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The Dates of Clizia and Mandragola
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
Macktavelli's three comedies, Andria, Clizia, and Mandragola, are arranged in that order in the edition of Mazzoni and Casella; and that is the order of excellence in which all readers place them. Andria is a good translation of the Latin original, occasionally enlivened by semi-proverbial expressions and the like. It is perhaps hasty, since a few words are neglected. Possibly they were lacking in the text Machiavelli used, though I find them in one Italian sixteenth-century form.
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References
1 E.g.,fruslra (Terence 308, Machiavelli 2.1), oppido (Terence 342, Machiavelli 2.2).
2 II Terentio Latino… da Giovanni Fabrini da Fighine Fiorentino (Vinegia, 1556), pp. 31,34. In his text a speech by Mysis is as follows:
Haud uereor, si in te solo sit situm,
Sed, uim ut queas ferre [276–277].
Except for a slight difference in order, this is the form now accepted. Machiavelli translates : “lo non ne dubiterei, s'egli stessi solo a te; maio temochetunonpossaresistereallaforza che ti farà tuo padre” (1.5). The last clause is obviously added. Possibly it was usually done; at least it appears in the comment of Fabrini, who would hardly have followed Machiavelli, as: “lo non ne dubito se egli sta a te solo ma io dubito che tu possi sopportare la violenza, che ti fara tuo padre, che tu la tolghi” (p. 29).
3 In more detail, the relation of Clizia to Casina is as follows :
Prologue: Information on Plot and characters.
1.1 The same, more fully.
1.2 Soliloquy by Cleandro on lovers.
1.3 Eustachio directed to prepare for his wedding.
1.1 The rival slaves quarrel. (See Clizia 2.5.)
2.1 Cleostrata soliloquizes on her husband's amorousness.
2.2 Cleostrata talks with a neighbor.
2.3 (first part) Lysidamus soliloquizes on love
2.1 Nicomaco soliloquizes in a different tone.
2.2 Pirro announces the arrival of Eustachio.
2.3 The same, in part.
2.4 Sofronia soliloquizes on the former good life of Nicomaco, and contrasts it with his present conduct.
2.5 Pirro and Eustachio quarrel (partial equivalent to Casina 1.1).
3.1 The father accuses the son of acting against him.
3.2 Cleandro soliloquizes on the miseries of love.
3.3 The mother assures the son that Clizia is not for him.
3.4 Equivalent scene
2.3 (continued) Husband and wife converse.
2.3 (continued) Cleostrata berates Lysidamus, who attempts a show of affection.
From this point the plots run parallel, though Casina 2.7, 3.6, and 4.4 are not in the Italian; and Clizia 4.1, 4.11, 4.12, 5.4, and 5.5 are not in the Latin. Clizia 5.6 and 5.7 give at greater length the material in Plautus's epilogue.
4 SeeLuigi Russe-,Machiavelli (Rome, 1945),p. 142.
5 Oreste Tommasini, La Vita e gli Scritti ii Niccold Machiavelli (Rome, 1897–1911), li, 418–419. 6 E.g., Russo, p. 141.
7 Machiavelli, Letterefamiliari, ed. Alvisi (Firenze, 1883), pp. 410,452,474.
8 So Mandragola was entitled on the first printing. For a facsimile see the ed. by S. De-benedetti, Bibliotheca Romanica, no. 123 (Strasburgo), p. 25.
9 Russo (p. 140) suggests proverbial quality derived from Machiavelli.
10 Tommasini, p. 414 and n. 2. He likewise rejects attempts to find an exact date for Maniragola (p. 484).
11 Filippo Venuti da Cortona, Dittionario Volgare e Latino (Bolonia, 1578).
12 F. D. Colimore, “The Date of Machiavelli's Mandragola”, MLN, tv-(1940), 526–528. Debenedetti believes it posterior to 1513 (ed. cit., p. 6). Russo (p. 139) believes that it “fu composta negli anni o nei mesi vicini all' aprile del 1520.”
13 Russo (pp. 143 ff.) discusses Clizia as the work of an old man.
23 Ibid., págs. 159 y 166.