Analysis Of Machiavelli's Discourses On Livy

Machiavelli came from a family of Florentine officials, though was never a outright citizen of Florence, due to the rules of the republic staging him as an outsider. The era in which Machiavelli had entered was one of common invasions by neighboring powers such as Rome, other city-states. The need for power came from the neighbors of Italy such as the Holy Roman Empire, France and Spain to control the region. The constant fluctuations in the newly formed Political-military alliances continually led to the change of loyalty instituting the rise and fall of many ruling governments. The world and times that Machiavelli was coming into was a strong factor to his view on how his vision of how Florence should be constructed later in life. The instability …show more content…
Machiavelli belief had shifted from that of an old system into believing that the system of republicanism was a more noble one stemmed from the events that surrounded his change. It was at this time the Savonarola had established a republic within Florence, in which the people had more control over their own fates. From this, Machiavelli was able to amend his beliefs with the idea that even though a prince is good for the people, by having two other groups such as the nobility and the popolo watch each other in power, it would keep Florence in check. It is with that a sense of change of how he believes that the balance of power will truly keep authority in check for Florence, that the balance of authority would not allow princes to blame the people for his faults in politics, as the word of the people is far more convincing in the fault of their leader than the leader themselves. It was a shift from a cold view of Florence to one being able to be shifted through the will of the people, such as Guicciardini, who saw a new dawning age in which politics and economic progress would revolutionize Florence as a place of peace within all of