Discourses on Livy Summary | Chapterly
Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli: A Complete Summary "In every republic there are two different dispositions, that of the great and that of the people." Overview Discourses on Livy (Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio, written 1513-1519, published 1531) is Machiavelli's most important work — more substantial, more systematic, and more revealing of his true political convictions than the shorter, more famous Prince. Where The Prince addresses how a single ruler can seize and maintain power, the Discourses asks a larger question: how do free republics come into being, what keeps them healthy, and what causes them to decline? The text is structured as a commentary on the first ten books of Livy's history of Rome, but it is far more than historical scholarship. Machiavelli uses Roman history as a laboratory for political science, drawing lessons about human nature, institutional design, conflict, corruption, and the conditions for liberty that are startlingly relevant to any era. The Discourses reveals a Machiavelli quite different from the ruthless advisor of The Prince. Here he is a passionate republican who believes that popular government is superior to princely rule, that political conflict between classes can be productive rather than destructive, and...