History of Florence and Italy | Page 5

Cavalcanti, and at others
rejecting their testimony without apparent reason, while in its details
the authority of his /History/ is often questionable. It is the
straightforward, logical narrative, which always holds the interest of the
reader that is the greatest charm of the /History/. Of the other works of
Machiavelli we may mention here his comedies the /Mandragola/ and
/Clizia/, and his novel /Belfagor/.
After the downfall of the Republic and Machiavelli's release from
prison in 1513, fortune seems never again to have favoured him. It is
true that in 1520 Giuliano de' Medici commissioned him to write his
/History of Florence/, and he afterwards held a number of offices, yet
these latter were entirely beneath his merits. He had been married in
1502 to Marietta Corsini, who bore him four sons and a daughter. He
died on June 22, 1527, leaving his family in the greatest poverty, a
sterling tribute to his honesty, when one considers the many

opportunities he doubtless had to enrich himself. Machiavelli's life was
not without blemish--few lives are. We must bear in mind the
atmosphere of craft, hypocrisy, and poison in which he lived,--his was
the age of Cæsar Borgia and of Popes like the monster Alexander VI.
and Julius II. Whatever his faults may have been, Machiavelli was
always an ardent patriot and an earnest supporter of popular
government. It is true that he was willing to accept a prince, if one
could be found courageous enough and prudent enough to unite
dismembered Italy, for in the unity of his native land he saw the only
hope of its salvation.
Machiavelli is buried in the church of Santa Croce at Florence, beside
the tomb of Michael Angelo. His monument bears this inscription:
"Tanto nomini nullum par eulogium."
And though this praise is doubtless exaggerated, he is a son of whom
his country may be justly proud.
Hugo Albert Rennert.
[*] Villari, /Niccolo Machiavelli e i suoi tempi/, 2d ed. Milan, 1895-97,
the best work on the subject. The most complete bibliography of
Machiavelli up to 1858 is to be found in Mohl, /Gesch. u. Liter. der
Staatswissenshaften/, Erlangen, 1855, III., 521-91. See also /La Vita e
gli scritti di Niccolo Machiavelli nella loro Relazione col
Machiavellismo/, by O. Tommasini, Turin, 1883 (unfinished).
The best English translation of Machiavelli with which I am acquainted
is: The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic writings of Niccolo
Machiavelli, translated by Christian E. Detmold. Osgood & Co.,
Boston, 1882, 4 vols. 8vo.

THE
FLORENTINE HISTORY OF
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

BOOK I


CHAPTER I

Irruption of Northern people upon the Roman territories--Visigoths
--Barbarians called in by Stilicho--Vandals in Africa--Franks and
Burgundians give their names to France and Burgundy--The Huns--
Angles give the name to England--Attila, king of the Huns, in
Italy--Genseric takes Rome--The Lombards.
The people who inhabit the northern parts beyond the Rhine and the
Danube, living in a healthy and prolific region, frequently increase to
such vast multitudes that part of them are compelled to abandon their
native soil, and seek a habitation in other countries. The method
adopted, when one of these provinces had to be relieved of its
superabundant population, was to divide into three parts, each
containing an equal number of nobles and of people, of rich and of poor.
The third upon whom the lot fell, then went in search of new abodes,
leaving the remaining two-thirds in possession of their native country.
These migrating masses destroyed the Roman empire by the facilities
for settlement which the country offered when the emperors abandoned
Rome, the ancient seat of their dominion, and fixed their residence at
Constantinople; for by this step they exposed the western empire to the
rapine of both their ministers and their enemies, the remoteness of their
position preventing them either from seeing or providing for its
necessities. To suffer the overthrow of such an extensive empire,
established by the blood of so many brave and virtuous men, showed
no less folly in the princes themselves than infidelity in their ministers;
for not one irruption alone, but many, contributed to its ruin; and these
barbarians exhibited much ability and perseverance in accomplishing
their object.
The first of these northern nations that invaded the empire after the
Cimbrians, who were conquered by Caius Marius, was the Visigoths--
which name in our language signifies "Western Goths." These, after
some battles fought along its confines, long held their seat of dominion
upon the Danube, with consent of the emperors; and although, moved
by various causes, they often attacked the Roman provinces, were
always kept in subjection by the imperial forces. The emperor
Theodosius conquered them with great glory; and, being wholly

reduced to his power, they no longer selected a sovereign of their own,
but, satisfied with the terms which he granted them, lived and