MACHIAVELLI. -(1469-1527.)

Niccolo Machiavelli was born at Florence in May, 1469, his father, who was a judge, being called Bernardo, while the name of his mother was Bartolomea di Stefano Nelli. It was believed at one time that he was descended from a noble family which had given several marquises to Tuscany; but the truth is that his father, though well born and moderately rich, was not of noble descent. He was a native of Val di Pisa, and his property was at Montespertoli. These facts concerning the great political writer who has acquired a proverbial reputation for astuteness and perfidy are derived from Passerine and Pietro Fanfani.

It may be assumed that Machiavelli made a profound study of Latin and the Italian classics. At the age of five-and-twenty he was employed in the Government office which conducted the business relating to embassies and war, while four years later in 1498 a decree of the Grand Council raised him to the rank of Second Chancellor. He had scarcely entered upon these new duties than he was promoted to be Secretary to the Council of Ten, and so able was his conduct of affairs that he held the post for fifteen years, though the ordinary tenure was only for a month.

In 1499 he undertook the first of a series of embassies, and in the hands of the Government of Florence appeared to be a docile and supple instrument. But while Machiavelli seemed to be only expressing the views of those by whom he was commissioned, he had been skilful enough to dictate the resolutions of those who sent him. The first important mission which he undertook was to King Louis XII. of France in 1500. In the following year he returned to fill his duties as Second Chancellor, though not for long at a time, as we find him first at Pistoia, then at Pisa, then at Siena, and then at Arezzo. In 1502 he accompanied C sar Borgia to Imola, and then throughout the Romagna and Umbria, when that Prince was engaged in reducing the rebel lords, Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliveretto da Fermo, Pagolo, and the Duke de Graving Orsini. It was during these different embassies, more military than diplomatic, that Machiavelli, constantly engaged in sieges, assaults, fortifications, and battles, directed his brilliant faculties to the study of war and the practical side of a military profession.

But a higher mission awaited him, and the soldier was soon merged in the diplomatist. At the death of Alexander VI., Florence took a deep interest in the election of a new pope, and was very anxious to impose her candidate upon the Sacred College. Cardinal Francesco Soderini was sent from Volterra to Rome, Machiavelli accompanying him as far as Val di Arno, and then proceeding on his own account to the conclave, in which he played a very important part.

In 1505 he was intrusted with the realization of an idea which he had long been advocating, and which was destined to bring about a complete revolution in the constitution of Italian States. His plan was to substitute for the mercenary forces, upon the fidelity of which little reliance could be placed, and which, animated by no patriotic sentiments, often turned tail and fled, a national army composed solely of citizens.

In 1503, at a meeting of the Council, he urged the people to form an army, and contributed to the expenses of their equipment, and in 1506 he proposed the creation of a special magistracy, which was to form companies of soldiers, superintend their drilling and instruction, and take care that they were ready to march at immediate notice. This was his greatest work, and he was the moving spirit in the new magistracy, obtaining from the Council of Ten their sanction to the measures which he deemed necessary, and never relaxing in his efforts until he felt that the change had taken firm root. Mercenary armies were suppressed for good, and to Machiavelli is due the credit of substituting for them those national forces which are still the ultinta ratio of civilized societies. The superiority of infantry over cavalry was another favorite theory of Machiavelli, whose views in regard to warfare have been embodied by Algarotti in a work entitled " The Military Science of the Florentine Secretary," and dedicated to Prince Henry of Prussia.

In 1506, while still busily engaged in his work of military organization, he was obliged to return to Rome and accompany Julius II. to Imola when the latter was attempting to subjugate Bologna. In 1507 he went to supervise the recruiting of foot-soldiers at Val di Tevere, Valdichiana, Chianti, and the valleys of the Elsa and the Cecina, and in the course of the same year he was sent as a delegate to Piombino and Siena.

At the end of 1507 he was sent to meet the Emperor Maximilian, who was about to enter Italy on his way to receive the imperial crown from the Pontiff, and as Florence had to provide a subsidy, Machiavelli was sent to settle the matter. He was six months on this mission, and he found time to write the " Rapporto delle cose Bella Magna," and the "Discorso sopra l'Imperatore. There is no need to enumerate all the diplomatic missions upon which he was employed, for rarely has a public man been so constantly occupied, but amidst all this he seemed to be more specially engrossed by military affairs, and may, indeed, be regarded as the War Minister of the Republic, with all the practical knowledge and more than the deliberative ability of a great commander. The long and arduous struggle with Pisa gave him an opportunity of displaying his talents, and it may be said that the measures adopted to capture the city were suggested by him.

These almost permanent duties did not prevent him from rendering still greater services, and the post of Ambassador to the Court of France being vacant, he filled it for a short time in 1510, taking up his residence first at Lyons, and afterwards at Blois and Tours.

The fall of the Gonfaloniere Soderini which took place upon the 30th of August 1512, during his absence, was very prejudicial to him, for after the change of Government which followed he was deprived of his post both as Chancellor and Secretary of the Ten. A decree was even passed ordering him not to leave the place of residence assigned to him, and he was forbidden to attend the Signoria for a twelvemonth. Mixed up in a conspiracy against the Medici in 1513, he was imprisoned in the Bargello, and even put to the question, but Leo X., delighted at his election to the throne of St. Peter, had him set at liberty. There can be no doubt that he was tortured, but he met his punishment with the stoic courage of the men of old, and left behind him a curious sonnet written at the very time.

While his body was still crushed and bruised, he repaired to his humble villa near San Casciano, and there devoted himself to study, leading a peasant's life, playing bowls and backgammon with his neighbors, and showing great affability in his relations with them. His political career seemed to be over, and he worked very hard, writing for the Academy of the Ruccellai Gardens, the Princip" (1513), "Discourses on the First Book of Livy " (1516-1519), the "Dialogue upon Language," and the "Seven Books of the Art of War" (1520). The "Life of Castruccio " was written at Lucca about the end of the same year. Under the princedom of the Medici he again returned into favor, but though he was employed upon several diplomatic missions be did not bold any permanent post, and it was under these circumstances that he came to write the " Storie Fiorentine," and the two comedies, Mandragola and Clizia, which were composed for representation before Leo X. Andrea del Sarto and Aristotle de San Gallo undertook the scenic arrangements, and the audience comprised cardinals and other dignitaries of the Vatican. Francesco Guicciardini, the great historian and the Governor of the Romagna, had these comedies represented at Bologna during the carnival of 1526, and the Venetians also were anxious to witness the performance of them.

Pope Clement VII, in 1526, called him back to activity by intrusting him with the inspection of the fortifications of Florence, the Pontiff foreseeing the possibility of the city having to sustain a siege ; and Machiavelli having, with a number of military engineers, taken counsel as to the best measures to be adopted, made his report to the Pope.

The whole of that year was spent by him in negotiations with Guicciardini and the proveditore of Venice at Cremona. He thus escaped the tumult caused by the conspiracy of the 26th of April, and went upon Guicciardini's behalf to Doria and Genoa in quest of a galley and some reinforcements. From Genoa he went to Leghorn, in the company of the Marchioness of Mantua, and he died at Florence on the 23d of June, 1527.

A letter from his son proves that Machiavelli died a poor man, and no wonder that he did, for his life was full of vicissitudes. While holding office, he spent his salary freely, and when he fell from power he did nothing to increase his fortune. In whatever light he is looked at, he is a genius, though a French writer has written a phrase which the Italians take in very bad part : " The misfortunes of Italy arose solely from the fact that she was capable of producing the Principe." There can be no doubt but that Machiavelli inculcated the odious maxim as to the end justifying the means, but it is equally certain that with him it was dictated by conviction rather than by perversity. He was a great patriot beyond all question, to say nothing of his being an incomparable artist and a gifted writer who has the true historical sense, and who has left political portraits which a Tacitus would not disown.