The essential writings of Machiavelli (35 page)

But when conspiracies are weak they must be crushed without much reflection. However, one should definitely not imitate two schemes that are almost diametrically opposed: The first scheme was used by the Duke of Athens. To demonstrate that he believed he had the goodwill of the Florentine citizens, he put the man who told him of the conspiracy to death.
²⁶³
The second scheme was used by Dion of Syracuse. To test the intentions of a certain man he suspected, he allowed Callippus, whom he trusted, to pretend that he was setting up a conspiracy against Dion.
²⁶⁴
Both these rulers ended badly: The Duke of Athens discouraged informers and encouraged conspirators, while Dion of Syracuse paved the way for his own death and was even the leader of his own conspiracy, because, as it turned out, once Callippus was free to conspire against him he did so with such zeal that he took from Dion his state and his life.

213.
Tacitus (
Histories
, Book IV, chapter 8) has Marcellus Epirus say in the Senate after Emperor Vespasian’s election: “I admire the past, but comply with the present, and, though I pray for good emperors, I tolerate whoever we have.”

214.
See Book II, chapter 32 above.

215.
In
The Prince
, chapter 19, Machiavelli writes: “One of the strongest remedies a prince has against conspiracy is not to be hated by the masses, because conspirators are invariably certain that they will satisfy the populace by killing the prince.”

216.
See
The Prince
, chapter 19.

217.
In
The Prince
, chapter 17, Machiavelli writes: “Being feared and not hated go well together, and the prince can always achieve this if he does not touch the property or the women of his citizens and subjects.”

218.
In
Politics
, Aristotle used Pausanias, a young nobleman and one of Philip of Macedon’s bodyguards, assassinating Philip as an example of a king being murdered because of a personal offense.

219.
Giulio Bellanti, the son-in-law of Pandolfo Petrucci (1452–1512), the tyrant of Siena, tried to assassinate him in 1508.

220.
See
Florentine Histories
, Book VIII, chapter 2.

221.
Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus were the two foremost conspirators in Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44
BCE
.

222.
Phalaris (sixth century
BCE
), the tyrant of Acragas (modern Agrigento in Sicily), was legendary for his cruelty. Dionysius the Elder (fourth century
BCE
) was the tyrant of the neighboring state of Syracuse.

223.
Machiavelli quotes Juvenal’s
Satirae
, Book X, verses 112–13, in Latin:
Ad generum Cereris sine cæde et vulnere pauci/Descendant reges, et sicca morte tyranni
. (Literally: “To the land of Pluto few kings descend without fatal wounds, and few tyrants without a dry death.”)

224.
Sultan Bayezid II (1447–1512) was the father of Sultan Selim I, who was the ruler of the Ottoman Empire (from 1512 to 1520) while Machiavelli was writing
The Discourses
.

225.
Roman Emperor Commodus (161–192
CE
) had his prefect Perennius assassinated in 185 CE after receiving proof that he was conspiring against him. Emperor Severus (146–211
CE
), who ruled after Commodus, had advanced his Praetorian Prefect Plautianus until the latter had almost complete control over the administration of Rome. Severus’s son, the future Emperor Caracalla, assassinated Plautianus in 205 CE. Emperor Tiberius (14–37
CE
) advanced Sejanus until he was the single most powerful man in Rome. Tiberius had Sejanus executed in 31 CE after his conspiracies were uncovered.

226.
Iacopo di Appiano (d. 1398) was the chancellor of Piero Gambacorta, the prince of Pisa, whom he assassinated in 1392 when he seized power.

227.
Francesco Coppola, the extremely wealthy and influential Count of Sarno, took part in the “Conspiracy of Barons” in 1485 against Ferdinand the Catholic. See
Florentine Histories
, Book VIII, chapter 32.

228.
Also in
The Prince
, chapter 19: “And the moment you take a malcontent into your confidence, you give him the opportunity to become quite content, pursuing his own advantage by betraying you.”

229.
As Tacitus writes in
Annals
, Book XV, chapter 54: “It is astonishing that with so many people of different rank, age, sex, and wealth that the conspiracy remained a secret.”

230.
See
Florentine Histories
, Book VIII, chapter 3.

231.
Tacitus,
Annals
, Book XV, chapters 54–56.

232.
Machiavelli closely follows Livy’s text in Book XXIV, chapter 5, though Livy names the conspirator as Theodotus, not Theodorus.

233.
Machiavelli closely follows Livy’s text from Book XXXV, chapter 35.

234.
The Piso Conspiracy of 65 CE against the emperor Nero (37–68
CE
) involved forty-one conspirators ranging from soldiers to senators to literary figures, including Lucan and Seneca. Machiavelli bases himself on Tacitus’s description of the conspiracy in
Annals
, Book XV, chapters 48 and following.

235.
Tacitus writes in
Annals
, Book XV, chapter 51: “Epicharis was summoned and, confronted with the informer, easily rebuffed him as he had no witnesses. But Nero kept her in custody, for he suspected that though it [the informer’s accusation] had not been proven true, it could not be entirely false, either.”

236.
The rule of Emperor Commodus (161–192
CE
) became increasingly brutal and chaotic as he declined into insanity.

237.
Machiavelli follows Herodian’s description in
History of the Empire
, Book I, chapters 16 and 17.

238.
Girolamo Riario, the Cardinal of San Giorgio, was the nephew of Pope Sixtus IV. Both the pope and his nephew were also part of the Pazzi conspiracy, along with the Archbishop of Pisa and other important figures.

239.
Giuliano de’ Medici was killed by Francesco Pazzi, but Lorenzo de’ Medici managed to escape. The people of Florence rallied around Lorenzo, and many of the conspirators were killed.

240.
Plutarch in
Parallel Lives
, “Caius Marius” (39, 2), describes how a “Cimbric or Gallic” soldier was sent to assassinate the imprisoned Marius: “But the soldier thought that he saw flames shooting from Marius’s eyes, and that he heard a loud voice rising from the shadows: ‘Are you the man who would dare kill Caius Marius?’ The barbarian immediately fled, dropping his sword.”

241.
Machiavelli quotes Livy (Book XXXV, chapter 35) in Latin:
Collegit et ipse animum, confusum tantae cogitatione rei.

242.
Herodian describes these events in
History of the Empire
, Book I, chapter 8, 5–6.

243.
See
Florentine Histories
, Book VIII, chapter 5.

244.
Herodian describes this incident in
History of the Empire
, Book III, chapters 4–12. He writes (Book III, chapter 12): “As usual, [Saturninus] made his rounds through the entire palace unhindered, but realized that it was impossible to kill the two emperors as they lived in different sections of the palace.”

245.
Machiavelli’s following Plutarch’s
Parallel Lives
, “Pelopidas,” chapters 5–12.

246.
Machiavelli is closely following the text of Plutarch’s
Parallel Lives
, “Brutus,” chapter 16, 3: “The conspirators (for so they must be called) could not hear his words but judging from their suspicion that what he was telling Caesar was about their plot, their minds fell into confusion. They looked at one another, mutually agreeing by their expressions that they must not wait for their arrest but face death right away.”

247.
Andrea da Lampugnano, Carlo Visconti, and Girolamo Olgiati set out to restore a republic in Milan by assassinating Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza in the Cathedral of Santo Stefano during the Christmas festivities (December 1476).

248.
The conspirators were caught and put to death. After the assassination, the duke’s wife, Bona of Savoy, initially ruled as a regent for her son Gian Galeazzo (1469–94). His power was then usurped by the murdered duke’s brother, Ludovico the Moor.

249.
Count Girolamo Riario, who had been involved in the Pazzi conspiracy, was himself killed in a conspiracy mounted by Francesco d’Orso in 1488. His wife was Caterina Sforza, the Duke of Milan’s illegitimate daughter, who subsequently, as ruler of Imola and Forlì, was one of the foremost women of the Renaissance. See also
The Prince
, chapter 20, and
Florentine Histories
, Book VIII, chapter 34.

250.
Caterina Sforza barricaded herself in the fortress until her uncle, the new Duke of Milan, Ludovico the Moor, came to her rescue. See
Florentine Histories
, Book VIII, chapter 34.

251.
Sallust’s
Bellum Catilinae (Catiline’s War)
deals with the corruption in Roman politics involving the conspiracy of Catiline, who attempted to overthrow the Roman Republic in 63
BCE
.

252.
Sallust in
Bellum Catilinae
(31) writes: “[Catiline] was about to utter more slander when they all clamored, calling him a traitor to Rome, at which he furiously exclaimed, ‘As I am surrounded by dire enemies and driven to desperation, I shall quench the fire around me with destruction.’”