The article examines Quentin Skinner's influential interpretation of Machiavelli's views on liberty, and the sharp divergence between his methodological ideas and his actual practice. The paper explores how Skinner's political ideals directed his interpretation against his own methodological precepts, to offer a basis for a ‘revival’ of republican theory. Skinner's reinterpretation of Machiavelli as a theorist of negative liberty is examined, and refuted. The article analyses Skinner's claim about liberty as the key political value for Machiavelli, and demonstrates that liberty (...) is secondary to empire on the list of Machiavelli's priorities. Skinner's vocabulary and efforts to tone down or ignore Machiavelli's more aggressive ideas are closely examined. The analysis offered in the article, it is suggested, has wider implications, showing the difficulty of applying contextualism in practice, by the very founder of this approach in the history of ideas. (shrink)

The paper examines two aspects of empire in Machiavelli's thought. First, Machiavelli's model of the empire-building state is analysed.Machiavelli's answer to a classical question of the best form of government is discussed, establishing (1) why Machiavelli prefers a republic to a principality, and (2) why he prefers the expansionistic model of the republic based on Rome over the non-expansionistic model based on Sparta and Venice. In both cases, it is argued, Machiavelli's choice is dictated by his understanding of greatness: the (...) Roman Republic is the ultimate example because it has achieved the greatest empire the world has ever seen. Accordingly, Machiavelli develops his political ideal, the model of the expansionistic republic that should closely follow the Roman example. The crucial role of Machiavelli's reading of the ancient historians, Livy, Sallust and, particularly, Polybius, is strongly emphasised. A second thread is developed later in the paper. Following Pocock's account(s), the author examines various causes of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire that Machiavelli offers in different places in his opus, trying to find a description of the most general cause, that would encompass all others. In the final part of the paper both threads converge; a key passage from Arte della guerra is analysed, with important conclusions reached: (1) It is shown that Machiavelli fully realised the unavoidable final destiny that awaits his model state. (2) Machiavelli also described the 'main', most general cause for Rome's downfall; a general mechanism of this process is outlined. (shrink)

The article explores the role of the Spartan example in Guicciardini's political thought, giving a particular attention to his early writings. Examining a series of medical metaphors Guicciardini uses in the analysis of the state, the author uncovers Plutarch as their main source. It is argued that Plutarch, and his description of Lacedaemon, exercised a major influence in the formation of Guicciardini's political ideas. The author focuses on the crucial issue of the usage of “Lycurgus’ knife,” while answering two key (...) questions: (1) the feasibility of constituting a republic modelled on Sparta; (2) the legitimacy of the use of force in the cases of extreme necessity. On (2), Guicciardini's views are compared with Machiavelli's, and the difference in their understanding of necessità pointed out. (shrink)

This special issue of History of Political Thought brings together a selection of papers presented at two events organised by Martin van Gelderen: the conference 'Passions and Virtues in Modern Europe', held at the European University Institute, Florence, in February 2006, and the 32nd Internationaler Wolfenbütteler Sommerkurs, 'Reassessing Intellectual History: Passions and Virtues in Early Modern Europe', at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel in July 2007. Emphasised as 'one of the key themes' of earlymodern intellectual history by the organiser, (...) the study of passions and virtues was the focus of the participating scholars, who explored 'how artists, philosophers, pamphleteers and politicians' addressed this topic from the Renaissance to the late eighteenth century. A number of high quality papers concerned with specifically political questions, or with closely connected issues in intellectual history, prompted the decision to produce a special issue of this journal. Besides papers concerned with straightforward political theory, contributions from cultural and literary historians have been included, discussing not only literary works, but also paintings: this reflects the ecumenical understanding of intellectual history adopted at these events, and will offer regular readers of History of Political Thought an opportunity to look at the work of scholars from the mentioned fields. (shrink)

The article examines the formation of Nietzsche's view of Napoleon as a Renaissance man, and its importance for Nietzsche's thought. Stendhal, with his image of Napoleon, exercised a crucial influence on Nietzsche, who was, thanks to Burckhardt, already full of admiration for the Renaissance. Special attention is given to Stendhal's Vie de Napoleon, which provided Nietzsche with a key to Napoleon as the continuator of the Renaissance and the man who again revived antiquity, a hero of Plutarchian proportions. Taine's influence (...) is also analysed, for he provided the final stimulus for Nietzsche's concluding conception of Napoleon as a Renaissance man, as well as helping Nietzsche to realize the closeness between the Ubermensch and Napoleon. The significance of Napoleon for Nietzsche's conceptualization of historical greatness is emphasized, as well as the features of the Corsican hero that make him the embodiment of Nietzsche's emulative understanding of history: the mirror image of a model active man from the second Untimely Meditation. (shrink)