Discourses on Livy, Book II, Niccolò Machiavelli: Chapter XXX — That really powerful Princes and, Commonwealths do not buy Friendships with Money
It will be seen therefore, both from this discussion and from what we have said elsewhere several times, how much difference there is in the proceedings of present Republics from the ancient ones. Because of this every day are seen astonishing losses and remarkable conquest, for where men have little virtu, fortune greatly shows her power, and as she
varies it, Republics and States change often, and they will always change until there springs up one who is a great lover of antiquity who is able to rule so that she has no reason at every revolution of the sun to show how powerful she can be.
Commentary on Chapter XXX — That really powerful Princes and, Commonwealths do not buy Friendships with Money
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Themes
While The Prince is doubtless the most widely read of Machiavelli's works, the Discourses on the Ten Books of Titus Livy perhaps most honestly expresses his personal political beliefs and commitments, in particular, his republican sympathies. A minimal constitutional order is one in which subjects live securely (vivere sicuro), ruled by a strong government which holds in check the aspirations of both nobility and people, but is in turn balanced by other legal and institutional mechanisms. In a fully constitutional regime, however, the goal of the political order is the freedom of the community (vivere libero), created by the active participation of, and contention between, the nobility and the people.
The full title of Chapter XXX reads: “Truly Powerful Republics and Princes Do Not Purchase Friendship With Money, but With Virtu and Reputation of Strength.”
The use of “revolution” in a political context is here used metaphorically.
“Revolution” here — at the birth of modern political science — borrows from a buzzord in Renaissance science: mainly, the helo-centrism of Copernicus and Kepler.
The reference to “virtu” overtaking “fortune” indicates the Enlightenment promise of the nation-state as a means of collective decision-making.