The Fortune of Machiavelli’s Unarmed Prophet

This article presents a comprehensive examination of the role of Savonarola in The Prince to show how Machiavelli draws on Savonarolan themes and language and adapts themfor a new understanding of politics that weds a gimlet-eyed attention to the “effectual truth of the thing” and a prophetic call t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of politics Vol. 80; no. 2; pp. 615 - 629
Main Author Scott, John T.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago University of Chicago on behalf of the Southern Political Science Association 01.04.2018
University of Chicago Press
Subjects
Machiavelli, Niccolo (1469-1527)
Politics
Religion & politics
Savonarola, Girolamo (1452-1498)
Sermons
Truth
Italy
Machiavelli
Savonarola
fortune
virtue
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Summary:This article presents a comprehensive examination of the role of Savonarola in The Prince to show how Machiavelli draws on Savonarolan themes and language and adapts themfor a new understanding of politics that weds a gimlet-eyed attention to the “effectual truth of the thing” and a prophetic call to action. I examine Machiavelli’s explicit and implicit treatments of Savonarola in The Prince and show how they tie together the most important themes of the work, including the difficulties in ordering a new state, the “sins” of Italy with regard to arms, the image of the river fortune, and his exhortation to liberate Italy. Notably, I suggest that Savonarola’s sermons are an important and hitherto unrecognized source for Machiavelli’s famous simile of fortune as a river.
ISSN:0022-3816
1468-2508
DOI:10.1086/696992