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The Ancient Courts of Ancient Men

Joseph P. Tomain

in Creon's Ghost: Law, Justice, and the Humanities

This chapter focuses on Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince. Machiavelli is a separatist and rejects any necessary connection between law and the virtue of Justice. Law for Machiavelli operates in the ... More

This chapter focuses on Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince. Machiavelli is a separatist and rejects any necessary connection between law and the virtue of Justice. Law for Machiavelli operates in the service of power politics, and his realpolitik is based precisely upon divorcing morality from politics. Yet Machiavelli is not a nihilist. He does not say that law is irrelevant. Rather, law is not an intrinsic good — it is instrumental to acquiring and maintaining power. A prince uses law but is not constrained by it, and he must break it when necessary. Both law and Justice should be used to advance the civic greatness of princes. There is, then, no higher law; there is only law that works to perpetuate the power of the prince and perpetuate the principality.Less

The Power of Words

Maurizio Viroli

in Machiavelli

This chapter points out that all the political works of Machiavelli follow the manner of a rhetorician. He did not write to explain a scientific or moral truth, but to persuade and impel to act. This ... More

This chapter points out that all the political works of Machiavelli follow the manner of a rhetorician. He did not write to explain a scientific or moral truth, but to persuade and impel to act. This chapter gives evidence on the tradition of political rhetoric and the rhetorical structure of The Prince. Machiavelli grew up in a city pervaded by the cult of eloquence, which was considered the highest ornament of political life. In The Prince his training in oration is revealed by the good rhetorical quality of the text and the diligent application of the rules of deliberative rhetoric. The chapter also explains Machiavelli's use of grand examples to draw attention and persuade people. He also made use of history as an example, not only as a source of political wisdom but also to incite men to do what must be done. Lastly, the chapter argues that Machiavelli's style of writing is a powerful example of the possibility of practicing political theory in an attractive manner.Less

The Passion of Duke Valentino: Cesare Borgia, Biblical Allegory, and The Prince

John P. McCormick

in Reading Machiavelli

This chapter demonstrates how Machiavelli's narrative of Cesare Borgia's career—to which he devotes more space than any other in The Prince—is presented as a story in which a holy father sends his ... More

This chapter demonstrates how Machiavelli's narrative of Cesare Borgia's career—to which he devotes more space than any other in The Prince—is presented as a story in which a holy father sends his son to redeem, and to bring peace to, his people. All of a sudden, religious tropes or images jump out and impose themselves on the reader in potentially subversive ways: one begins to discern the presence of the crucifixion, the transfiguration, a circumcision, a bloody sacrifice that atones for political sins, an empty tomb, even St. Paul—all of which signify Machiavelli's beliefs concerning the appropriate covenants that should characterize prince-people relationships.Less

The Discourse of Princes in Richard II: From Machiavelli to Montaigne

Hugh Grady

in Shakespeare, Machiavelli, and Montaigne: Power and Subjectivity from Richard II to Hamlet

This chapter is organized into two parts. Part 1 makes the case for Machiavelli as a conduit for instrumental reason in Elizabethan England, with emphasis on the specific aspects of The Prince which ... More

This chapter is organized into two parts. Part 1 makes the case for Machiavelli as a conduit for instrumental reason in Elizabethan England, with emphasis on the specific aspects of The Prince which amounted to a doctrine of instrumental reason applied to politics, and contrasting and comparing The Prince and The Discourses on this issue. Part 2 discusses early modern subjectivity in Richard II. In this play, Shakespeare expresses the logic of an emerging modernity — characterized by fragmented, atomized belief systems, and instrumentalizing views of the natural and social worlds — by valorizing the subjectivity of the deposed Richard which was created in the vertiginous moment of ‘disinterpellation’ in the mirror and prison scenes.Less

The Art of the State

Maurizio Viroli

in Machiavelli

This chapter explains why Machiavelli considered himself an expert on the special art of statecraft, and it tries to examine the intellectual processes that guided the writing of The Prince. To ... More

This chapter explains why Machiavelli considered himself an expert on the special art of statecraft, and it tries to examine the intellectual processes that guided the writing of The Prince. To Machiavelli, the vivere politico or vivere civile is the civil community based on the rule of law and the common good. The chapter argues that Machiavelli implied that his little book, The Prince, contains all the necessary knowledge for preserving a state, including indications of what a prince should do when the interest of the state compels him to violate the norms of moral reason. Thus a ruler must learn to be able to be ‘not good’ and to use this capacity — or not — according to necessity. One aspect of the art of the state is to interpret the intentions of princes and rulers, and to understand the reasons for their actions.Less

‘Faint with Secret Knowledge’: Love and Vision in Murdoch’s The Black Prince

Martha Nussbaum

in Iris Murdoch, Philosopher

Focusing on The Black Prince, this chapter investigates the complexities of Murdoch’s view of erotic love.

Political Liberty

Hilary Gatti

in Ideas of Liberty in Early Modern Europe: From Machiavelli to Milton

This chapter examines Niccolò Machiavelli's ideas about liberty. It considers Machiavelli's Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy (1584), which contains Machiavelli's treatment of ... More

This chapter examines Niccolò Machiavelli's ideas about liberty. It considers Machiavelli's Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy (1584), which contains Machiavelli's treatment of republican liberty and is considered to be his greatest contribution to the discussion of the tensions between political power and the liberty of both the individual citizen and the community at large. Alongside the conflict between law and the liberty of the republican citizen, the chapter turns to another key point in Machiavelli's arguments about liberty—the contradictions between liberty and what he calls fortuna (good luck or good fortune). Next, the chapter studies Machiavelli's Discourses in light of the genre of the utopia, as conceived by Sir Thomas More. Finally, the chapter takes a more detailed look into Machiavelli's other famous work, The Prince (1532).Less

Heroines of Faith and Courage: Princess Irene in The Princess and the Goblin and Lucy in Prince Caspian

Vigen Guroian

in Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination

George MacDonald's The Princes and the Goblin was published in 1872 and was followed some nine years later by a sequel, The Princes and Curdie. The protagonists of these fairy-tale romances are two ... More

George MacDonald's The Princes and the Goblin was published in 1872 and was followed some nine years later by a sequel, The Princes and Curdie. The protagonists of these fairy-tale romances are two of the most memorable children in Victorian literature. This chapter deals with The Princes and the Goblin and the character of the Princes Irene. George MacDonald dared to invent a modern genre of fairly tale that even today challenges the positivism and twisted puritanism of our contemporary taste for stories suited for children. The Princes and the Goblin is a story that breathes with this freedom and risk.Less

Vulgarity and Virtuosity: Machiavelli’s Elusive “Effectual Truth”

John P. McCormick

in Reading Machiavelli

This introductory chapter presents an overview of the crucial themes within Machiavelli's three major political writings: The Prince, the Discourses and the Florentine Histories. It challenges what ... More

This introductory chapter presents an overview of the crucial themes within Machiavelli's three major political writings: The Prince, the Discourses and the Florentine Histories. It challenges what is considered to be misguided interpretive efforts offered by three illustrious, widely influential appraisals of the Florentine's work. Furthermore, the chapter substantiates Machiavelli's consistent advocacy for a new form of muscular, populist politics conveyed across his three greatest works. It also details how and why major interpretive schools of Machiavelli's political thought have either missed or deliberately obscured the radical extent of the Florentine's decidedly democratic form of republicanism. The chapter tackles suspect engagements with Machiavelli's political thought undertaken by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Leo Strauss, and scholars affiliated with the Cambridge School.Less

Tyranny and the Conscience of Man: Elyot's Dialogues of 1533–1534

Greg Walker

in Writing Under Tyranny: English Literature and the Henrician Reformation

This chapter examines the trio of political dialogues published by Thomas Elyot in 1533-4: Pasquil the Plain, Of the Knowledge Which Maketh a Wise Man, and The Doctrinal of Princes, each of which is ... More

This chapter examines the trio of political dialogues published by Thomas Elyot in 1533-4: Pasquil the Plain, Of the Knowledge Which Maketh a Wise Man, and The Doctrinal of Princes, each of which is a direct commentary on the political events of those years. Each examines the responsibility of counsellors to speak truth plainly to power, and they each, through analogy and example, edge closer towards a dangerous discussion of the role of counsel in the court of a tyrant.Less

Young Love in Old Heidelberg: The Student Prince

William A. Everett

in Sigmund Romberg

This chapter examines the success of Sigmund Romberg's operetta The Student Prince. It explains that this operetta was based on Wilhelm Meyer-Forster's play Alt Heidelberg and suggests that its ... More

This chapter examines the success of Sigmund Romberg's operetta The Student Prince. It explains that this operetta was based on Wilhelm Meyer-Forster's play Alt Heidelberg and suggests that its success was due not only to the show itself but also to its stars, Ilse Marvenga and Howard Marsh. It also describes the music in The Student Prince, particularly its extraordinary waltzes and marches.Less

The Theory of the Republic

Maurizio Viroli

in Machiavelli

This chapter begins with the reasons why Machiavelli's work, The Prince, damaged his reputation. It also offers various accounts that supported Machiavelli's reputation as a republican thinker. It ... More

This chapter begins with the reasons why Machiavelli's work, The Prince, damaged his reputation. It also offers various accounts that supported Machiavelli's reputation as a republican thinker. It argues that Machiavelli's republicanism was a commitment to the ideal of a well-ordered republic that is kept in check by the rule of law. It also offers insights on republicanism before Machiavelli's time and points out that the connection between political or civil life and political liberty needs to be studied. In analyzing Machiavelli's works, the first point that should be addressed is that his republicanism is a commitment to the vivere civile. The chapter elaborates on the nature of corruption and Machiavelli's thoughts on its impact on religion and politics. To him, ‘absolute power’ and exaggerated wealth were two causes of this. It also offers a solution to corruption — the outstanding virtue of a ruler dedicated to restoring the rules.Less

More Than the Hood Was Red: The Joker as Marxist

Richard D. Heldenfels

in The Joker: A Serious Study of the Clown Prince of Crime

Engaging the Joker’s potential for political symbolism, Richard D Heldenfels suggests we read the character as a manifestation of Marxist thinking. Rather than seeing the Clown Prince in traditional ... More

Engaging the Joker’s potential for political symbolism, Richard D Heldenfels suggests we read the character as a manifestation of Marxist thinking. Rather than seeing the Clown Prince in traditional ways – as insane, as an anarchist – Heldenfels suggests that “a crucial distinction between anarchists and Marxists involves the concentration of power,” and that the Joker, in fact, rejects some but not all authority, reserving his own power to guide the masses along his path. Moreover, reading the Joker as Marxist is the necessary and preliminary step toward reading the Caped Crusader – since Batman is framed as the Joker’s antithesis – as fundamentally capitalist.Less

The Life of an Elephant

John Franceschina

in Hermes Pan: The Man Who Danced with Fred Astaire

Hermes Pan continues at M-G-M with Kiss Me Kate in which he permits Bob Fosse to choreograph a portion of “From This Moment On.” He continues turning out musicals—The Student Prince, Jupiter’s ... More

Hermes Pan continues at M-G-M with Kiss Me Kate in which he permits Bob Fosse to choreograph a portion of “From This Moment On.” He continues turning out musicals—The Student Prince, Jupiter’s Darling, in which he designed an underwater ballet for Esther Williams, Hit the Deck, and Meet Me in Las Vegas for which he created the spectacular “Frankie and Johnny” ballet for Cyd Charisse and John Braccia. He assisted Fred Astaire with the choreography for “Clap Yo’ Hands” in Funny Face before moving on to Silk Stockings with Astaire and Charisse and Pal Joey at Columbia Pictures with Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak, and Rita Hayworth. Pan choreographs Un Paio d’Ali (A Pair of Wings) in Milan and falls in love with dancer Gino Malerba.Less

Lydgate's Libraries: Duke Humfrey, Bury St. Edmunds, and the Fall of Princes

Jennifer Summit

in Memory's Library: Medieval Books in Early Modern England

This chapter presents and examines the implications of the following argument: while the fifteenth-century “age of libraries” took place against the backdrop of expanded literacy in late medieval ... More

This chapter presents and examines the implications of the following argument: while the fifteenth-century “age of libraries” took place against the backdrop of expanded literacy in late medieval England, to both their founders and their critics, the new libraries represented an effort to restrict, rather than advance, popular literacy. This argument counters an assumption that the growth of libraries was a natural outcome of, or necessarily promoted, the spread of books and literacy, and it carries implications for understanding the broader cultural significance of libraries. At a time when literacy could no longer be considered the exclusive domain and defining privilege of the clergy, the newly centralized libraries worked to safeguard literacy and its privileges by other means. The chapter makes this point by considering two of the most important libraries of the fifteenth century: the library of Bury St. Edmunds, established by Bishop William Curteys in the middle of the century, and that of Duke Humfrey of Gloucester, who would go on to endow the central university library at Oxford. While the two libraries represent two different forms of literacy—monastic and humanist—they are joined and mediated through the work of John Lydgate, who was a monk at Bury under Curteys and who enjoyed Humfrey's patronage as well as access to his library while composing his monumental work The Fall of Princes.Less

‘To plough in winter is hard work’: 1914–1918

David Cooper

in Béla Bartók

This chapter focuses on Béla Bartók's musical activities between 1914 and 1918. It first examines Bartók's ballet The Wooden Prince, which was based in part on Béla Balázs's libretto, before turning ... More

This chapter focuses on Béla Bartók's musical activities between 1914 and 1918. It first examines Bartók's ballet The Wooden Prince, which was based in part on Béla Balázs's libretto, before turning to his interest in folk music. It then considers the impact of World War I on Bartók's public activity as a composer, pianist, and folk-music collector. It also discusses some of Bartók's compositions, including two sets of Romanian Christmas Carols, Romanian Folk Dances, and a three-movement Sonatina for piano; his self-imposed withdrawal from public life as a composer; the progress he made in terms of his composition and folk-song collection during the war years; and the recognition he received as one of Hungary's most important musicians.Less

Credibility and Truth Making in the Atlantic World

David Lambert

in Mastering the Niger: James MacQueen's African Geography and the Struggle over Atlantic Slavery

This chapter considers tensions between James MacQueen’s synthetic geographical method and theories of knowledge based on first-hand observation. Questions about the credibility of testimony and ... More

This chapter considers tensions between James MacQueen’s synthetic geographical method and theories of knowledge based on first-hand observation. Questions about the credibility of testimony and authority at distance were not limited to the fields of geographical discovery and exploration, but also extended to the moral and political issue of slavery. The chapter begins with reviews of MacQueen’s first geographical work on Africa, A Geographical and Commercial View (1821), particularly the dismissal of MacQueen’s Niger theory by John Barrow, the central figure in coordinating and promoting British exploratory activity in Africa. The chapter then discusses the reception of MacQueen’s claims about another Atlantic site, the Caribbean, in the context of campaigning around slavery. This time, MacQueen contrasted his own first-hand knowledge with the distant speculations of abolitionists such as Zachary Macaulay. MacQueen sought to manage this apparent contradiction by articulating a particular epistemological map of the Atlantic world and a certain construction of racialised categories. Finally, a discussion of MacQueen’s attacks on the slave narrative The History of Mary Prince (1831) and its antislavery sponsor, Thomas Pringle, is used to reveal that this contradiction could never be completely managed, something with consequences for his claims about distant places across the Atlantic world.Less

Machiavelli's Gift of Counsel

Albert Russell Ascoli

in A Local Habitation and a Name: Imagining Histories in the Italian Renaissance

This chapter argues for reading the Prince both rhetorically and historically as the product of multiple desires on the part of its exiled, unemployed author: to obtain employment for him as privy ... More

This chapter argues for reading the Prince both rhetorically and historically as the product of multiple desires on the part of its exiled, unemployed author: to obtain employment for him as privy counsellor to the Medici family; to persuade the Medici pope, Leo X, to provide the unifying impetus that Italy needs to fend off French and Spanish invaders, and, finally, to offer more general rules of conduct for the founder of a new state. The key in each case is the reconciliation of two forms of “virtù”—the physical power of autonomous arms and the intellectual foresight (prudence) which dictates when and how to use such arms in order to overcome obstacles presented by “fortuna”. The two categories appear in the famous animal imagery of the fox and the lion (Chapter 15), betraying Machiavelli's literary indebtedness to Dante (and Cicero), as well as dramatizing his (hoped for) relationship to Leo, the pope with an animal's name. The chapter concludes with a reading of the last two chapters of the treatise to suggest Machiavelli's recognition and acknowledgment of the “utopian” character of a politics which claims to adhere strictly to “la verità effettuale delle cose” (the effectual truth of things).Less