BOOK I
PREFACE

Because of the envious nature of man, it has always been more perilous to establish new systems and institutions than to seek out new lands and seas, because men are more eager to blame than to praise the actions of others. Nevertheless, driven by the natural desire I have always had to work without fear on things that I believe bring a common benefit to everyone, I have decided to set out on an untrodden path. I am aware that this might bring me trouble and hardship, though it might also bring rewards from men who will view the result of these efforts with kindness. If my meager talent, my scant experience of present things, and my weak knowledge of ancient things make this attempt imperfect and of little use, they will at least open the way for someone with greater skill, eloquence, and judgment to carry out my intention, which, if it does not deserve praise, should at least not deserve blame.

Consider how much honor is attributed to antiquity. To cite just one example, think how often a man will buy a fragment of an ancient statue at a great price just to have it near him, to honor his house and have it imitated by those who delight in this art and are then compelled to replicate it in all their works. But when I consider the most skillful actions that the histories show us, actions accomplished in ancient republics and kingdoms by kings, generals, citizens, legislators, and others who strove to benefit their native land, I see that those actions are admired rather than imitated—or, I should say, they are avoided in every way. Indeed, no trace remains of that ancient process. I can only be amazed and saddened at the same time. So much more so when I see in the civil disputes that arise between citizens, or in the illnesses to which men succumb, that we always turn to the decrees and remedies that the ancients pronounced or prescribed: because civil laws are nothing more than the decrees pronounced by ancient jurisprudents, which, categorized, teach our present jurisprudents to judge. Nor is medicine anything more than experiments undertaken by ancient doctors on which present doctors base their diagnoses. And yet not a single prince or republic turns to the examples of the ancients for the organization of the state, the maintaining of states, the governing of kingdoms, the organization of an army, the conduct of war, the passing of judgment on their subjects, or the expansion of their dominion. This arises not so much from the weakness to which our present religion has brought the world,³ or the ill that single-minded idleness has wreaked on many Christian provinces and cities, as from not having a true understanding of history. Reading the histories, we do not extract the meaning that is in them, nor do we relish the flavor they contain. The result is that countless people who read the histories take pleasure in the range of incidents they portray without thinking of imitating them, as they believe such imitation to be not only difficult, but impossible. As if the sky, the sun, the elements, and mankind had changed their motion, order, and power from what they had been in antiquity. Wishing to free men from this error, I have deemed it necessary to write these discourses on all the books of Livy that have survived the ravages of time, explaining, with my knowledge of ancient and modern things, whatever I deem necessary for better understanding these books, so that readers of my discourses can take from them more easily what is necessary to understand history. Even though this undertaking is difficult, with the help of those who have encouraged me to bear this burden, I trust I will carry it far enough toward the destined place so that another might have to travel only a short distance.

3. Machiavelli develops his argument of how Christianity brought weakness to the world in Book II, chapter 2: “Ancient religion only beatified men who were filled with worldly glory, such as generals and princes, while our religion glorifies men who are humble and contemplative rather than men of action. Our religion also places the highest value on humility, debasement, and disdain for worldly matters, while ancient religion placed the highest value on greatness of spirit, strength of body, and everything that makes men strong.”