Machiavelli in Context | Discourses: Lessons from Rome (Lecture 15)

Lecture 15: Machiavelli examines several questions relating to the governance and reform of a republic. If someone in power makes an error, should he be punished for his mistake? Machiavelli fears that punishment discourages leaders from using their minds in creative ways. How should a leader deal with problems?

In his first discourse, Machiavelli also attempts to deal with severe crises that occur in republics. He praises the Roman office of dictator because it allowed someone to take charge in exceptional circumstances, but only for a very short while. On the other hand, the attempted agrarian reforms of the Gracchi (two brothers who lived in the 2nd century B.C.) were a disaster because they tried to reconstitute a distant past, causing the bitterness of factions that led to the destruction of the republic.

Machiavelli then makes a case for the freedom that comes with a knowledge of the past. He states something quite similar to what George Santayana wrote in the 20th century: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Recommended Readings:
Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, translated by Julia Bondanella and Peter Bondanella, Discourse I, chapters 34–54.