Work · Renaissance & Humanism
Discourses on Livy
Republican liberty, exemplified by ancient Rome.
Introduction
The full title is “Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy”: Machiavelli uses passages from the Roman historian as starting points for reflections on politics. He dedicated the three books to two young friends from the circle that met in the Rucellai gardens in Florence; they were printed in 1531, after his death. Book I treats the founding and internal order of states, and argues that the conflicts between nobles and people made Rome free and powerful. Book II deals with expansion and war, Book III with the actions of individuals. The work is a key source for the history of republican thought.
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Connections
Builds on
- Politicsc. 335 BCE · Aristotle
More works by Niccolò Machiavelli
- 1513The Prince
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