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Seyssel, Machiavelli, and Polybius vi: the Mystery of the Missing Translation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2019

J. H. Hexter
J. H. Hexter*
Affiliation:
Queens College
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Extract

Somewhere between 1510 and 1520, Niccolò Machiavelli composed the Discorsi sopra la Prima Deca di Tito Livio. The second chapter of that work contains what for Machiavelli is a rather elaborate theoretical disquisition. It deals with such arcane matters as the origin of civil polities, the beginnings of law, the forms of political rule, and the succession that those forms naturally follow in their historical sequence. Never before and never again did Machiavelli concern himself in so concentrated a way with the higher and more ghostly issues of political theory. Never before and never again was Machiavelli literally so un-Machiavellian. In Chapter 2 of Book I of the Discorsi he was literally un-Machiavellian in the simple sense that he cribbed most of that chapter without acknowledgement from another writer. In so doing he initiated a minor literary mystery—the Mystery of the Missing Translation or the Puzzle of Polybius vi.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in the Renaissance , Volume 3 , 1956 , pp. 75 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1956

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References

1 For a discussion of the date of composition of the Discorsi see Gilbert, Felix, “Review-Discussion: The Composition and Structure of Machiavelli's Discorsi ”, Journal of the History of Ideas xiv (1953), 136–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Attempts to extend the terminal date of tie Discorsi past 1519 are based on:

  1. 1.

    1. An event, an attack on Genoa, mentioned in the Discorsi, whose dating is very uncertain and possibly after 1519 (Discorsi sopra la Prima Deca di Tito Livio, II, 24, hereafter cited as Discorsi. Citations from Machiavelli's works will hereafter give pages in the Mazzoni and Casella edition of Tutte le Opere Storiche e Letterarie (Florence, 1929). Citations from the Discorsi will give in addition the page in Leslie Walker's translation, The Discourses of Niccolò Machiavelli (2 vols., New Haven, 1950). The passage from Discorsi II, 24 is at Mazzoni and Casella, p. 179b, Walker i, 433.)

  2. 2.

    2. A remark in the preface to the Giunta edition of 1531 implying that Machiavelli entertained an unfulfilled intention of revising the Discorsi, quoted in Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principe, ed. A. L. Burd (Oxford, 1891), p. 180, n. 1.

  3. 3.

    3. The way tie Discorsi trails off without any sort of conclusion.

    Father Leslie Walker has offered persuasive evidence that the events in Genoa referred to in Discorsi II, 24 occurred in 1515 (i, 43–44). I hope to show shortly in an essay on the composition of the Discorsi that the remark in the Giunta edition becomes intelligible in view of the way Machiavelli put the Discorsi together, that his way of putting it together accounts for the way the Discorsi trails off, and that the hypothesis of an uncompleted process of composition is not necessary to account for the trailing off. Any attempt to establish a late date for the completion of the Discorsi has to cope with the fact that Cosimo Rucellai, to whom, along with Zanobi Buondelmonti, the Discorsi was dedicated, was alive when it was dedicated and dead in 1519.

2 Discorsi i, 2: Mazzoni and Casella, pp. 59a-62b; Walker i, 211-216.

3 Polybius, The Histories, with an English translation by W. R. Paton (6 vols., Loeb Classical Library, 1922-1927).

4 Il Principe, Chapter 13: Mazzoni and Casella, p. 28a. For all other possible loans from Polybius some other equally possible source can be found. I have been able to find, however, no other possible source for the observations on Hiero in chapter 13. The reference is to Polybius i, ix.

5 Walker has a complete list of the works referred to, or possibly referred to, with or without acknowledgement, in the Discord (ii, 271-305).

6 Walker (see note 5) supplies references to the printed Latin translations available to Machiavelli for citation.

7 Polybii Historiarum Libri Superstites in Lat. Sermonem Conversi a N. Perotto (Rome, 1473). Walker (ii, 290) also refers to a later edition printed in Venice in 1498.

8 The first edition of Polybius containing the surviving fragment of Book vi and later books of his history was published in 1549. The old Perotto translation was used for the first five books. Musculus translated the fragments of the remaining books.

9 I owe this information to Prof. Beatrice Reynolds, who has made a thorough investigation of the Latin MS. translations of Polybius.

10 Walker ii, 7-13, prints the passages from Polybius vi that parallel those of Machiavelli in Discorsi i, 2. The passage that Machiavelli presents in nearly verbatim translation (Mazzoni and Casella, p. 60b-61a; Walker I, 213-214) is Polybius vr, vii-viii.

11 The definitive biography of Seyssel from which all the biographical information that follows is drawn is Caviglia, Alberto, Claudio di Seyssel (1450-1520): la Vita nella Storia de’ Suoi Tempi (Miscellanea di Storia Italiana, 3d series, Vol. 23, Turin, 1928).Google Scholar

12 La Monarchie de France, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Departement des manuscripts, fonds français, 5212; first printed edition, La Grant Monarchie de France, Paris, R. Chauldiere, 1519. The MS. is the one presented to Francis I. Two references will hereafter be given for citations from the Grant Monarchie: 1) to the presentation MS., 2) to the first printed edition. I have preferred the title of the printed edition by which the work was subsequently known. References to the printed edition will appear in parentheses.

13 Grant Monarchic f. 4 (preface).

14 vi, 2, 3, 9.

15 Grant Monarchic, f. 4r-4v (preface).

16 Polybius vi, 4, 7-12, vi, 7, 1-9.

17 Republic 543-567.

18 Politics v, 1301a-1316b.

19 Polybius vi, 7, 1-9; Grant Monarchic f. 6r-6v (f. 1r-1v).

20 Grant Monarchie f. 6v (f. 1v).

21 Grant Monarchie f. 9v-10r (f. 4r-4v).

22 Polybius vi, 9, 10-16.

23 Polybius, vi, 10, 3-4.

24 Laws, especially Book vi. For a detailed account of the theory of mixed constitutions in the ancient world, see von Fritz, Kurt, The Theory of the Mixed Constitution in Antiquity (New York, 1954), especially pp. 76–95.Google Scholar

25 Politics iv, 11-13, 1295a-1301a.

26 McIlwain, C. H., The Growth of Political Thought in the West (New York, 1932), pp. 100–101.Google Scholar

27 Grant Monarchie f. IIv (f. 5v).

28 Grant Monarchie f. 7r-7v (f. 1r-2v).

29 Polybius vi, 11, 11-12, vi, 18, 5-8.

30 Grant Monarchie f. 13v-14v (f. 7v-8v).

31 Grant Monarchic f. 14v (f. 8r-8v).

32 Grant Monarchic f. 18v-20r (f. 12r-13v).

33 Grant Monarchie f. 22r-22v (f. 15v).

34 Polybius vi, 10, 6-11.

35 Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français, MS. 701 (presentation copy to Charles II of Savoy), MS. 702 (presentation copy to Louis XII of France).

36 Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français, MS. 712.

37 Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français, MS. 713.

38 Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français, MS. 17211.

39 Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français, MS. 702, ff. 13, 22-23. See also MS. 712, proheme; MS. 713, f. Qv; MS. 17211, ff. 5-5v.

40 Information on the career of Janus Lascaris in the following works: Sandys, John E., A History of Classical Scholarship (Cambridge, 1908), ii, 78-9Google Scholar; Delaruelle, L., “La Carrière de Janus Lascaris depuis 1494”, Revue du Seizième Siècle XIII (1926), 95–111 Google Scholar; Émile Legrand, Bibliographic Hellénique … XVe et XVIe Siècles (Paris, 1885), i, cxxxi-clxii, ii, 322-336; de Nolhac, Pierre, “Inventoire des Manuscrits Grecs de Jean Lascaris”, Mélanges d’ Archéologie et d'Histoire vi (1886), 251-74CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Knös, Börje, Un Ambassadeur de l'Hellénisme—Janus Lascaris (Upsala, 1945).Google Scholar

41 De Militia Romanorum et Castrorum Metatione Liber … a Jano Lascare in Latinam Linguam translates (Venice, 1529).

42 Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae (Paris, 1739-1744), ii, 382. Under item 1648: “Polybii historiarum libri quinque. In marginibus breves annotationes rerum et vocum praecipuarum, notarum illarum, nî fallor, auctor Janus Lascaris.” The Inventaire Sommaire des Manuscrits Grecs (Paris, 1888–1898), under the same item 1648, indicates that the MS. contains Polybius vi.

43 It corresponds to Polybius vi, 19-42.

44 For discussion of the Rucellai circle from which the following account is drawn see Hauvette, Henri, Un Exilé Florentine … Luigi Alamanni (Paris, 1903), pp. 3–21 Google Scholar; Passerini, Luigi, Degli Orti Oricellari (Florence, 1854)Google Scholar; Gilbert, Felix, “Bernardo Rucellai and the Orti Oricellari …”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes xii (1949), 101–131 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gilbert, Felix, “Structure and Composition”, pp. 150-2.Google Scholar

45 Nolhac, p. 267.

46 Lascaris, Janus, De Romanorum Militia et Castrorum Metatione … ejusdem A. J. Lascaris Epigrammata et Graeca et Latina (Basel, 1537).Google Scholar

47 Brucioli, Antonio, Dialogi … della Morale Philosophia (Venice, 1544), 18r-18v.Google Scholar

48 Mazzoni and Casella, pp. 266b-268a.

49 Mazzoni and Casella, p. 747.

50 Proemio: Mazzoni and Casella, p. 265.

51 Preface: Mazzoni and Casella, p. 55; Walker i, 201.

52 Filippo de’ Nerli, Commentari de’ Fatti Civili occorsi dentro la Città di Firenze (Augusta, 1728), p. 138. Two other contemporary witnesses offer evidence of Machiavelli's close connection with the Rucellai group; Jacopo Nardi, Istorie della Città di Firenze (Lyons, 1582), p. 177, and Varchi, , Lezioni (Florence, 1590), p. 647.Google Scholar

53 Prezzolini, Giuseppi, Machiavelli Anticristo (Rome, 1954), p. 138.Google Scholar

54 Knös, pp. 134-139.

55 On the phases of the history of the Orti Oricellari, see F. Gilbert, “Bernardo Rucellai”, pp. 110-118. I have not seen any evidence to show that between the time of his return to Florence and his death Bernardo revived the use of the gardens as a meeting place for a literary circle.

56 Niccolò Machiavelli, Lettere, with preface by Giovanni Papini (Lanciano, 1915), letter 166 to Luigi Alamanni, 17 December 1517.

57 Above, p. 89.

58 Lettere, letters 159-163.

59 Machiavelli wrote Vettori about his late-blooming passion (Lettere, letters 150, 159). The letters indicate that his affair with the young woman dulled Machiavelli's appetite for indulgence in the more rarefied delight of intellectual athletics. On this point see Federico Chabod, “Sulla Composizione de ‘Il Principe’ di Niccolò Machiavelli”, Archivum Romanicum xi (1927), 348.

60 Lettere, letter 138 to Francesco Vettori, 10 December 1513.

61 See above, note 4.

62 L. A. (sic) Burd, “Le Fonti Letterarie di Machiavelli nell’ ‘Arte della Guerra’ ”, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche, e Filologiche, Atti, series 5, IV (1896), 187-261, for Machiavelli's use of Polybius in the Arte della Guerra. For his use of Polybius in the Discorsi, Walker, i, 61-63; ii, 289-291.

63 In his elaborately annotated edition of Il Principe, A. L. Burd suggests that Machiavelli may have used Polybius vi, 47, in Chapter 12 of The Prince. I offer translations in parallel columns of the passages in question.

Polybius: Machiavelli:
In my opinion there are two fundamental things in every state by virtue of which its principle and constitution is either desirable or the reverse. I mean customs and laws. What is desirable in these makes men's private lives righteous and well-ordered, and the general character of the state gentle and just, while what is to be avoided has the opposite effect. The principal foundation that all states, whether new or old or mixed, have are good laws and good arms. There cannot, however, be good laws where there are not good arms, and where there are good arms there will be good laws.

It hardly needs saying that there is no relation whatsoever between the thought of the two authors in the passages cited. Machiavelli's concern with the righteousness and good order of men's private lives and the gentleness and justice of the state is not conspicuous. “Good laws and good arms” are good simply insofar as they enable the prince to keep his grip on political power. In context “good” has no ethical implication at all.

64 In the Discorsi there are about as many references to the fragment of Polybius vi as there are to the first five books of Polybius taken together (Walker, ii, 290).

65 Il Principe, Chapter 16; Mazzoni and Casella, p. 31b.

66 The most elaborate attempt to determine more exactly the date at which Machiavelli finished working on The Prince is that of Chabod, pp. 330-383. The attempt is not wholly successful. For a criticism of it, see Gilbert, Felix, “The Humanist Concept of the Prince and ‘The Prince' of Machiavelli”, Journal of Modern History, xi (1939), 181–183.Google Scholar and note 87.

67 Il Principe, Chapter 2: Mazzoni and Casella, p. 5a.

68 Prezzolini, p. 171; Walker, i, 40, 53.

69 For the events subsequent to 1513 referred to in the Discorsi, see Walker, i, 40-45.

70 Prezzolini, p. 171. There are difficulties in ascribing Books II and III of the Discorsi to the time when, or before which, Machiavelli wrote The Prince, since Discorsi II, 1 refers to The Prince as if it was a completed work (Mazzoni and Casella, p. 138b; Walker, i, 360).

71 Discorsi i, 1: Mazzoni and Casella, p. 58b; Walker, i, 209.

72 Of twenty-one probable uses of Polybius vi in the Discorsi sixteen occur in the first twenty-one chapters. See Walker, II, 290. If one averages the thing out by the number of chapters, it comes to a seventh of the Discorsi, if by the number of pages, to a sixth.

73 Father Walker is convinced that Machiavelli got the very idea of writing the first fifteen chapters of the Discorsi from the sixth book of Polybius (i, 62-63). If this is so it would really complicate matters.

74 F. Gilbert, “Structure and Composition”.

76 Since this article went to the printer, its author has received confirmation from the Vatican Library that two fifteenth- or sixteenth-century manuscripts of Latin translations from Polybius in Reg. Lat. 1099 and Vat. Lat. 2968 are parts of the sixth book of the History. Certain indications lead him to believe that these MSS. will lend support to some of the conjectures in the article. It seems best to postpone publication of the relevant evidence until it has been possible to examine microfilms of the MSS.