History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~170,000 words · 803 passages
Cite this work
- APAMachiavelli. (n.d.). History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/machiavelli/history-of-florence-and-of-the-affairs-of-italy
- MLAMachiavelli. History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/machiavelli/history-of-florence-and-of-the-affairs-of-italy.
- ChicagoMachiavelli. History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/machiavelli/history-of-florence-and-of-the-affairs-of-italy.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The history of Florence that Machiavelli wrote between 1520 and 1525, from the origins to the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Context and history
The circumstances of its writing are what make it singular: it was commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the future Pope Clement VII — that is, by the family that seven years earlier had had him arrested and tortured when they returned to power. Machiavelli needed the work. The result is a book that does not lie but chooses very carefully what to underline, and reading it while knowing who was paying is part of reading it well. The underlying thesis is that Florence's internal divisions were not an accident but its mechanism.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
a course which diminished his own power, and increased that of the barbarians. Nor was the island of Britain, which is now called England, secure from them; for the Britons, being apprehensive of those who had occupied Gaul, called the Angli, a people of Germany, to their aid; and these under Vortigern their king, first defended, and then drove them from the island, of which they took possession, and after themselves named the country England. But the inhabitants, being robbed of their home, became desperate by necessity and resolved to take possession of some other country, although they had been unable to defend their own. They therefore crossed the sea with their families, and settled in the country nearest to the beach, which from themselves is called Brittany. The Huns, who were said above to have occupied Pannonia, joining with other nations, as the Zepidi, Eurili, Turingi, and Ostro, or eastern Goths, moved in search of new countries, and not being able to enter France, which was defended by the forces of the barbarians, came into Italy under Attila their king. He, a short time previously, in order to possess the entire monarchy, had murdered his brother Bleda; and having thus become very powerful, Andaric, king of the Zepidi, and Velamir, king of the Ostrogoths, became subject to him. Attila, having entered Italy, laid siege to Aquileia, where he remained without any obstacle for two years, wasting the country round, and dispersing the inhabitants. This, as will be related in its place, caused the origin of Venice. After the taking and ruin of Aquileia, he directed his course towards Rome, from the destruction of which he abstained at the entreaty of the pontiff, his respect for whom was so great that he left Italy and retired into Austria, where he died.…