Discourses on Livy
Format: Paperback
ISBN13: 9780192829450
Paperback|9780192829450
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Overview
Machiavelli's intellectual kinship with the ancient Romans surpassed all other ties he felt. Published posthumously in 1531, Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy, shows that, despite the reputation he gained for his brief treatise, The Prince, his preferred form of self-government for his native Florence or any similar city-state was based on a republican ideal. Livy's primary ideas for the republican model appealed not only to the humanist and political scientist in Machiavelli but also to the masterful literary stylist, who understood very clearly how the rhetorical impact of a superhuman hero's gallant deeds upon a reader's imagination was superior to the force of logic or the persuasive power of historical precedent. With no interest in ideal or utopian schemes, Machiavelli's close analysis of Livy's Rome led him to advance his most original and controversial view of politics - the belief that a healthy body politic was characterised by social friction and conflict, not rigid stability. His discussion of conspiracies is also the longest and most sophisticated treament of the archetypal political upheaval in all of policitical theory up to his times. In an age when political absolutism was increasingly the norm, Machiavelli's republican theories would become a dangerous ideology, and his works were placed on the Index of Prohibited Works in 1559. The present new translation of The Discourses, with critical annotations far exceeding those of any other edition in English, aims at providing the contemporary reader of Machiavelli's republican theory with sufficient historical, linguistic and political information to understand and interpret the revolutionary affirmations Machiavelli made, based on the historical evidence he found in Livy.
| ISBN-13 | 9780192829450 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0192829459 |
| Weight | 0.52 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 4.50 x 0.90 x 7.30 In |
| List Price | $9.95 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Pages | 446 pages |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Published On | 1997-12-11 |
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