A Conversation with Machiavelli · Pair 20 of 39
Editor's summary Machiavelli argues that ingratitude arises from avarice, which has no excuse, or from suspicion, which merits some, and that peoples, having less cause to suspect, are less ungrateful than princes. Guicciardini adds ignorance and envy, and does not believe a people the less ungrateful. He believes that a people, as a rule, suspects more lightly, though he grants that princes strike harder, and that through ignorance and envy it is beyond comparison more ungrateful. He says Rome erred much more than the Discourse allows, marvels that Scipio's case is excused as suspicion, and calls very far from the truth the claim that ingratitude is useful to liberty in a republic not yet corrupted: distrusting the good is a lesser error, he grants, but no good where there is no need to choose.
Quale sia più ingrato, o un Popolo, o un Principe.
Which is more ungrateful, either a people or a prince.
Argument. The question promised at the end of I.28: which uses ingratitude with greater examples, a people or a prince. Machiavelli disputes it by dividing the cause. The vice arises from one of two things, avarice or suspicion, and the chapter keeps the two apart to the last sentence.
Argument. The two causes are graded. When a people or a prince has sent a captain on an important expedition and he has won glory, the one who sent him is bound to reward him. To dishonour or offend him instead out of avarice is an error "that has no excuse", indeed an eternal infamy; yet many princes commit it, and Tacitus gives the reason, that repaying an injury is readier than repaying a benefit, since gratitude is a burden and revenge a gain. To fail to reward him, or rather to offend him, out of suspicion earns "some excuse", for people and prince alike. The distinction between no excuse and some excuse carries the rest of the chapter.
History. The Tacitus is Histories 4.3, written of the Flavian victors in the last days of 69, who punished Capua for its loyalty to Vitellius and gave nothing to Tarracina, which had suffered for their side.
Argument. Why suspicion follows victory. A captain who has won an empire for his lord gains, of necessity, so much reputation with his own soldiers, the enemy and the prince's subjects that the victory turns sour to the prince. Men's nature is ambitious and suspicious and sets no measure to its fortune: the prince's suspicion arises at once, and the captain's own insolence is bound to feed it. So the prince can think only of securing himself, either by having the captain die or by taking his reputation away and showing that the victory came from fortune, the enemy's cowardice or the other captains' prudence. The chain is offered as necessity, and the excuse granted at .02 rests on it.
Argument. The first proof, from antiquity. Antonius Primus took Vespasian's part, broke two Vitellian armies and occupied Rome, so that Mucianus, sent by Vespasian, found the work done. His reward: Mucianus took the army from him and left him in Rome without authority, and Vespasian received him so that he died, in Machiavelli's account, almost in despair.
History. Tacitus, Histories 3-4. Antonius led the Danube legions into Italy in the autumn of 69, won the second battle of Bedriacum near Cremona, and took Rome in December. Mucianus, governor of Syria, arrived after and took control; Antonius went to Vespasian at Alexandria and was received less warmly than he had hoped, though not with hostility (Histories 4.80). Tacitus does not record his death; he is known to have lived on into old age. Vespasian was in Egypt, not Asia.
Cross-reference. Guicciardini does not deny the story; he denies that it shows a prince's ingratitude. Mucianus is a fellow servant, not the prince, and what Vespasian failed to do arose not from suspicion but from his dislike of Antonius' insolent nature and, much more, his respect for Mucianus Guicciardini .04.
Argument. The second proof, from "our times". Consalvo won the Kingdom of Naples for Ferdinand of Aragon; Ferdinand came to Naples, took the men-at-arms and then the fortresses from him, and took him back to Spain, where he died unhonoured. Machiavelli's conclusion lands on the prince: the suspicion is so natural that princes cannot defend themselves from it, and cannot use gratitude to those who have won great acquisitions under their ensigns.
History. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the Great Captain, defeated the French at Cerignola and the Garigliano in 1503 and governed Naples as viceroy. Ferdinand came in the autumn of 1506, left in June 1507 taking Gonzalo with him, and did not employ him again; Gonzalo died at Granada in 1515.
Cross-reference. Guicciardini answers that Ferdinand remunerated Gonzalo with states, had just suspicion of him, and that Consalvo lived on in Spain rich and most honoured Guicciardini .04.
Argument. The people's case follows from the prince's: what a prince cannot defend himself from, it is no wonder that a people cannot. A free city has two ends, to acquire and to maintain itself free, and out of too much love it must err in both. Among the errors for liberty are to offend the citizens it ought to reward and to suspect those it ought to trust. Their effects are double. In a corrupted republic they are the cause of great ills, and often bring it to tyranny, as with Caesar, who took by force what ingratitude denied him. In a republic not corrupted they are the cause of great goods: the city lives the more free, and men keep themselves better and less ambitious for fear of punishment. Neither edge cancels the other, and the condition, corrupted or not, decides which holds.
History. Caesar's grievance in 50-49 BC was the Senate's demand that he lay down his command before standing for a second consulship; Machiavelli reads his seizure of power as taking by force what ingratitude denied him.
Cross-reference. Guicciardini takes up this second edge, as he reads it, at the close of his reply and calls it very far from the truth Guicciardini .06.
Argument. Rome is the least ungrateful of all peoples that held empire, "for the causes discoursed above", I.28's less cause to suspect. Of its ingratitude, it can be said, there is no example but Scipio's. Coriolanus and Camillus are set aside: each was exiled for an injury he had done to the plebs, and Camillus was recalled and adored as a prince for the rest of his life.
History. Coriolanus went into exile in 491 BC and led the Volsci against Rome (Livy 2.35-40). Camillus was exiled in 391 over the spoils of Veii and recalled to save Rome from the Gauls (Livy 5.32, 5.46-55).
Cross-reference. Guicciardini puts Camillus back among Rome's examples, with Fabius Maximus, Cicero, Metellus and Rutilius Guicciardini .05.
Argument. Scipio's case told as suspicion, with its causes listed: the greatness of the enemy he had vanquished, the reputation of the victory in so long and dangerous a war, its speed, and the favour his youth, prudence and virtù won him. The magistrates feared his authority, which displeased wise men as a thing unaccustomed in Rome, and Cato, deemed holy, was the first to act against him, saying that a city could not be called free where a citizen was feared by the magistrates. The excuse is conditional: if the people followed Cato, it merits the excuse of .02.
History. The attacks on the Scipios came in 187-184 BC, after the war with Antiochus; Africanus withdrew to Liternum and died there, and his brother Lucius Scipio Asiaticus was condemned and fined (Livy 38.50-60). Livy names Cato among those who pressed them.
Cross-reference. Guicciardini marvels that the case is excused: in his account Scipio's greatness was not fearsome, wise men were never displeased by it, and Cato acted from enmity or his hostility to the nobility, as he showed by pursuing Asiaticus after Scipio's death Guicciardini .05.
Argument. The conclusion is a prospect, not a proof: it "will be seen" that peoples never used ingratitude through avarice, and through suspicion much less than princes, "having less cause to suspect", the phrase of I.28; the reason is deferred, "as will be said below". The answer to the rubric's question is given for each cause separately.
Cross-reference. Guicciardini's reply keeps the division, adds ignorance and malignity rooted in envy, and does not believe a people less ungrateful than a prince Guicciardini .01. Through suspicion he believes a people suspects more lightly, though he confesses that princes bite harder Guicciardini .02; through ignorance and envy he believes it beyond comparison more ungrateful Guicciardini .03. His "as will be said below", of Rome's errors, repeats Machiavelli's closing words Guicciardini .02.
Established from the 1824 edition (WIT-NM-DISC-1824-IA), page-image-backed, which governs. Collated against the 1554 Giglio printing, Venice (WIT-NM-DISC-1554-IA), which is comparison evidence only.
Paragraph divisions are editorial. The witness prints the chapter as one unbroken block.
il quale regnava a Roma, e virtuosissimamente ruppe due eserciti Vitelliani — 1824. The 1554 witness reads il quale regnaua a Roma, et uirtuosissimamente ruppe due esserciti Vitelliani. Checked on the leaf (fol. 44r). Both 1824 readers doubted a raised mark after e, which as e' would make a pronoun, "he". Read as the conjunction, with the 1554 et (D303). The English is the same either way: Antonius is the subject of ruppe.
E parve tanto straordinario il vivere suo — 1824. The 1554 witness reads Et parue tanto estraordinario il uiuer suo. Checked on the leaf (fol. 45r). Both 1824 readers saw a raised mark by E, which as E' would make the impersonal pronoun, "it seemed". Read as the conjunction, "And ... seemed", with the 1554 Et (D303).
dove quel Capitano, vincendola, ne abbia acquistata assai gloria — 1824. The 1554 witness reads doue quel Capitano (uincendo) ne habbia acquistato assai gloria. Checked on the leaf (fol. 43v). The 1554 participle is unagreed and its gerund has no object (uincendo for vincendola); the 1824 agrees acquistata with gloria. A difference at a/o, escalated under D203(b); both construe; the 1824 kept (D38; D304).
che egli si ha guadagnato nel suo esercito, e nei suoi Popoli — 1824. The 1554 witness reads ch'ei si ha guadagnato nel suo essercito, o ne suoi popoli. Checked on the leaf (fol. 44r). The 1554 has o, "or among his peoples"; the 1824 e, "and". A difference at e/o, escalated under D203(b); the 1824, read by both readers without doubt, construes and is kept (D38; D304).
Coriolano e Camillo furono fatti esuli per ingiuria, che l'uno e l'altro aveva fatto alla Plebe — 1824. The 1554 witness reads Coriolano, e Camillo furono banditi per ingiuria, che l'uno et l'altro haueua fatta alla plebe. Checked on the leaf (fol. 45r). Two differences. The 1554 fatta agrees with ingiuria; the 1824 fatto is the unagreed participle that avere allows, not a broken agreement (contrast D295, where the auxiliary was essere); escalated under D203(b) at o/a and kept (D38; D304). And banditi, "banished", for fatti esuli, "made exiles": the same sense.
avendo meno cagione di sospettare, come di sotto si dirà — 1824. The 1554 witness reads hauendo meno cagione di sospettare, come tosto si dira. Checked on the leaf (fol. 45r). The 1554 has tosto, "as will soon be said"; the 1824 di sotto, "as will be said below". Read by both readers without doubt; it construes and is kept (D38; D305). Either reading points forward; which later chapter Machiavelli means is not said.
Proclivius est injuriae, quam beneficio vicem exsolvere, quia gratia oneri, ultio in quaestu habetur. Ma quando — 1824. The 1554 witness reads Proclimus est iniuria quam beneficio uicem exoluere: quia gratia oneri, ultio in quæstu habetur. Cioè. L'animo è piu chino alla ingiuria, che al benificare altrui, perche il beneficio è tenuto à grauezza, e la uendetta a guadagno. Ma quando. Checked on the leaf (fol. 43v). The 1554 misprints the Latin (Proclimus, iniuria) and follows it with an Italian rendering, "that is, the mind is more inclined to injury than to benefiting others, because the benefit is held a burden and revenge a gain", which the 1824 does not print. The Latin is Tacitus, Histories 4.3.
come cosa inconsueta in Roma — 1824. The 1554 witness reads come cosa non usata in Roma. Checked on the leaf (fol. 45r). The same sense, "unaccustomed" and "not used".
Orthography, capitalization, word division and punctuation follow the governing witness throughout; no reading is hybridized between witnesses.
Egli mi pare a proposito della soprascritta materia. "It seems to me to the purpose of the above-written matter": soprascritto, above-written (glossary, I.16), the matter of I.28; egli, the pleonastic subject, not rendered.
da discorrere. "To discourse": discorrere, discourse (D01), the first of the chapter's currere words; it returns at per le cagioni di sopra discorse (.07) and in questo discorso (.09). The 1554 edition reads di discorrere.
quale usi con maggiori esempj questa ingratitudine. "Which uses this ingratitude with greater examples": usare, use, the chapter's verb for ingratitude (ingratitudini usate, usino gratitudine, l'ingratitudine usata, usandosi, l'usarono), kept as one English verb. maggiori, greater: more and weightier examples.
E per disputare meglio questa parte dico: come questo vizio della ingratitudine nasce. "And to dispute this part better I say that this vice of ingratitude arises": disputare, dispute, to argue a question; come after dico, that, introducing the claim; nascere, arise (D04).
dalla avarizia, o dal sospetto. "From avarice or from suspicion": the chapter's two causes, held as "avarice" and "suspicion" throughout and into Guicciardini's reply. sospetto, suspicion (glossary, I.28).
ha mandato fuori un suo Capitano in una espedizione importante. "Has sent out a captain of his on an important expedition": Capitano, captain, the commander of an army.
vincendola, ne abbia acquistata assai gloria. "Winning it, has acquired much glory from it": assai, much: of degree, where D254's "very" cannot take a noun; a scoped exception, recorded in the glossary (D312), and held at assai manco, "much less" (.09). gloria, glory (glossary). The subjunctive marks the case as general; English cannot mark it without a modal that would hedge it. The 1554 edition reads uincendo, without the object, and acquistato, unagreed; escalated as a word at a letter the scans break and kept (D304; NM-DISC-I29-D003).
è tenuto allo incontro a premiarlo. "Is bound in return to reward him": allo incontro, in return, of what is owed back; kept apart from al rincontro, "on the other side" (D24), which is adversative; premiare, premio, reward (glossary).
o ei lo disonora, o ei l'offende. "Either he dishonours him or he offends him": ei, he, the people or the prince taken as one agent, repeated as in the Italian. offendere, offend, in the older sense of injure, as at NM I.28; Guicciardini repeats the pair, non gli premiando ... o offendendogli (Guicciardini .01).
non volendo ritenuto da questa cupidità satisfargli. "Not wishing, held back by this cupidity, to satisfy him": volere, wish (D117); ritenuto, held back, restrained: a scoped exception to D272's "retain", which would read as keeping (D312); the participle stands between the verb and its infinitive as in the Italian; cupidità, cupidity, the avarice named again.
fa uno errore che non ha scusa, anzi si tira dietro una infamia eterna. "He makes an error that has no excuse, indeed draws after him an eternal infamy": scusa, excuse (D173), the chapter's measure, which it grants to suspicion in .02 and to Rome in .08. anzi raises the charge, "indeed" (D147). infamia, infamy (glossary).
Pure si trovano molti Principi che ci peccano. "Yet many princes are found who sin in it": pure, yet (D191), conceding the rule's frequent breach; ci, in it, the avarice.
Cornelio Tacito dice con questa sentenza la cagione. "Cornelius Tacitus tells the cause with this sentence": sentenza, sentence, an opinion pronounced (glossary). Tacitus, Histories 4.3, on the victors after Vitellius' fall, who punished Capua and gave Tarracina, which had suffered for their cause, no relief; Tacitus begins Tanto proclivius, "so much readier", and Machiavelli drops tanto.
Proclivius est injuriae, quam beneficio vicem exsolvere, quia gratia oneri, ultio in quaestu habetur. Left in Latin, as the witness prints it (D14): "It is readier to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is held a burden, revenge a gain." The 1554 edition misprints the Latin and adds an Italian rendering, which the 1824 does not print (NM-DISC-I29-D007).
o a dir meglio l'offende. "Or, to say better, offends him": the correction raises not rewarding to offending; it is a correction, not a second case.
allora merita e il Popolo e il Principe qualche scusa. "Then both the people and the prince merit some excuse": the singular verb with a double subject kept in sense; "some excuse", not "an excuse", against the error "that has no excuse".
E di queste ingratitudini usate per tal cagione se ne leggono assai. "And of these ingratitudes used for such a cause many are read": assai, of number, many (glossary, I.7); the plural ingratitudini kept.
ha acquistato uno Imperio al suo Signore. "Has acquired an empire for his lord": superare, overcome, of the enemies; vincere of an enemy or a difficulty is "vanquish" (.04, .08), of a thing won "win" (.02, .05). Imperio, empire, dominion over others (D124). Signore, lord, kept apart from Principe, prince, which the same period also uses for him.
riempiendo sé di gloria, e gli suoi soldati di ricchezze. "Filling himself with glory and his soldiers with riches": one participle with two objects, kept.
di necessità e con i soldati suoi, e con i nimici, e con i sudditi proprj di quel Principe acquista tanta riputazione. "Of necessity, both with his own soldiers and with the enemies and with the subjects proper to that prince, acquires so much reputation": the catalogue kept before the verb, as in the Italian; riputazione, reputation; di necessità, of necessity, Machiavelli's claim that the general's standing grows whatever he intends. Whose army and whose peoples are meant at nel suo esercito, e nei suoi Popoli below, the captain's or the prince's, the Italian leaves open, and so does the English.
che quella vittoria non può sapere di buono a quel Signore. "That that victory cannot taste good to that lord": sapere di, taste of; the idiom says the victory turns sour to the man it was won for.
la natura degli uomini è ambiziosa e sospettosa, e non sa porre modo a nissuna sua fortuna. "The nature of men is ambitious and suspicious, and does not know how to set a measure to any fortune of its own": porre modo is an idiom, to set a limit or measure, and "way", the glossary's word for modo, cannot take it (D311). sospettosa, suspicious (glossary). The 1554 edition reads sospetta.
è impossibile che quel sospetto ... non sia da quel medesimo accresciuto. "It is impossible that the suspicion ... should not be increased by that same man": accrescere, increase (D69); quel medesimo, that same man, the captain, whose insolence feeds the suspicion the victory began. subito, at once (D177).
per qualche suo modo o termine usato insolentemente. "Through some way or bearing of his used insolently": modo, way (glossary); termine, bearing, his manner of conduct; insolentemente, insolently, with insolenza (glossary).
Talché il Principe non può pensare ad altro che assicurarsene. "So that the prince cannot think of anything other than securing himself of him": talché, so that (glossary); assicurarsi di, secure oneself of (D219).
pensa o di farlo morire. "He thinks either of having him die": the causative kept; Machiavelli does not say "kill" here.
o di torgli la riputazione, che egli si ha guadagnato. "Or of taking away from him the reputation which he has gained for himself": torre, take away (D131), as togliere throughout the chapter; guadagnare, gain (glossary). The 1554 edition reads o ne suoi popoli, "or among his peoples", for e nei suoi Popoli; escalated as a word at a letter the scans break and kept (D304; NM-DISC-I29-D004).
e con ogn'industria mostrare. "And, with every industry, of showing": mostrare is the second infinitive after di torgli, and con ogn'industria its manner; industria, industry, diligence and skill, the word Machiavelli gives Consalvo (.05).
per viltà dei nimici. "Through the cowardice of the enemies": viltà of fighting men is cowardice. The 1554 edition has per la uilta.
in tale fazione. "In such an action": fazione here is a military operation, the campaign the captains shared. The glossary's "faction" (FG I.10) is a party in the state; this sense split is open for David (O30).
Poi che Vespasiano sendo in Giudea fu dichiarato dal suo esercito Imperadore. "After Vespasian, being in Judaea, was declared emperor by his army": Imperadore, emperor (glossary). Vespasian was hailed in July 69 while commanding the war in Judaea; the story that follows is Tacitus' (Histories 2-4).
Antonio Primo, che si trovava con un altro esercito in Illiria. "Antonius Primus, who was with another army in Illyria": Marcus Antonius Primus, legate of the Seventh Legion in Pannonia, part of the Illyrian command, who led the Danube legions into Italy for Vespasian in the autumn of 69.
prese le parti sue, e ne venne in Italia. "Took his part, and came thence into Italy": Vespasian's part; ne, thence.
e virtuosissimamente ruppe due eserciti Vitelliani. "And most virtuously broke two Vitellian armies": virtuosissimamente, the superlative of virtuosamente (.03), the adverb of virtù, which the English keeps in the virtue family (glossary virtuoso). Both readers doubted a mark after e, which as e' would be the pronoun "he"; read as the conjunction, with the 1554 et (D303; NM-DISC-I29-D001). Antonius won the second battle of Bedriacum, near Cremona, and took Rome in December 69.
talché Muziano mandato da Vespasiano, trovò ... acquistato il tutto. "So that Mucianus, sent by Vespasian, found ... the whole acquired": Gaius Licinius Mucianus, governor of Syria, Vespasian's chief partisan, who reached Rome after its fall and took control of the government.
gli tolse subito la ubbidienza dello esercito. "At once took away from him the obedience of the army": ubbidienza, obedience, the command he held by the soldiers' obedience; the same phrase returns of Consalvo, gli levò la ubbidienza delle genti d'arme (.05), with levare, remove (D131), for togliere, take away.
lo ridusse in Roma senza alcuna autorità. "Brought him, in Rome, to [being] without any authority": ridurre, bring (to a state), twice in the paragraph, the second time ridotto in nessun grado, "brought to no degree"; autorità, authority (glossary).
il quale era ancora in Asia. "Who was still in Asia": Vespasian was at Alexandria in Egypt; Machiavelli's "Asia" is his. Tacitus (Histories 4.80) has Antonius go to Vespasian and be received less warmly than he hoped; he says nothing of a death in despair, and Antonius in fact lived into old age.
in breve tempo ridotto in nessun grado, quasi disperato morì. "In a short time brought to no degree, he died almost in despair": grado, degree (glossary), here standing, rank. The 1554 edition reads breuissimo tempo, "a very short time".
Consalvo Ferrante. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the Great Captain, who conquered the Kingdom of Naples from the French for Ferdinand of Aragon in 1501-04. Machiavelli's form of the name is kept; Guicciardini uses it too, and gives Consalvo Fernando at FG I.23.
militando nel Regno di Napoli contro ai Francesi per Ferrando re di Ragona. "Soldiering in the Kingdom of Naples against the French for Ferdinand, king of Aragon": militare here is to serve in war, not D239's "militate". ciascuno, each (D161), "each one". Ferdinand II of Aragon came to Naples in 1506, left in 1507 taking Gonzalo with him, and kept him from office; Gonzalo died at Granada in 1515.
conquistasse e vincesse quel regno. "Conquered and won that kingdom": two verbs, kept.
in prima ... e dipoi ... ed appresso. "First ... and afterwards ... and thereupon": three steps; dipoi, afterwards (D187); appresso, thereupon. levare, remove; togliere, take away; menare, lead (D131).
dipoi gli tolse le Fortezze. "Afterwards took away from him the fortresses": strongholds. The glossary's fortezza, "fortitude" (FG I.10), is the virtue; the sense split is recorded (D312).
le genti d'arme. "The men-at-arms": the heavy cavalry, the established English term for the compound; genti alone is "troops" (glossary, I.23).
ne lo menò seco in Spagna, dove poco tempo dopo inonorato morì. "Led him away with him into Spain, where after a little time he died unhonoured": inonorato, unhonoured, against the honour Guicciardini will say Gonzalo had (Guicciardini .04). The 1554 edition reads poco tempo poi.
È tanto dunque naturale questo sospetto nei Principi. "So natural, then, is this suspicion in princes": the conclusion lands on the predicate, and the English keeps the Italian's order (D263, a landing). dunque, then, as adunque (D74).
ch'egli usino gratitudine. "That they should use gratitude": egli, they, the princes; usare, use, the chapter's verb, now of gratitude.
sotto le insegne loro. "Under their ensigns": the princes' standards.
E da quello che non si difende un Principe, non è miracolo. "And from what a prince does not defend himself, it is no miracle": the relative comes first, as in the Italian, so that the people's case follows from the prince's; miracolo, miracle. The closing se ne difende keeps its ne, "defend itself from it", the same suspicion.
avendo una Città, che vive libera duoi fini. "A city that lives free having two ends": vivere libero, free living (glossary). The witness prints no comma after libera; the English needs none.
conviene che nell'una cosa e nell'altra per troppo amore erri. "It is fitting that in the one thing and in the other it should err through too much love": conviene, it is fitting (D85), of what follows necessarily, not of what is proper; the error is an excess of love, for empire and for liberty.
Quanto agli errori nello acquistare, se ne dirà, nel luogo suo. "As to the errors in acquiring, it will be said of them in its place": Machiavelli's promise points to Book II. The next sentence turns nello acquistare into per mantenersi libera, "for maintaining itself free": the errors are made for liberty, through too much love of it.
di offendere quei cittadini che la dovrebbe premiare. "To offend those citizens whom it ought to reward": la, it, the city, as subject; the 1824 and the 1554 both print the singular verb.
avere sospetto di quelli in cui si dovrebbe confidare. "To have suspicion of those in whom one ought to confide": si dovrebbe is impersonal, against la dovrebbe before; confidare, confide, to trust; Guicciardini answers the whole sentence (Guicciardini .06).
E benché questi modi in una Repubblica venuta alla corruzione siano cagione di grandi mali. "And albeit these ways, in a republic come to corruption, are the cause of great ills": benché, albeit (D31); modi, ways (glossary); male, ill (glossary); corruzione, corruption, with corrotto (glossary).
e che molte volte piuttosto la viene alla tirannide. "And many times it rather comes to tyranny": la, it, the republic; piuttosto, rather, in the sense of the sooner; tirannide, tyranny (glossary). The che continues under benché.
come intervenne a Roma di Cesare. "As befell at Rome with Caesar": intervenire, befall (D298); Cesare, Caesar (names).
che per forza si tolse quello che la ingratitudine gli negava. "Who by force took for himself what ingratitude denied him": torsi, take for oneself.
fanno che la ne vive libera più. "Make it live the more free for it": ne, for it, by these ways. più after the verb could also be of time, "the longer"; the Italian allows both.
mantenendosi per paura di punizione gli uomini migliori e meno ambiziosi. "Men maintaining themselves better and less ambitious through fear of punishment": mantenere, maintain (D220).
Vero è che infra tutti i Popoli che mai ebbero Imperio. "It is true that, among all the peoples that ever had empire": plain English order (D263, exposition). Imperio, empire (D124).
per le cagioni di sopra discorse. "For the causes discoursed above": discorrere, discourse (D01), the causes argued in I.28.
perché Coriolano e Camillo furono fatti esuli per ingiuria, che l'uno e l'altro aveva fatto alla Plebe. "For Coriolanus and Camillus were made exiles for an injury that the one and the other had done to the plebs": ingiuria, injury (glossary). Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus went into exile in 491 BC; Marcus Furius Camillus in 391, accused over the spoils of Veii. The 1554 edition reads banditi, "banished", and fatta, agreeing with ingiuria; the 1824 fatto is the unagreed participle that avere allows, escalated and kept (D304; NM-DISC-I29-D005).
Ma all'uno non fu perdonato ... l'altro non solamente fu richiamato. "But the one was not pardoned ... the other was not only recalled": Coriolanus led the Volsci against Rome; Camillus, recalled, saved it from the Gauls (Livy 2.35-40; 5.32, 5.46).
per aversi sempre riserbato contro al Popolo l'animo nimico. "For having always kept against the people a hostile spirit": animo, spirit (glossary); nimico, as an adjective, hostile; riserbare, reserve.
per tutto il tempo della sua vita adorato come Principe. "For the whole time of his life adored as a prince": adorare, adore; Principe, prince.
che degli altri non si era avuto. "Which had not been had of the others": the passive with si kept, so that "had" answers "began to have".
dalla grandezza del nimico che Scipione aveva vinto. "From the greatness of the enemy that Scipio had vanquished": Hannibal, at Zama in 202 BC; vincere of an enemy, vanquish, as at .04.
la vittoria di sì lunga e pericolosa guerra. "The victory in so long and dangerous a war": the Second Punic War, 218-201 BC. pericoloso, dangerous, with pericolo, danger (glossary).
dai favori che la gioventù, la prudenza, e le altre sue memorabili virtù gli acquistavano. "From the favours that the youth, the prudence and his other memorable virtù acquired for him": the articles kept; virtù left in Italian (D16); the plural is unmarked in the Italian and in the English. The 1554 edition reads uirtuti.
Le quali cose furono tante, che, non che altro. "Which things were so many that, not to speak of others": the relative link kept; non che altro, to say nothing of others: even the magistrates.
la qual cosa spiaceva agli uomini savj, come cosa inconsueta in Roma. "Which thing displeased wise men, as a thing unaccustomed in Rome": savio, wise. Guicciardini answers it nearly word for word, mai non dispiacquono agli uomini savii e' progressi suoi (Guicciardini .05). The 1554 edition reads non usata, the same sense.
E parve tanto straordinario il vivere suo. "And his living seemed so extraordinary": vivere as a noun, living (glossary); straordinario, extraordinary (glossary). Both readers saw a raised mark by E, which as E' would be the impersonal "it"; read as the conjunction, with the 1554 Et (D303; NM-DISC-I29-D002).
Catone Prisco, riputato santo. "Cato Priscus, deemed holy": Marcus Porcius Cato, the Censor; Plutarch (Cato Maior 1) gives Priscus as his first cognomen; riputare, deem (D259). Livy (38.50-54) tells of the attacks on the Scipios in 187-184 BC, and names Cato among those who pressed them.
fu il primo a fargli contra. "Was the first to act against him": fare contra, act against.
che una Città non si poteva chiamare libera, dove era un cittadino che fusse temuto dai Magistrati. "That a city could not be called free where there was a citizen who should be feared by the magistrates": the subjunctive fusse, "should be", marks the case as general.
merita quella scusa che di sopra ho detto meritare quelli Popoli e quelli Principi, che per sospetto sono ingrati. "It merits that excuse which I have said above those peoples and those princes merit who are ungrateful through suspicion": the excuse of .02, granted now to Rome; the accusative with infinitive becomes a relative.
Conchiudendo adunque questo discorso, dico. "Concluding, then, this discourse, I say": adunque, then (D74); discorso, discourse, the currere noun.
usandosi questo vizio della ingratitudine o per avarizia o per sospetto. "This vice of ingratitude being used either through avarice or through suspicion": the absolute construction kept.
i Popoli non mai per l'avarizia l'usarono, e per sospetto assai manco che i Principi. "Peoples never used it through avarice, and through suspicion much less than princes": assai manco, much less (D312); the conclusion stated as what will be seen, not proved here.
avendo meno cagione di sospettare. "Having less cause to suspect": the phrase of I.28 .01, held word for word (glossary sospettare, D300).
come di sotto si dirà. "As will be said below": the 1554 edition reads tosto, "as will soon be said"; kept (D305; NM-DISC-I29-D006). Guicciardini's reply uses the same phrase, come di sotto si dirà, of Rome's errors (Guicciardini .02).
Quale sia più ingrato, o un popolo, o un principe.
Which is more ungrateful, either a people or a prince. Canestrini's setting of the chapter title, with popolo and principe in lower case. It is heading apparatus, not Guicciardini's (D32). His body spells the word populo throughout.
Argument. Guicciardini grants Machiavelli's two causes, avarice and suspicion, and adds two: ignorance, and malignity rooted in envy. Considering all four, he does not believe a people more alien from ingratitude than a prince; on the contrary. He keeps to Machiavelli's ground, men who have served in public affairs, and to his two forms, not rewarding and offending. Of these the second is more pernicious and the first more frequent, and in both, he says, whoever examines will find the people erring no less than the prince, and "in my judgment" more.
Note. Then avarice, which very seldom causes ingratitude except in not rewarding. If the people, by its instinct a rare and small remunerator, sins little in it, he believes the prince too does not sin much, since a prince can reward without touching his purse, with things he is accustomed to give away. Princes do often omit to reward, through avarice or through being ungrateful by nature, a further cause he adds in passing; but "without doubt" there are infinite examples of princes who have rewarded, compared with the rewards of peoples. The magistracies a people gives its citizens are not to be counted, since it gives them more in hope of good service than in gratitude.
Cross-reference. Machiavelli's division is the frame Machiavelli .01; his two acts, not rewarding and offending, are restated in his words Machiavelli .02. Where Machiavelli said it will be seen that peoples never used ingratitude through avarice Machiavelli .09, Guicciardini believes that, if the people sins little in it, the prince does not sin much either; his "without doubt" is about the princes' rewards.
Argument. Suspicion. He believes a people, as a rule, grows suspicious much more lightly and on lesser grounds than a prince, because it uses less diligence and has less means to check a false calumny, and once suspicious it dishonours without regard or art. A prince who is not wholly imprudent at times dissembles: he withholds trust where it would be dangerous and keeps it elsewhere, taking care not to drive the man to despair. He has no doubt that examples of ingratitude through suspicion are infinite, in republics and princes; if Rome erred in it less than other republics, it erred much more than the Discourse says. The examples of Camillus and Scipio cannot be excused by that path. Then a real concession: in this case princes' bites are harder, since they come more readily to the knife.
Cross-reference. Set beside Machiavelli's mechanism, suspicion arising "at once" and impossible not to grow Machiavelli .03, Guicciardini's prudent prince manages the suspicion he feels. The excuse Machiavelli granted Rome through suspicion, if its people followed Cato's opinion Machiavelli .08, is the path Guicciardini closes. His "as will be said below" repeats Machiavelli's closing words Machiavelli .09; compare also Machiavelli's peoples who "bite more fiercely", in I.28.
Argument. Ignorance and envy, the two heads he added. Here he believes the people beyond comparison more ungrateful. Distracted by its affairs, it understands, distinguishes and knows less than a prince; and envy falls more readily in popular men, to whom any eminent greatness, of nobility, riches, virtù or reputation, is ordinarily irksome, and who always wish to lower those who have more quality than they. A prince has no envy of inferiors; therefore, unless another's greatness breeds suspicion in him, it will not irk him and he will not strike at it from malignity. The exception keeps Machiavelli's case of suspicion in its place.
Argument. The examples. Antonius Primus is not a case of a prince's ingratitude to a subject but of two men under one prince, each drawing the credit to himself; Vespasian's failure to act arose not from suspicion but from dislike of Antonius' insolence and, much more, respect for Mucianus. Consalvo is no better: Ferdinand rewarded him with states, took the government from him for just suspicion over the succession, and, he says it is certain, Consalvo ruled with such authority that the king had only the royal name. A prince is not ungrateful who prevents his benefactor from harming him and keeps what he has acquired through him, provided he does it as Ferdinand did: Consalvo lived on in Spain, rich and most honoured.
History. Philip I of Castile, Ferdinand's son-in-law and his rival for the government of Castile, died in September 1506; Gonzalo was suspected of leaning to Philip's side, and with the succession open a viceroy of his standing was a danger. Ferdinand came to Naples in November 1506 and left in June 1507 with Gonzalo, who never again held a command and died in 1515. Machiavelli says he died "unhonoured"; Guicciardini, that he lived "rich and most honoured among the other great".
Cross-reference. Against Machiavelli's two proofs Machiavelli .04 Machiavelli .05. Guicciardini disputes chiefly what the events show, though against Machiavelli's "unhonoured" he sets a Consalvo rich and most honoured. His rule, that a prince who secures himself against his benefactor is not ungrateful if he does it as Ferdinand did, rewarding and honouring him, stands against Machiavelli's prince who can think only of securing himself Machiavelli .03.
Argument. Rome. If fewer examples are found in it than in other republics, the cause is that its government was more ordered than many others, the cause he gave in I.28; but it has its examples: Camillus, whose exile can ill be excused, Fabius Maximus, Cicero, Metellus, Rutilius and other illustrious and innocent men. And he marvels that the Discourse excuses Scipio's case as suspicion, when it arose merely from envy and ignorance, his two added heads. In Scipio's time Rome had no citizen to fear; Scipio's greatness rested not on sects or a following but on the authority his virtù and merits gave him, and he was never master of the public deliberations or the elections, so that wise men were never displeased by his progress. Cato's opposition came from private enmity or his hostility to the nobility, not from public utility; his holy customs do not excuse it, since he was marked as ambitious, a persecutor of the nobility, immoderate of tongue and bitter of nature, as he showed by turning more bitterly on Scipio's brother Asiaticus after Scipio was dead, when every colour of alleging suspicion had ceased.
History. Fabius, dictator in 217 BC, saw his master of the horse, Minucius, given equal command by the people (Livy 22.25-26). Cicero, who put down Catiline's conspiracy in 63, was exiled in 58; Metellus Numidicus went into exile in 100 rather than swear to Saturninus' law; Rutilius Rufus was condemned for extortion in 92 on a charge held to be false. For the trials of the Scipios, Livy 38.50-60, who reports that the date of Africanus' death was disputed in his own day.
Cross-reference. Machiavelli set Camillus aside as exiled for an injury he had done Machiavelli .07 and told Scipio's case as suspicion with its causes, the greatness of the enemy he had vanquished, the reputation of the war, its speed Machiavelli .08. Guicciardini answers his sentence on the wise men nearly in its words: Machiavelli's "which thing displeased wise men" becomes "his progresses never displeased wise men"; and Machiavelli's Cato "deemed holy" becomes a holiness that does not excuse.
Argument. The close. What the Discourse says, that in a republic not yet corrupted it is useful to liberty that the people should sometimes offend those it ought to reward and suspect those it ought to trust, is very far from the truth: every ingratitude and injustice is pernicious, and a republic must be tempered so that the good are always honoured and the innocent not frightened. He grants that withholding trust at times from the good through suspicion is a lesser error than putting oneself in the hands of the bad. But the lesser ill is not a good, "when there is no necessity to choose". The condition limits the denial to cases where there is no necessity to choose.
Cross-reference. Machiavelli's claim was double: in a corrupted republic these errors are the cause of great ills, in an uncorrupted one of great goods Machiavelli .06. Guicciardini answers the second half and adds "not yet" (non ancora) and "sometimes" (qualche volta) in restating it. Machiavelli held that in an uncorrupted republic these ways are the cause of great goods; Guicciardini, that every ingratitude and injustice is always pernicious.
Established from Canestrini 1857, Opere inedite vol. 1, pp. 1–65 (WIT-FG-CONS-1857-CANESTRINI) — the editio princeps, which governs. Collated against Palmarocchi 1933 (WIT-FG-CONS-1933-PALMAROCCHI): page images and the Wikisource transcription consulted as collation evidence, not reproduced (LICENSE §5).
la invidia, e considerando → la invidia; e considerando (FG-CONS.1.29.01). Pass A ⟨,|;⟩, pass B ⟨,|;⟩; the 1933 edition prints a semicolon. D110.
a giudicio mio più E prima → a giudicio mio più. E prima (FG-CONS.1.29.01). Pass A ⟨.|∅⟩, pass B ⟨.|∅⟩; a capital follows; the 1933 edition prints a stop. D67, D110.
allegati nel Discorso, perché → allegati nel Discorso; perché (FG-CONS.1.29.04). Pass A ⟨,|;⟩, pass B ⟨,|;⟩; the 1933 edition prints a semicolon. D110.
del re Filippo, e inoltre → del re Filippo; e inoltre (FG-CONS.1.29.04). Pass A ⟨,|;⟩, pass B ⟨,|;⟩; the 1933 edition prints a semicolon. D110.
mandati in esilio E mi maraviglio → mandati in esilio. E mi maraviglio (FG-CONS.1.29.05). Pass A ⟨.|∅⟩, pass B ⟨.|∅⟩; a capital follows; the 1933 edition prints a stop. D67, D110.
e' meriti suoi La quale → e' meriti suoi. La quale (FG-CONS.1.29.05). Pass A ⟨.|∅⟩, pass B ⟨.|∅⟩; a capital follows; the 1933 edition prints a stop. D67, D110.
e' progressi suoi; e se Catone → e' progressi suoi, e se Catone (FG-CONS.1.29.05). Pass A ⟨;|,⟩, pass B ⟨;|,⟩; the 1933 edition prints a comma. D110.
periculo. The 1857 witness reads gli potrebbono fare peric[u/o]lo (A periculo, B pericolo; both report the printed shape poriculo). The 1933 witness reads pericolo. The readers split on the form they preferred, but both saw a u printed after the c. Two forms of one word; read as printed, periculo, Guicciardini's Latinate spelling (D306). The English is "danger" either way.
abbino. The 1857 witness reads altri cittadini che abbin[o/e] più qualità (A abbino, B abbine; neither doubted). The 1933 witness reads abbino. A split at e/o, a letter the scan breaks. Abbino is the Florentine subjunctive the reply uses; read with the 1933 edition (D306).
the same words (ed in, ed innocenti) — 1933. The 1857 witness reads letters doubtful to both readers: raro e, e di cose, e manco cognosce, e questi, le altre, e in molti, clari e innocenti, esilio. Each letter was doubtful to both readers, and each alternative is a word (rare, a, cognosco, la, o, esiliò), none construing in its place. Read with the 1933 edition (D307), as D201, D215, D234 and D280.
e considerando bene tutte queste origini sue — 1857. The 1933 witness reads e considerando bene tutte queste origine sua. Read by both readers without doubt; a difference at e/a, escalated under D203(b). The plural agrees throughout and construes; kept (D38; D308).
Né voglio pretermettere che quello che dice il Discorso è molto alieno dalla verità — 1857. The 1933 witness reads che quello che dica el Discorso è molto alieno dalla verità. Read by both readers without doubt; a difference at e/a, escalated under D203(b). The indicative construes, "what the Discourse says"; kept (D38; D308).
né ség[u]ito di uomini. The 1857 witness reads né ségnito di uomini. The 1933 witness reads né séguito di uomini. Read by both readers without doubt. Ségnito is not a word; the scan breaks u into n throughout. Emended under D68 from the 1933 edition (D309). English "following".
per le discordie che nella successione del regno potevano nascere da lui e gli eredi del re Filippo — 1857. The 1933 witness reads per le differenzie che nella successione del regno potevano nascere tra lui e gli eredi del re Filippo. Read by both readers without doubt; whole words, not letters the scan breaks, so no D203 rule triggers; raised by the collator because they bear on sense, as D290. Canestrini's "discords that could arise from him and the heirs" construes; the 1933 "differences that could arise between him and the heirs" is smoother. Kept (D38; D310).
e se errò in questo Roma manco che le altre republiche — 1857. The 1933 witness reads e se [Roma] errò in questo manco che le altre republiche. Word order only: the 1933 edition brackets Roma as its own supply before the verb; Canestrini prints it after in questo. The same sense.
Orthography, capitalization, word division and punctuation follow the governing witness throughout; no reading is hybridized between witnesses.
Se bene la ingratitudine si usa qualche volta per avarizia, qualche volta per sospetto. "Although ingratitude is used sometimes through avarice, sometimes through suspicion": se bene, although (D31), granting Machiavelli's two causes before adding a third; usare, use, Machiavelli's verb for ingratitude, kept.
come è per ignoranza e per malignità, che ha per radice la invidia. "As it is through ignorance and through malignity, which has envy for its root": the relative che belongs to malignità; malignità, malignity (glossary); invidia, envy. The two new causes become the reply's "two heads" (.03).
considerando bene tutte queste origini sue. "Considering well all these origins of it": sue, of ingratitude. The 1933 edition reads origine sua; escalated as a word at a letter the scan breaks and kept (D308; FG-CONS-I29-D004).
non credo ne sia più alieno uno populo che uno principe, anzi tutto il contrario. "I do not believe a people is more alien from it than a prince, on the contrary, wholly the contrary": credo, believe, his first act, here negated: he does not deny that a people is further from ingratitude, he does not believe it. anzi reversing, "on the contrary" (D135); tutto, wholly. alieno, alien, returns at the reply's last turn, molto alieno dalla verità (.06).
Parliamo, come dice lo Scrittore. "Let us speak, as the Writer says": lo Scrittore, the Writer, Machiavelli; elsewhere Guicciardini says il Discorso. He restricts the question to those who have served in public affairs, as Machiavelli's captains did (Machiavelli .02).
coloro che si sono maneggiati in faccende publiche. "Those who have had the handling of public affairs": maneggiare, handle (glossary); the reflexive is of being employed in them, and "handled themselves" would read as "conducted themselves".
o non gli premiando come meritano, o offendendogli in cambio del remunerargli. "Either not rewarding them as they merit, or offending them in place of remunerating them": Machiavelli's two acts, se in cambio di premio ... l'offende and non lo premia, o a dir meglio l'offende (Machiavelli .02), restated in his words: premiare, reward; offendere, offend; in cambio di, in place of (D274).
questa è più perniziosa, quella è più frequente. "This is more pernicious, that is more frequent": questa, the nearer, offending; quella, the farther, not rewarding. The English keeps "this ... that" rather than "the latter ... the former".
chi esaminerà diligentemente troverà il populo non errare manco che 'l principe, anzi a giudicio mio più. "Whoever will examine diligently will find the people not to err less than the prince, indeed, in my judgment, more": anzi after the negative raises the claim (D168); a giudicio mio, in my judgment, his mark of the step he takes beyond the evidence.
la quale rarissime volte causa ingratitudine in altro che in remunerare. "Which very seldom causes ingratitude in anything other than in remunerating": rarissime volte, very seldom (D97). Avarice fails only in the first way, not rewarding.
credo che se poco ci pecca il populo ... che anche non molto ci pecchi il principe. "I believe that, if the people ... sins little in it, that the prince too does not sin much in it": the pleonastic second che kept (D136); peccare, sin, Machiavelli's ci peccano (Machiavelli .02). His claim is a belief, and a comparison of small quantities.
il quale per instinto suo è raro e piccolo remuneratore. "Which by its instinct is a rare and small remunerator": both readers doubted raro e; read with the 1933 edition (D307; FG-CONS-I29-D003).
sanza toccare la borsa sua, e di cose ancora che non ritengono in sé, ma sono soliti dare agli altri. "Without touching his purse, and with things, too, which they do not retain in themselves, but are accustomed to give to others": such as offices and honours, which princes are used to give away. The plural ritengono passes from the prince to princes in general.
se bene e' principi lascino spesso ... di premiare chi ha bene servito. "Although princes often omit ... to reward whoever has served well": lasciare di, omit to, so that "fail" stays mancare's (D206); the long interruption is kept between the verb and its infinitive.
che è un'altra cagione che si può aggiugnere alle preallegate. "Which is another cause that can be added to the aforesaid ones": being ungrateful by nature, a fifth cause, beside avarice, suspicion, ignorance and malignity. preallegate, aforesaid, the causes alleged before.
sono anche, a comparazione delle remunerazioni de' populi, infiniti gli esempli de' principi che hanno remunerato. "There are also, in comparison with the remunerations of peoples, infinite examples of princes who have remunerated": existential in English; the comparison is kept where the Italian puts it. esemplo, example (glossary).
Né mi si alleghi in questa parte e' magistrati. "Nor let there be alleged to me in this part the magistracies": allegare, allege, cite against him; magistrato of the office, magistracy (D93).
perché lo fa più per opinione o speranza di esserne bene servito. "Because it does it more through opinion or hope of being well served by them": opinione, opinion (D02).
per gratitudine dei beneficii ricevuti. "Through gratitude for the benefits received": beneficii, benefits (glossary, I.26).
credo che per lo ordinario molto più leggermente e con minori fondamenti insospettisca uno populo che uno principe. "I believe that by the ordinary a people grows suspicious much more lightly and with lesser foundations than a prince": per lo ordinario, by the ordinary (D163); fondamento, foundation (glossary); insospettire, grow suspicious, with sospetto.
ha minore modo di riscontrare una calunnia falsa. "Has less way to check a false calumny": modo, way; riscontrare, to check, to test against the facts, the verb of NM I.8's riscontro, corroboration (D160); "corroborate" would make the false calumny what is confirmed, and the scoped exception is recorded (D312). calunnia, calumny (D159). come, as soon as.
disonora sanza rispetto di chi ha sospetto. "It dishonours without respect him of whom it has suspicion": disonorare, dishonour, Machiavelli's lo disonora (Machiavelli .02); rispetto, respect (glossary). Whether di chi goes with rispetto, "respect for him", or with the verb, the Italian leaves open, and the English, without commas, does too.
sanza usarci dentro arte o circumspezione alcuna. "Without using in it any art or circumspection": circumspezione, circumspection, as Rome's at FG I.28.
va qualche volta simulando. "Goes sometimes simulating": simulare, simulate (D209).
e se si astiene di confidarsi di lui ... non si guarda dalle altre. "And if he abstains from confiding in him ... he does not guard himself from the others": le altre, the other things; the prince withholds trust only where it would be dangerous. The 1933 edition supplies [altre] as its own; Canestrini prints altre.
che gli potrebbono fare periculo. "That could do him danger": periculo, danger (glossary pericolo/periculo). The readers split between periculo and pericolo, two forms of one word; both saw a u printed, and it is read as printed (D306; FG-CONS-I29-D001).
avendo avvertenza di non lo disperare. "Having care not to drive him to despair": disperare, transitive, to bring to despair; Machiavelli's Antonius died quasi disperato (Machiavelli .04).
E certo infiniti sono gli esempli. "And certainly infinite are the examples": certo, his mark of no doubt; the predicate stays first, a landing (D263): the examples of ingratitude through suspicion are as infinite as the princes' rewards of .01.
e se errò in questo Roma manco che le altre republiche. "And if Rome erred in this less than the other republics": the 1933 edition puts Roma before the verb, bracketed as its own supply (FG-CONS-I29-D008).
ci errò molto più che non dice il Discorso, come di sotto si dirà. "It erred in it much more than the Discourse says, as will be said below": come di sotto si dirà repeats Machiavelli's last words (Machiavelli .09); Guicciardini's "below" is his own .05.
né gli esempli di Cammillo e di Scipione sono escusabili per quella via. "Nor are the examples of Camillus and of Scipio excusable by that path": via, path (D131); the path is suspicion, by which Machiavelli excused Rome (Machiavelli .08). escusabile, excusable, with scusa (D173). Machiavelli excused Scipio's case by suspicion (Machiavelli .08) but set Camillus outside Rome's ingratitude altogether, as exiled for an injury he had done (Machiavelli .07); Guicciardini puts both back in.
Confesso bene che in questo caso sono più gagliardi e' morsi de' principi. "I confess indeed that in this case the bites of princes are harder": a real concession. gagliardo, hard, kept apart from forte, strong, in the next clause. morsi, bites, as the peoples who mordono più fieramente in Machiavelli's previous chapter (I.28 .03).
vengono al coltello e alle esecuzioni forti. "They come to the knife and to strong executions": Machiavelli's farlo morire (Machiavelli .03).
Quanto agli altri duo capi della ignoranza e della malignità fondata in su la invidia. "As to the other two heads, of ignorance and of malignity founded on envy": capo, head (glossary), a head of the argument.
credo che sanza comparazione il populo sia più ingrato. "I believe that beyond comparison the people is more ungrateful": the reply's verdict on the rubric's question, given as belief, and for these two causes.
e per essere distratti gli uomini a varie faccende. "Both through men's being distracted to various affairs": the nominal infinitive with its subject (D109).
manco intende, manco distingue, e manco cognosce. "It understands less, distinguishes less and knows less": the anaphora kept. Both readers doubted the e and cognosce; read with the 1933 edition (D307).
ogni grandezza punto eminente. "Every greatness at all eminent": punto, at all; grandezza, greatness (glossary).
cade più facilmente negli uomini populari. "It falls more readily in popular men": envy arises in them; "on" would make them its objects.
è ordinariamente molesta. "Is ordinarily irksome": molesto, irksome; it returns of the prince (non gli sarà molesta).
né cosa alcuna dispiace loro che vedere. "Nor does anything displease them [more] than to see": the comparative is understood in the Italian and supplied in brackets (D53).
e questi sempre desiderano abbassare. "And these they always desire to lower": questi, those citizens, object fronted as the Italian fronts it, a landing (D263); desiderare, desire (glossary).
Non interviene così in uno principe. "It does not befall so in a prince": intervenire, befall (D298).
e però dove la grandezza degli altri non sia tale che gli generi sospetto. "And therefore, where the greatness of the others is not such that it generates suspicion in him": però, therefore (D22), consecutive. Guicciardini grants the case Machiavelli made, greatness that does breed suspicion.
né la batterà per questa malignità. "Nor will he beat it through this malignity": battere, beat (D120), to strike at or bring down; Guicciardini's verb of I.28.
Restano gli esempli allegati nel Discorso. "There remain the examples alleged in the Discourse": Antonius and Consalvo (Machiavelli .04, .05).
non è esemplo di ingratitudine di uno principe verso il suddito; ma di dua che vivono sotto uno principe. "Is not an example of the ingratitude of a prince towards the subject, but of two who live under one prince": Mucianus and Antonius were both Vespasian's men; Machiavelli makes Mucianus the agent and Vespasian the receiver.
e il non vi avere provisto Vespasiano. "And Vespasian's not having provided in it": the nominal infinitive with its subject after it (D109).
dal dispiacergli la natura insolente di Antonio. "From Antonius' insolent nature displeasing him": Tacitus (Histories 3.49, 4.80) describes Antonius' arrogance. insolente, insolent, Machiavelli's usato insolentemente (Machiavelli .03).
dal rispetto grande che aveva a Muziano. "From the great respect he had to Mucianus": rispetto a, respect to (glossary).
Non serve ancora al discorso nostro. "Nor does the example ... serve our discourse either": discorso, discourse (D01), the argument he and Machiavelli share.
al quale il re Don Ferrando non si potette chiamare ingrato. "Whom King Don Ferdinand could not be called ungrateful to": Ferdinand II of Aragon; Don, the Spanish title, kept.
di povero cavaliere aveva Stati per trentamila scudi. "From a poor knight he had states of thirty thousand scudi": Stati, states, here lordships yielding an income; scudi, the coin, left in Italian. Gonzalo was a younger son of a noble house.
e se gli tolse il governo del regno. "And if he took from him the government of the kingdom": Gonzalo had governed Naples as viceroy from 1503; Ferdinand came in 1506 and took him to Spain in 1507. Canestrini's note on the kingdom of Naples, keyed here, is his and is not carried.
per le discordie che nella successione del regno potevano nascere da lui e gli eredi del re Filippo. "Because of the discords that could arise, in the succession to the kingdom, from him and the heirs of King Philip": Philip I of Castile, the Handsome, who died in 1506, husband of Ferdinand's daughter Joanna; his heirs were Ferdinand's grandsons. The 1933 edition reads le differenzie ... tra lui e gli eredi, "the differences ... between him and the heirs"; both readers read Canestrini's words without doubt, and they are kept (D310; FG-CONS-I29-D007).
che al re non ne restava altro che il nome regio. "That nothing was left to the king but the royal name": the governor holding the substance of rule, the king only the name.
In modo che non si chiama ingrato quello principe che provede ... e di godersi lui. "In such a way that that prince is not called ungrateful who provides ... and to enjoy himself": the second object after provede changes construction from che to di + infinitive; the English keeps the change.
ricco e onoratissimo tra gli altri grandi. "Rich and most honoured among the other great [men]": grandi, the great (D118); the noun is supplied in brackets. Against Machiavelli's inonorato (Machiavelli .05).
ne è causa che ebbe il governo più ordinato che molte altre. "The cause of it is that it had its government more ordered than many others": causa, cause (glossary); ordinato, ordered, the ordine family; the explanation of FG I.28, the government.
benché anche quella non manca degli esempli suoi. "Albeit that one too does not lack its examples": benché, albeit (D31); mancare di with a noun, lack, a scoped exception to D206's "fail", recorded (D312), and held at non mancò già di nota below; quella, that one, Rome, as in se in quella se ne truova manco, "if fewer of them are found in that one", where ne is the examples.
come in Cammillo, lo esilio del quale si può male scusare. "As in Camillus, whose exile can be ill excused": Machiavelli's second case (Machiavelli .07), whom he did not count as ingratitude because Camillus had injured the plebs.
come in Fabio Massimo ... fu con tanta ignominia fatto pari al maestro de' cavalieri. "As in Fabius Maximus ... was with so much ignominy made even with the master of the horse": in 217 BC, while Fabius as dictator was wearing Hannibal down by delay, the people voted his master of the horse, Minucius, a command equal to his (Livy 22.25-26). pari, even (D262); maestro de' cavalieri, master of the horse, the established English for magister equitum.
come in Cicerone oppressore della conjurazione di Catilina. "As in Cicero, the oppressor of the conspiracy of Catiline": opprimere, oppress (glossary), here to put down. Cicero suppressed the conspiracy in 63 BC and was exiled in 58.
come in Metello, Publio Rutilio. "As in Metellus, Publius Rutilius": Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, who went into exile in 100 BC rather than swear to Saturninus' agrarian law; Publius Rutilius Rufus, condemned for extortion in 92 BC on a charge held to be false.
uomini clari e innocenti. "Men illustrious and innocent": claro, illustrious. Both readers doubted the e before in molti and before innocenti; read with the 1933 edition (D307).
E mi maraviglio che il Discorso scusi il caso di Scipione. "And I marvel that the Discourse should excuse the case of Scipio": scusare, excuse (D173), Machiavelli's grant of quella scusa to Rome (Machiavelli .08).
quello che nacque meramente da invidia e da ignoranza. "What arose merely from envy and from ignorance": meramente, merely, purely (D298): the case is put under his two new heads (.03), not under suspicion.
Roma si reggeva in modo che non aveva da temere di alcuno cittadino. "Rome was governed in such a way that it did not have to fear any citizen": reggere, govern (D64); avere da, have to (D61, D261).
non essendo fondata in su sètte, né ség[u]ito di uomini. "Not being founded on sects, nor [on] a following of men": sètte, sects, factions of partisans. spaventoso, frightening, with spaventati, frightened (.06), one root. Both readers read ségnito, not a word; emended from the 1933 edition (D309; FG-CONS-I29-D006).
ma in quella autorità che gli dava nella città la virtù ed e' meriti suoi. "But on that authority which his virtù and his merits gave him in the city": virtù left in Italian (D16); meriti, merits (D249).
La quale non fu mai tale, né che fussi padrone ... né che a modo suo si creassino e' magistrati. "Which was never such, either that he was master of the public deliberations, or that the magistrates were created after his own way": la quale, the authority; né ... né after a negative, "either ... or". a modo suo, after his own way, modo kept as "way" (glossary).
in modo che mai non dispiacquono agli uomini savii e' progressi suoi. "In such a way that his progresses never displeased wise men": the answer, nearly word for word, to Machiavelli's la qual cosa spiaceva agli uomini savj (Machiavelli .08): spiaceva, dispiacquono, both "displeased". progressi, progresses, his advancement.
e se Catone gli fu opposito, nacque o da inimicizia particulare. "And if Cato was opposed to him, it arose either from particular enmity": opposito, opposed; particulare, particular, of one's own (D93); inimicizia, enmity (D128).
non da utilità publica. "Not from public utility": the one ground that would have justified Cato.
la santità di chi non scusa questa ingratitudine. "Whose holiness does not excuse this ingratitude": santità, holiness, so that the root of Machiavelli's riputato santo, "deemed holy", and of furono santi below stays one; di chi, of whom, Cato; Canestrini glosses it in a note as del quale, which is not carried. The answer to Machiavelli's riputato santo (Machiavelli .08).
perché e' costumi di Catone furono santi. "Because the customs of Cato were holy": costumi, customs (D41). The concession is followed by ma: holy in his customs, but marked for ambition.
non mancò già di nota di ambizioso. "He did not indeed lack the mark of an ambitious man": nota, mark, a stigma, the word of the censor's mark, turned on the censor; già, indeed, with the negative.
e di acerbità di natura. "And of bitterness of nature": acerbità, bitterness (glossary); it returns as più acerbo, "more bitter", in the last clause.
che morto ancora Scipione, e così cessato ogni colore di potere allegare il sospetto. "That, even Scipio being dead, and so every colour of being able to allege suspicion having ceased": ancora, even; morto intransitive, dead (D262); colore, colour, pretext; allegare, allege.
fu più acerbo contro Asiatico suo fratello. "He was more bitter against Asiaticus his brother": Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, prosecuted over the money of King Antiochus, condemned and fined (Livy 38.54-60). Livy places Africanus' death at about the same time and reports the dispute over its date; Guicciardini puts Cato's attack after it. The 1933 edition reads contro a Asiatico.
Né voglio pretermettere che quello che dice il Discorso è molto alieno dalla verità. "Nor do I wish to pass over that what the Discourse says is very alien from the truth": pretermettere, pass over; alieno, alien, the word of .01. The 1933 edition reads dica; escalated as a word at a letter the scan breaks and kept (D308; FG-CONS-I29-D005).
che in una republica non ancora corrotta sia utile alla libertà. "That in a republic not yet corrupted it is useful to liberty": Machiavelli's in una Repubblica non corrotta, sono cagione di gran beni, e fanno che la ne vive libera più (Machiavelli .06), restated as Guicciardini reads it; non ancora, not yet, is his.
che il populo qualche volta offenda chi doverrebbe premiare, e sospetti di chi doverrebbe confidare. "That the people should sometimes offend whom it ought to reward, and suspect whom it ought to confide in": Machiavelli's two errors of a free city (Machiavelli .06), in his words; qualche volta, sometimes, is Guicciardini's.
la republica debbe essere temperata in modo che. "The republic must be tempered in such a way that": dovere, must (D274); temperato, tempered (glossary).
Confesso bene questo essere minore errore. "I confess indeed this to be a lesser error": a second real concession, the accusative with infinitive kept.
lo astenersi qualche volta per sospetto di confidare de' buoni, che non è il rimettersi in mano de' cattivi. "The abstaining sometimes through suspicion from confiding in the good, than is the putting oneself in the hands of the bad": the two nominal infinitives kept parallel; cattivi, bad (D03).
ma questa ragione non fa che il minore male sia bene. "But this reason does not make the lesser ill a good": male, ill; bene, good (glossary).
quando non s'ha necessità di eleggere o l'uno o l'altro. "When there is no necessity to choose either the one or the other": eleggere, choose (glossary). The condition limits the denial to cases where there is no necessity to choose.