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Foxes, Lions, and Wolves, Oh My!

A discussion on the changing forms of politics and religion in Renaissance Italy, focusing on the shift from republicanism to despotism and the criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. Examining the realism vs. idealism debate and the quest for power and authority.

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Foxes, Lions, and Wolves, Oh My!

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  1. Foxes, Lions, and Wolves, Oh My! HUM 2052: Civilization II Spring 2015 Dr. Perdigao January 21, 2015

  2. Shifts • New idea about politics and religion • Changing forms: Republicanism, despotism; Roman Catholic Church, Protestantism • Realism vs. idealism • Quest for power, authority (attack on Catholic Church, Jesuits, for being “Machiavellian”) • Republicanism: chief magistrate, two councils, constitution • Shift to despotism—city-states’ instability, war between merchants and nobles, economic disasters, famine and disease (bubonic plague), mercenary troops—condottieri (Perry 397)

  3. Santo da Tito’s Machiavelli and Altissimo’s Portrait of Machiavelli

  4. Framing the Text • Machiavelli (1469-1527) • Born in Florence on May 3, 1469 • Became a clerk in 1494 and was secretary to the second chancery of the commune of Florence, dealing with internal and war affairs (1498-1512) (Lawall 1945) • Sent on missions—King Louis XII of France in 1500, Cesare Borgia, duke of Valentinois in 1502, Pope Julius II in 1506, Emperor Maximilian in 1508, and king of France in 1509—experiences that shaped his book of observations or Portraits written in 1508 and 1510 (Lawall 1945) • Established Florentine militia in 1507 but, with the end of the republican regime, lost post and was exiled from the city proper • Exile from Florence (like Dante, from civil war within Guelphs, between blacks and whites—papal power at center) but Machiavelli was unable to leave Florentine territory after accusation of conspiracy from Medici regime

  5. Framing the Text • Wrote Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy (1513-1521) and The Prince (1513) during exile (Lawall 1945) • Aim of work to led to restored position, obtaining public office from Medici • In 1520, commissioned to write a history of Florence, presented in 1525 to Pope Clement VII • “Sack of Rome” by Charles V led to collapse of Medici regime; Machiavelli seen as Medici sympathizer • Machiavelli died on June 22, 1527 • Division in book between first 11 books: dominions and how they are constructed, preserved; 12-14: problems of military power; and 15-end: the “virtues” of the prince • Fame derived from final part—with attributes and virtues

  6. A Fresh Prince? • “princely rule”—hereditary monarchy not republic • In Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier (1518), the ideal ruler is “universally talented and skillful, equally commanding on the battlefield, at court, and in the state, and virtuous throughout” (Perry 302-3). • Machiavelli critiques humanist ideal of princely rule but there is the question of whether he turns to ideal at the end—project as “imaginative rather than scientific” as it is founded on “cultural and poetic myths” (1947) • As “pedagogical literature” (Lawall 1946) • Example of “the art of persuasion” (Lawall 1946) • Question of realism vs. idealism; “imaginative rather than scientific” (Lawall 1947) • Machiavelli as “first major modern political thinker” (303)

  7. As Narrative • As idealized vision by the ending • Call to liberate Italy by end • Ending, with idea of redemption, like Dante’s Purgatorio (Lawall 1947) • Parallel between Hamlet’s Denmark and Machiavelli’s Italy—“Something is rotten in it” (Lawall 1947) • As tragic formula: “desire for communal regeneration, for the cleansing of the city-state, the polis” (1947), with Italy on one side and imaginary prince on the other • “The envisaged redemption is identified with antiquity and Roman virtue, while the realism of the political observer is here drowned out by the cry of the humanist dreaming of ancient glories” (1947)

  8. Losing Centers • “Thus while on one, and perhaps the better-known, side of the picture of human intellect in Renaissance literature enthusiastically expatiates over the realms of knowledge and unveils the mysteries of the universe, on the other it is beset by puzzling doubts and profound mistrust of its own powers” (1890). • Renaissance “code of behavior” (1886): not right and wrong, good and evil, but “concrete validity and effectiveness,” “delight it affords,” “memorability and its beauty” • “The leaders of the period saw in a work of art the clearest instance of beautiful, harmonious, and self-justified performance” (1889). • Virtue, fame, glory • For Machiavellian prince, not goodness, temperance, clemency but “whatever forces and skills may help him in the efficient management and preservation of his princely powers” (1887) • Reputation of virtue • Dissimulations (the art of appearance and cover-up) emphasized (Perry 306)

  9. Adapting Machiavelli

  10. Tupac, Makaveli: the Don Killuminati

  11. Questions of Context • Written for Lorenzo de’ Medici the Younger (de facto ruler of Florence) though originally written for Giuliano de’ Medici (brother of new pope Leo X) • Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy—preference for republics • Question if The Prince is satire—at least play with treatises “mirrors of princes,” those formulas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_7jRYLTzcE • Publication in Rome in 1532—five years after his death—while circulated in Florence around 1516; attempts to destroy manuscript before his death • Printed with privilege given by Pope Clement VII—but a few decades later (1559), the Catholic Church puts The Prince and his other works on the papacy’s Index of Forbidden Books • Question if published because of its use of the Florentine dialect

  12. Machiavelli’s The Prince: Power and Authority • Exercise like Plato’s Republic on ideal ruler but replaces philosopher king: “If men were all good, this advice would not be good, but since men are wicked and do not keep their promises to you, you likewise do not have to keep yours to them” (1956). • Virtues: Compassionate; Trustworthy; Humane; Honest; Religious • Chapter 17—Virtues called into question in Machiavelli’s text: “Is it better to be loved than to be feared, or the reverse?” (1954) “men forget the death of a father more quickly than the loss of their patrimony” (1955) “I conclude that since men love as they please and fear as the prince pleases, a wise prince will evidently rely on what is in his own power and not on what is in the power of another” (1955). • Uses of works in history, mythology, and theology (real and imagined): Cesare Borgia, Remirro de Orco, Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus, Caesar, Dido, Hannibal

  13. Modeling the Prince • Fox and lion: “So the prince needs to be a fox that he may know how to deal with traps, and a lion that he may frighten the wolves” (1956). • Being vs. Seeming to be • Place of Fortune: “That is, if a prince bases himself entirely on Fortune, he will fall when she varies. I also believe that a ruler will be successful who adapts his mode of procedure to the quality of the times, and likewise that he will be unsuccessful if the times are out of accord with his procedure.” (1958)

  14. On Machiavelli’s Philosophy • The place of the prince within the idealized world of the Renaissance • Machiavelli advocates not humanism which is unattainable but rather the practical—from abstract to material effects • For Machiavelli, human nature is based on a desire for acquisition • The falls of Medici empire are seen as being true to Machiavelli’s theory • Separates politics from moral law • Fortune always plays a role in politics • Story of world is a story of war • Questions of the relationship between appearance and reality, being and seeming to be

  15. Machiavelli and Popular Culture From Dean DeFino’s “The Prince of North Jersey”: Abstract: Although many critics consider Tony Soprano from HBO’s mob series The Sopranos a troubled Everyman, an emblem of the human need for redemption, the program reveals a postmodern politician more concerned with his leadership skills than his humanity. Caught between the Machiavellian poles of the humane prince and the beastly dictator, Tony is compelled to more and more beastly deeds in a struggle to achieve and maintain power among the ruins of a dying mob culture. Tony’s desperate brutality, read against our surprisingly resilient empathy for him, compels us to ask the very question his therapist, Dr. Melfi, poses to herself: Are we being conned by a sociopath? (DeFino 1) DeFino, Dean. “The Prince of North Jersey.” Journal of Popular Film and Television (2004). http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0412/is_2_32/ai_n6112889/pg_5

  16. The Uses of History Like any good Machiavellian, Tony is a student of history, studying the past in an effort to avoid the traps of fickle, unrelenting Fortuna. A devotee of the History Channel, Tony’s primary interests not surprisingly run to military campaigns and ancient Rome. With the latter he feels a particular connection. (DeFino 5). But the desire of critics and audience to mythologize, sympathize with, and, in many cases, champion Tony obscures one immutable fact: The Sopranos, like most great gangster stories, is first and foremost a study in the achievement and maintenance of power. (DeFino 1)

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