Machiavelli letter
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Letter from Niccolo Machiavelli to Francesco Vettori
A letter from Niccolo Machiavelli to his friend and hoped-for patron
Francesco Vettori, describing his life in internal political exile after
the fall of Florentine Republican government that he had served.
It is best known for its description of how Machiavelli spent his evenings:
"On the coming of evening, I return to my house and enter my study;
and at the door I take off the day's clothing, covered with mud and dust,
and put on garments regal and courtly; and reclothed appropriately, I enter
the ancient courts of ancient men, where, received by them with affection,
I feed on that food which only is mine and which I was born for, where
I am not ashamed to speak with them and to ask them the reason for their
actions; and they in their kindness answer me; and for four hours of time
I do not feel boredom, I forget every trouble, I do not dread poverty,
I am not frightened by death; entirely I give myself over to them.
"And because Dante says it does not produce knowledge when we hear
but do not remember, I have noted everything in their conversation which
has profited me, and have composed a little work On Princedoms,
where I go as deeply as I can into considerations on this subject, debating
what a princedom is, of what kinds they are, how they are gained, how they
are kept, why they are lost."
Letter from Niccolo Machiavelli to Francesco Vettori
10 December 1513
Magnificent Ambassador:
"Never late were favors divine." I say this because I seemed
to have lost--no, rather mislaid--your good will; you had not written to
me for a long time, and I was wondering what the reason could be. And of
all those that came into my mind I took little account, except of one only,
when I feared that you had stopped writing because somebody had written
to you that I was not a good guardian of your letters, and I knew that,
except Filippo and Pagolo, nobody by my doing had seen them. I have found
it again through your last letter of the twenty-third of the past month,
from which I learn with pleasure how regularly and quietly you carry on
this public office, and I encourage you to continue so, because he who
gives up his own convenience for the convenience of others, only loses
his own and from them gets no gratitude. And since Fortune wants to do
everything, she wishes us to let her do it, to be quiet, and not to give
her trouble, and to wait for a time when she will allow something to be
done by men; and then will be the time for you to work harder, to stir
things up more, and for me to leave my farm and say: "Here I am."
I cannot however, wishing to return equal favors, tell you in this letter
anything else than what my life is; and if you judge that you would like
to swap with me, I shall be glad to.
I am living on my farm, and since I had my last bad luck, I have not
spent twenty days, putting them all together, in Florence. I have until
now been snaring thrushes with my own hands. I got up before day, prepared
birdlime, went out with a bundle of cages on my back, so that I looked
like Geta when he was returning from the harbor with Amphitryon's books.
I caught at least two thrushes and at most six. And so I did all September.
Then this pastime, pitiful and strange as it is, gave out, to my displeasure.
And of what sort my life is, I shall tell you.
I get up in the morning with the sun and go into a grove I am having
cut down, where I remain two hours to look over the work of the past day
and kill some time with the cutters, who have always some bad-luck story
ready, about either themselves or their neighbors. And as to this grove
I could tell you a thousand fine things that have happened to me, in dealing
with Frosino da Panzano and others who wanted some of this firewood. And
Frosino especially sent for a number of cords without saying a thing to
me, and on payment he wanted to keep back from me ten lire, which he says
he should have had from me four years ago, when he beat me at cricca
at Antonio Guicciardini's. I raised the devil, and was going to prosecute
as a thief the waggoner who came for the wood, but Giovanni Machiavelli
came between us and got us to agree. Batista Guicciardini, Filippo Ginori,
Tommaso del Bene and some other citizens, when that north wind was blowing,
each ordered a cord from me. I made promises to all and sent one to Tommaso,
which at Florence changed to half a cord, because it was piled up again
by himself, his wife, his servant, his children, so that he looked like
Gabburra when on Thursday with all his servants he cudgels an ox. Hence,
having seen for whom there was profit, I told the others I had no more
wood, and all of them were angry about it, and especially Batista, who
counts this along with his misfortunes at Prato.
Leaving the grove, I go to a spring, and thence to my aviary. I have
a book in my pocket, either Dante or Petrarch, or one of the lesser poets,
such as Tibullus, Ovid, and the like. I read of their tender passions and
their loves, remember mine, enjoy myself a while in that sort of dreaming.
Then I move along the road to the inn; I speak with those who pass, ask
news of their villages, learn various things, and note the various tastes
and different fancies of men. In the course of these things comes the hour
for dinner, where with my family I eat such food as this poor farm of mine
and my tiny property allow. Having eaten, I go back to the inn; there is
the host, usually a butcher, a miller, two furnace tenders. With these
I sink into vulgarity for the whole day, playing at cricca and at
trich-trach, and then these games bring on a thousand disputes and countless
insults with offensive words, and usually we are fighting over a penny,
and nevertheless we are heard shouting as far as San Casciano. So, involved
in these trifles, I keep my brain from growing mouldy, and satisfy the
malice of this fate of mine, being glad to have her drive me along this
road, to see if she will be ashamed of it.
On the coming of evening, I return to my house and enter my study; and
at the door I take off the day's clothing, covered with mud and dust, and
put on garments regal and courtly; and reclothed appropriately, I enter
the ancient courts of ancient men, where, received by them with affection,
I feed on that food which only is mine and which I was born for, where
I am not ashamed to speak with them and to ask them the reason for their
actions; and they in their kindness answer me; and for four hours of time
I do not feel boredom, I forget every trouble, I do not dread poverty,
I am not frightened by death; entirely I give myself over to them.
And because Dante says it does not produce knowledge when we hear but
do not remember, I have noted everything in their conversation which has
profited me, and have composed a little work On Princedoms,
where I go as deeply as I can into considerations on this subject, debating
what a princedom is, of what kinds they are, how they are gained, how they
are kept, why they are lost. And if ever you can find any of my fantasies
pleasing, this one should not displease you; and by a prince, and especially
by a new prince, it ought to be welcomed. Hence I am dedicating it to His
Magnificence Giuliano. Filippo Casavecchia has seen it; he can give you
some account in part of the thing in itself and of the discussions I have
had with him, though I am still enlarging and revising it.
You wish, Magnificent Ambassador, that I leave this life and come to
enjoy yours with you. I shall do it in any case, but what tempts me now
are certain affairs that within six weeks I shall finish. What makes me
doubtful is that the Soderini we know so well are in the city, whom I should
be obliged, on coming there, to visit and talk with. I should fear that
on my return I could not hope to dismount at my house but should dismount
at the prison, because though this government has mighty foundations and
great security, yet it is new and therefore suspicious, and there is no
lack of wiseacres who, to make a figure, like Pagolo Bertini, would place
others at the dinner table and leave the reckoning to me. I beg you to
rid me of this fear, and then I shall come within the time mentioned to
visit you in any case.
I have talked with Filippo about this little work of mine that I have
spoken of, whether it is good to give it or not to give it; and if it is
good to give it, whether it would be good to take it myself, or whether
I should send it there. Not giving it would make me fear that at the least
Giuliano will not read it and that this rascal Ardinghelli will get himself
honor from this latest work of mine. The giving of it is forced on me by
the necessity that drives me, because I am using up my money, and I cannot
remain as I am a long time without becoming despised through poverty. In
addition, there is my wish that our present Medici lords will make use
of me, even if they begin by making me roll a stone; because then if I
could not gain their favor, I should complain of myself; and through this
thing, if it were read, they would see that for the fifteen years while
I have been studying the art of the state, I have not slept or been playing;
and well may anybody be glad to get the services of one who at the expense
of others has become full of experience. And of my honesty there should
be no doubt, because having always preserved my honesty, I shall hardly
now learn to break it; and he who has been honest and good for forty-three
years, as I have, cannot change his nature; and as a witness to my honesty
and goodness I have my poverty.
I should like, then, to have you also write me what you think best on
this matter, and I give you my regards. Be happy.
Niccolo Machiavelli, in Florence
 Professor
of Economics J. Bradford DeLong, 601 Evans Hall, #3880
University of California at Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
(510) 643-4027 phone (510) 642-6615 fax
delong@econ.berkeley.edu
http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/
This document: http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/Politics/Vettori.html
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