Similarities Between Livry And Livy

Throughout history, numerous leaders of society have been labeled with stigmas such as the names of tyrant, immoral, and even diabolical, for their seemingly reprehensible acts; however, it is in very limited history textbooks that those that influence the infamous rulers are ever mentioned at all. Niccolo Machiavelli, a product of the Renaissance, is one of these historical figures not often mentioned in the stories of unprincipled leaders. In his most famous pieces of literature, such as The Prince, and Discourses on Livy, this man advocates unscrupulous actions if necessary to fulfill one’s objectives, yielding him to become associated with treachery and craftiness. Similarly, in William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth influences

1. Read "Cincinnatus Saves Rome: A Roman Morality Tale" (5-1b). In this excerpt, does Livy's story appear to be historically valid? Why or why not? Why were the "common folk" less pleased than the officials at seeing the Dictator? Were their fears accurate and what were their views of him likely to have been twenty days later? What elements of this story inspired later generations to hail Cincinnatus as "the noblest Roman of them all"?

In the Prince, Machiavelli argues that the idea of truth in the government is only a method to manipulate the unsuspecting public. A leader does not need to be truthful as long as the public believes he is. Politics during Machiavelli’s time was much harsher than that of Socrates and his work reflects his cynical history. While Socrates experienced a major change in his home government during his lifetime, Machiavelli witnessed multiple periods of governmental turmoil.

The Renaissance was a time of classical revival and a turning point from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern period in the course of history. Ancient texts and artifacts became sources of inspiration for intellectuals and artists alike, and the desire to emulate—or even surpass the achievements of the past prompted them to study antiquities closely and saw them as models and guidance. People were consciously distinguishing themselves from the medieval thoughts and using history to make something new for their own era. In the field of political philosophy there’s no exception. Niccolo Machiavelli is perhaps the most representative and groundbreaking figure of this trend in political philosophy. With his erudition in ancient literature, histories and political thoughts, Machiavelli draws various sources from antiquity to critic and response to the political environment of histime. While one may find seemingly discrepancies in The Prince and The Discourse on the First Ten Books of Tius Livy, the use of histories as guide to demonstrate or propose ideal rules is apparent in both works. We should note that synthesizing ancient philosophy or thoughts with contemporary thoughts is nothing new. Thomas Aquinas, for example, reconciled Aristotelianism and Christianity in his work Summa Theologica, using ancient antiquity to back up his Christian beliefs. What is so noteworthy in Machiavelli is his emphasis and

Livy’s portrayal of Tarquin’s rule, however, strays a great deal from the characterization of Tarquin as worthy of holding such a powerful position. Livy’s narrative effectively strips the reader of the ability to make an

The language of Roman rule and power can be disputed endlessly, much like all else when trying to study ancient history. This is primarily a result of a multitude of interpretations that can be inferred from primary sources, which also tend to be biased, that we have available to us. Examining a source that is written from an individual’s perspective, and they trying draw conclusions about varying aspects of a certain society is especially tough and extremely subjective. Nonetheless, history remains an important field of study and reaps many benefits.

“It is much safer to be feared than loved.” This quotation was just a specimen of the harsh and very practical political annotation of the legendary historian, Niccolò Machiavelli – philosopher, patriot, diplomat, advisor and statesman. He was born as the son of a poor lawyer in 1498, but he never let boundaries restrict him. He still received an excellent humanist education from the University of Florence and was soon after appointed as the Second Chancellor of the Republic of Florence.2 His political importance to Florence would soon give him the opportunity to write what is disputed as one of the most significant works in history, The Prince.

The Prince is in direct relation to Discourses of Livy's theory by contradiction. In The Prince, Machiavelli first says, “for men change their rulers willingly, hoping to better themselves,... They are deceived, because they afterwards find by experience they have gone from bad to worse,” (4). This proves that the new Prince that rules over them is not for the interests of them at all, since they went to from bad to worse. Furthermore, proving the

There has been controversy between scholars about author Niccolo Machiavelli. His two famous works The Prince and The Discourses are two books which discuss monarchy and republic government and how both need to work to be efficient. The question asked is how can the author of The Prince also have written The Discourses? How can Machiavelli write about a republic with separation of power, then write about how a new established monarchy can work and survive? We will discuss the ideas set forth in both books and decide whether or not Machiavelli works are consistent or contradictory.

There were several main themes of deception that were crucial to the events that occurred in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar: Marc Antony’s dirge, Decius’s persuasion to attend the senate meeting, and Cassius’s letters to Brutus. The theme of deception was a paramount tool that Shakespeare used in the movement of the plot. Had these crucial events not occurred, have written an entirely Through these acts of deception we were able to see that Ancient Rome struggled with people deceiving each other, and also that it was mainly used by power-hungry individuals to achieve their specific goal at hand. It is also important to note that deception has been around for a long time and is something that humanity has struggled with throughout the history of its existence. Deception has always been a tool used by people to satisfy one’s own desires, and unfortunately always will

For most contemporary readers, Niccolò Machiavelli is a name synonymous with deceit, cunning, and manipulation, a reputation which stems almost entirely from his authorship of one of the central works of modern political philosophy: The Prince. Given this image, it is incredibly ironic that the Italian word virtù and its derivatives appear no less than seventy-two times throughout the work. While the translator goes to great lengths to adapt this versatile word to the context of the situation, it is nevertheless clear that virtù is closely related to its English cognate virtue. This, along with the political nature of Machiavelli’s work, shapes the discourse about the nature of princedoms into one in which the author explores the more

Machiavelli has long been required reading for everyone intrested in politics and power. In The Prince Niccolo M

The shift from the medieval era to early modernity in the political sphere is notably exemplified in the writings of Niccolò Machiavelli. Two of Machiavelli’s works, The Prince (1532) and Discourses (1531)

Machiavelli’s father provided him with a rather sufficient education in religion, classics, and politics. His father loved books. In fact, they had a library where he collected works by Greek and Roman philosophers such as Cicero and Aristotle (Wagner 17). He also collected major studies of Italian history. The books that his father collected provided Niccoló with a foundation of knowledge about the ideas of noble Greek and Roman thinkers (Wagner 17). These books would also help shape Niccoló’s own writings decades later. When Machiavelli grew a little older, he studied at The Studio, which was essentially a school. The Studio gave Machiavelli a solid grounding in rhetoric, grammar, poetry, history, and moral philosophy (King 7). Three days after his 17th birthday, Machiavelli began learning the elements of Latin under the Supervision of a local teacher known as Maestro Matteo, who conducted lessons from a house near the Ponte Santa Trinitia (King 6).

It is fundamentally important to preface the discussion hosted in this essay by addressing ourselves to the most mundane question-why consider Machiavelli in the context of philosophy, least of all, political philosophy? This question dominates any philosophical inquiries of the Machiavelli’s political ideologies. Put differently, do the contributions by Niccolò Machiavelli to the various salient discourses in the Western thought, most notably political theory, meet the requisite standard models of academic philosophy? Machiavelli essentially seems not to consider himself a philosopher. In fact, he overtly disapproved of any philosophical inquiries into his works. In addition, his credentials do not qualify him to be properly admitted within the realm of philosophy (NeDermAN, 2002).