The Discourses

In 1516, at the height of the Italian Renaissance, Niccolò Machiavelli pens his Discourses on Livy while in exile from his native city of Florence. The Discourses are Machiavelli’s commentaries on the republic of ancient Rome—how it is founded, maintained, and protected—and how Roman wisdom in the art of statecraft can be used by all republics.

The Roman Republic is an early democracy that lasts from 509 BCE to 49 BCE. Roman scholar Titus Livius—“Livy”—first recorded its history in his monumental work Ab Urbe Condita (“From the Founding of the City,” or more popularly, “The History of Rome”), completed in 9 BCE. During the Middle Ages, most of the dozens of books that make up Livy’s great project are lost, but scholars in the 1300s launch a search to recover them. Roughly the first third of Ab Urbe Condita survives, its record of Roman history largely complete to 167 BCE. The remainder has never been found.

Machiavelli studies the surviving parts of Livy’s work and writes a three-book commentary on its first 10 volumes; he titles it Discourses on the First Ten Decades of Titus Livy, known today as the Discourses on Livy or simply the Discourses. In honor of the 142 books reportedly contained in Livy’s lost original, Machiavelli arranges his own commentaries into 142 chapters. Most of these are quite brief, barely more than a few pages, and amount to short essays, each on a narrowly focused topic.

Machiavelli is an expert on Renaissance politics, having served as one of the leading diplomats of the Florentine Republic of 1492-1512. His travels to nearby Italian and French states and provinces, during a time of tumult and war, provide him with years of experiences that bolster his conclusions on how governance, especially the affairs of a republic, ought to be conducted.

Machiavelli is best known for his book The Prince, which offers cold-blooded advice on how to rule a city or country. His reputation as a purveyor of “Machiavellian” techniques—ruthless manipulation and skullduggery—overlooks the more noble side of his thinking, which favors republican forms of government. He emphasizes the virtues of republics in the Discourses.

Book 1 is made up of 60 short chapters that deal with the founding of the Roman Republic and how it, or any republic, should be nurtured, managed, and protected. Machiavelli believes that people are prone to selfishness and to seek their own benefit, often at the cost of others, unless a great leader can push past all objections and establish a government that serves the people as a whole rather than merely a few powerful men. Machiavelli also believes that the ancient Romans understand these principles, and that their respect for the proper techniques of governance lead to their success as the dominant power of their region.

Book 2 contains 33 chapters that focus on the techniques of foreign relations, including the use of diplomacy, commerce, and war, techniques Rome develops for its own purposes but which can serve other republics as well. Although the Romans forge alliances and other agreements with their neighbors, they have a special talent for battle; their efficient and decisive war machine, led by men of exceptional skill and quality, brings many victories and, eventually, an empire to the heel of Rome. Machiavelli notes many of the strategies and tactics used by Roman political and military leaders that help them achieve success.

Book 3’s 49 chapters stress the ways that great leaders can manage smoothly the affairs of their states. Machiavelli tells the stories of several of the most famous Roman citizens, including Cincinnatus, who saves Rome from conquest and then retires to his farm; Corvinus, who tells his soldiers, “It is my deeds, not my words which I want you to follow”; and the consul Fabius Rulianus, who agrees for the sake of the republic that his personal enemy, Papirius Cursor, share Fabius's duties and help save the city.

The Discourses are published in 1531, some years after Machiavelli’s death, and are thereafter studied by political and military leaders for their wisdom in the art of statecraft. Machiavelli writes with clarity and enthusiasm, and even where his sentences contain several ideas at once, they flow smoothly and are easy to follow. The 1997 edition in English is translated by Julia Bondanella; it includes introductory materials and over 50 pages of explanatory notes.