ill seeking the one strong
man in a blatant land with almost absolute power to punish, pull down,
and reconstruct on an abiding foundation, for to his clear eyes it is
ever the events that are born of the man, and not the man of the events.
He was the first to observe that the Ghibellines were not only the
Imperial party but the party of the aristocrats and influential men,
whereas the Guelphs were the party not only of the Church but of the
people, and he traces the slow but increasing struggle to the triumph of
democracy in the Ordinamenti di Giustizia (1293). But the triumph was
not final. The Florentines were 'unable to preserve liberty and could
not tolerate slavery.' So the fighting, banishments, bloodshed, cruelty,
injustice, began once more. The nobles were in origin Germanic, he
points out, the people Latin; so that a racial bitterness gave accent to
their hate. But yet, he adds impartially, when the crushed nobility were
forced to change their names and no longer dared be heard 'Florence was
not only stripped of arms but likewise of all generosity.' It would be
impossible to follow the History in detail. The second, seventh and
eighth books are perhaps the most powerful and dramatic. Outside affairs
and lesser events are lightly touched. But no stories in the world have
been told with more intensity than those of the conspiracies in the
seventh and eighth books, and none have given a more intimate and
accurate perception of the modes of thought and feeling at the time. The
History ends with the death of Lorenzo de Medici in 1492. Enough has
been said of its breadth of scope and originality of method. The spirit
of clear flaming patriotism, of undying hope that will not in the
darkest day despair, the plangent appeal to Italy for its own great sake
to rouse and live, all these are found pre-eminently in the History as
they are found wherever Machiavelli speaks from the heart of his heart.
Of the style a foreigner may not speak. But those who are proper judges
maintain that in simplicity and lucidity, vigour, and power, softness,
elevation, and eloquence, the style of Machiavelli is 'divine,' and
remains, as that of Dante among the poets, unchallenged and insuperable
among all writers of Italian prose.

[Sidenote: Other Works.]

Though Machiavelli must always stand as a political thinker, an
historian, and a military theorist it would leave an insufficient idea
of his mental activities were there no short notic