The Republic of Florence did not even supply funds for the necessary expenses of the many diplomatic missions upon which he was sent, and these were a heavy drain upon his slender private resources. We have slight glimpses into his family life. He married Marietta Corsini in 1502 and she bore him six children. His principal modern biographer describes him as "of middle height, slender figure, with sparkling eyes, dark hair, rather a small head, a slightly aquiline nose, a tightly closed mouth. All about him bore the impress of a very acute observer and thinker, but not that of one able to wield much influence over others." The position of Machievelli in public life was a peculiar one. He was never a leader; but he was for many years in positions of trust and responsibility and intimately associated with the most important business of government and with the chief men of the period. He had, therefore, unique opportunities for impartial study of the business of government. The Pisan war laid upon him diplomatic duties, as well as those of commissary of the forces. In the latter capacity he was able to study the system of mercenary military service then in vogue, and thereafter he actively opposed the mercenary system in favor of a national military organization, such as all nations maintain to-day. He spent much time on diplomatic duty at the court of Cesare Borgia and saw the rise and fall of the power of that master of sinister and conscienceless politics. A study of Cesare's methods, embodied in the essay On the Mode of Treating the Rebels in the Val di Chiana, was the first attempt at a new science of politics. The embassies of Machiavelli also included one to the Emperor Maximilian I, two to Pope Julius II, four to Louis XII of France, and many to the various Italian states. His letters and papers relating to these constitute an invaluable notebook upon the political conditions of the period.

The Florentine ship of state sailed in troubled waters in the years 1510-12 and soon, deserted by its allies, the Republic was left to fight its battle alone against the exiled Medici, backed by the papal power. Machiavelli worked with energy for the defense of the city, but with the overthrow of the Republic was involved in the downfall of his friend and patron the Gonfaloniere Soderini (1512) . As the Medici showed great moderation upon their restoration, Machiavelli seems to have entertained hope of returning to his office, the income of which he needed, while the work suited his taste. He was, however, dismissed and banished for a year from the city, but without permission to leave Florentine territory, and put under bonds. It is worthy of note that he was able to render exact and correct accounts upon relinquishing his office. In 1513 he was arrested on suspicion of complicity in the conspiracy of Boscoli and Capponi, but after being put to the torture he was adjudged innocent. Reduced to want and deprived of wholesome activities, he abandoned himself to debauchery and wrote verses and comedies, of which the best known is Mandragola. He soon turned, however, to a better task, and wrote his great works on politics-Il principe and Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio. Before 1520 Machiavelli gave The Prince its final form, and wrote all that was ever written of the Discourses and the seven books on the Art of War. Some favor now began to be shown him. He was admitted to the company that gathered in the Oricellari Gardens, and ventured to put forth a Discourse Touching the Reform of Government in Florence, advocating the reestablishment of the Republic. He was commissioned by the directors of the Studio Publico, chief through the influence of Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici (to whom as Pope Clement VII the work was dedicated), to write a history of Florence. For this work, the Istorie fiorentine he received a yearly stipend of 100 florins. He was thus actively engaged in literary work during his later years, and in 1521 he resumed official work for the state and was again employed on diplomatic missions in Italy. Returning to Florence from one of these absences in May, 1527, he became ill and died, June 22. His body was buried in the family vault in the church of Santa Croce, and in 1787, through the efforts of Earl Cowper, a monument was erected to his memory over his tomb.

Machiavelli's life was full of disappointments and he was not one of those idealists who could live above and apart from the things of this world. He was preeminently a man of affairs, whose studies and activities were inseparably connected with human society in its most active phases. It is as a writer upon history, diplomacy, and politics that he holds a high and important place. In this field his position as a man of letters and as a thinker is secure. Here his style is at its best and he imparts to all his work the keen interest that belongs to a direct and vigorous realism. As a historian, he is not critical in the treatment of his material, but in other respects he belongs to the modern historical school, his discriminating philosophical method marking a sharp breaking away from the medieval type of chronicler and a return to the models of the classical historians. His principal historical work was the History of Florence, in eight books, beginning with the Germanic invasions and continuing down to the death of Lorenzo de' Medici. More useful, however, to the student to-day are his numerous reports upon his diplomatic missions and the brief papers on foreign affairs growing out of them. The unfinished Life of Castruccio Castracani is of little value.

Aside from the notes on diplomacy and politics contained in his diplomatic papers, Machiavelli's political system is embodied in The Prince and the Discourses, neither of which is complete without the other. The cynical maxims which abound in them have given the writer an evil reputation which he does not deserve. It must always be remembered that Machiavelli did not discuss ideal but actual conditions, and drew his deductions from the facts acquired by close observation. He thus became the founder of the modern school of scientific politics. Looking at his system in a large way and eliminating the cynicism which his environment naturally produced, we find that much of what he set forth has been adopted by the soundest political science of to-day. Machiavelli had no faith in aristocracies. He recognized but two forms of government as practicable-absolutism and the democratic republic. The latter was his ideal, but the former he believed to be sometimes necessary. As the first exponent of the idea of a united Italy he showed in The Prince how that great end might be brought about by efficient leadership. The Discourses elaborate the idea of a republic upon the same fundamental principles. He did not believe that the great ends of government in the upbuilding of the state should be sacrificed to abstract ethics. He was the forerunner of the school of political thinkers who divorce ethics and politics, not because they are necessarily in conflict, but because they are distinct sciences. His system in general is one of policy, resting on the inherent imperfection of men and looking to the balance of conflicting evils. It is in no sense a theoretical political philosophy, though it seems to have such a philosophy in view. 

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XIV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 572-573.