It is not the well-being of individuals that makes cities great, but
the well-being of the community
Few figures in intellectual history have proved as notorious and
ambiguous as Niccolò Machiavelli. But while his treatise The Prince
made his name synonymous with autocratic ruthlessness and cynical
manipulation, The Discourses (c.1517) shows a radically different
outlook on the world of politics. In this carefully argued commentary on
Livy's history of republican Rome, Machiavelli proposed a system of
government that would uphold civic freedom and security by instilling
the virtues of active citizenship, and that would also encourage
citizens to put the needs of the state above selfish, personal
interests. Ambitious in scope, but also clear-eyed and pragmatic, The
Discourses creates a modern theory of republic politics.
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