Discourses on Livy

ISBN-13: 9780199555550 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 448 str.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Opis

Discourses on Livy, written in 1531, is as essential to an understanding of Machiavelli as his famous treatise, The Prince. Equally controversial, it reveals his fundamental preference for a republican state.
Comparing the practice of the ancient Romans with that of his contemporaries provided Machiavelli with a consistent point of view in all his works. Machiavelli's close analysis of Livy's history of Rome led him to advance his most original and outspoken view of politics--the belief that a healthy political body was characterized by social friction and conflict rather than by rigid stability. His discussion of conspiracies in Discourses on Livy is one of the most sophisticated treatments of archetypal political upheaval ever written. In an age of increasing political absolutism, Machiavelli's theories became a dangerous ideology.
This new translation is richly annotated, providing the contemporary reader with sufficient historical, linguistic, and political information to understand and interpret the revolutionary affirmations Machiavelli made, based on the historical evidence he found in Livy.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Recenzje

...a great author requires a careful translator; and it is befitting for Conaway Bondanella and Bondanella, in presenting a text translated from Italian to English, to assert that Machiavelli has been misunderstood because of poor translations. Sixteenth Century Journal

O autorze

Niccolò Machiavelli wurde am 3. Mai 1469 in San Casciano in Val di Pesa geboren. Er entstammte einer angesehenen, jedoch verarmten Familie. Er wuchs zusammen mit seinen drei Geschwistern in Florenz auf, der Vater arbeitete hauptsächlich als Anwalt. Mit seinem geringen Gehalt unterhielt dieser eine kleine Bibliothek und ermöglichte seinem Sohn Niccolò; eine umfassende humanistische Bildung. So lernte Machiavelli schon früh die antiken Klassiker kennen. Machiavelli war von 1498 bis 1512 Staatssekretär der Zweiten Kanzlei des Rats der "Dieci di pace e di libertà" der Republik Florenz und als solcher für die Außen- und Verteidigungspolitik zuständig. Um 1509 entstanden erste Denkschriften und Theaterstücke. Machiavellis dramatisches Schaffen umfasste sechs Werke, von denen nur drei erhalten sind. Vor allem aufgrund seines Werks "Il Principe (" Der Fürst ") gilt er als einer der bedeutendsten Staatsphilosophen der Neuzeit. Sein politisches Hauptwerk "Discorsi" ist darüber in den Hintergrund getreten. Macchiavelli starb am 21. Juni 1527 in Florenz.