Table Of ContentNiccolo Machiavelli
By Silvia Ruffo-Fiore
University of South Florida
Twayne Publishers • Boston
Niccolo Machiavelli
Twayne's World Authors Series
Carlo Golino, Editor
University of Massachusetts
TWAS 656
Bust of Machiavelli by an un-
known artist Florentine
School, 16th century, formerly
in the Accademia Colont-
baria, Florence. Alinari photo-
graph
Niccolo Machiavelli
By Silvia Ruffo-Fiore
University of South Florida
Twayne Publishers • Boston
Niccolo Machiavelli
Silvia Ruffo-Fiore
Copyright © 1982 by G. K. Hall & Company
Published by Twayne Publishers
A Division of G. K. Hall & Company
70 Lincoln Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02111
Book Production by Marne B. Sultz
Book Design by Barbara Anderson
Printed on permanent-durable acid-free
paper and bound in The United States
of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ruffo-Fiore, Silvia.
Niccolo Machiavelli.
(Twayne's world authors series ; TWAS 656)
Bibliography: p. 166
Includes index.
1. Machiavelli, Niccolo, 1469-1527—Criticism and
interpretation. I. Title. II. Series.
PQ4627.M2Z79 858'.309 81-20256
ISBN 0-8057-6499-2 AACR2
For Mafdi
Contents
About the Author
Preface
Chronology
Chapter One
Machiavelli's Early Political Experiences and Writings J
Chapter Two
Politics, History, and Literature in The Prince 29
Chapter Three
The Art of the Discourses 55
Chapter Four
War, Politics, and Rhetoric 75
Chapter Five
Politics, Diplomacy, and Florentine Historiography 95
Chapter Six
Machiavelli's Dramatic and Literary Art 107
Chapter Seven
The Legacy of Machiavelli 729
Notes and References 145
Selected Bibliography 166
Index 172
About the Author
Silvia Ruffo-Fiore is professor of English in the College of Arts
and Letters, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. A native
of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she received the B.Ed, and M.A. from
Duquesne University and the Ph.D. from the University of Pitts-
burgh. Her honors, awards, and grants include a Fulbright Study
Grant, Who's Who in America, Marquis Who's Who of Professional
Women, Personalities of the South, Directory of American Scholars, Dic-
tionary of International Biography, a Folger Library Summer Grant,
University of South Florida Research Council Award, selection by
the 1976 University of South Florida Senior Class as one of the Ten
Outstanding Professors, member of the Florida State Commission
on the Status of Women. Her extensive professional involvement
includes contributing editor of the Pirandello Newsletter, abstractor
for the American Bibliographical Center—Clio Press, regional rep-
resentative of the American Association of University Professors of
Italian, reviewer for Choice, and membership in many professional
organizations. She has published a major study, Donne's Petrarchism:
A Comparative View (Florence: Grafica Toscana, 1976), many articles
and reviews on Renaissance literature and women in literature, and
has presented numerous scholarly papers here and abroad. She is
presently compiling an annotated guide to modern criticism and
scholarship on Machiavelli under the auspices of a grant from the
National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Research
Programs.
Preface
While recognizing the importance of Machiavelli's political and
historical ideas, this book intends to make better known how the
literary and rhetorical dimensions of his writings contribute to their
meaning—how politics, history, and literature interacted. This crit-
ical overview surveys his writings, particularly stressing their literary
qualities, in order to adjust popular, stereotyped views and to make
his works more clearly understood and appreciated. Since much
information exists on the background of this period, on the Medici,
the Borgias, the Papacy, and other significant people and happenings
that affected Machiavelli's work, the main events of his life and
times are discussed only in terms of how they molded his purpose
and thought and how they illuminate his meaning and style. This
study interprets and assesses the major and some of the minor works,
using his official writings, such as the Legations, and his official and
personal letters, to supplement, support, and exemplify certain
premises. Four principles have guided the screening and selection
of materials to be included in this overview: (1) to show the mean-
ingful and unifying interrelationships in the entire Machiavelli
canon; (2) to present his works within an informing historical, po-
litical, and literary context, while also suggesting reasons for their
perennial appeal; (3) to modify oversimplified or misconceived views
which neglect the interdependence of ideology and art in Machia-
velli's writings; (4) to indicate the extraordinary range of his his-
torical impact. The book is designed to inform unfamiliar readers
and to redirect already acquainted ones. While acknowledging val-
uable traditional perspectives which continue to enrich an under-
standing of Machiavelli's work, this examination also offers approaches
qualifying, expanding, and even rejecting conventional views, and
suggests areas for further investigation.
I would like to express my admiration, respect, and thanks to all
Machiavelli scholars, many cited here, for their stimulating, in-
