# LIII explained — Discourses on Livy > Chapter companion for Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli. ## What happens The chapter examines how the people, deceived by a false show of advantage, often desire what would ruin them, and how large hopes and brave promises easily sway them. Using the example of the Roman commons wanting to move half the population to conquered Veii, Machiavelli illustrates the danger of popular delusion. He contrasts this with the wisdom of the senate and the need for trusted leaders to restrain the populace. The chapter also discusses the difficulty of persuading a people to adopt cautious or seemingly base courses, even when they are truly advantageous, citing Fabius Maximus, the disastrous appointment of Varro, the foolhardy offer of Marcus Centenius Penula, and the Athenian expedition to Sicily. Machiavelli concludes that in republics where the people hold power, daring proposals are always welcomed, often leading to ruin for the state and for the commanders who undertake them. ## Themes in this chapter ### Virtù and Fortune The chapter contrasts the prudence (virtù) of Fabius and the senate with the rashness of the people and demagogues like Varro, showing how fortune favors the cautious but the people are swayed by bold promises. ### Leadership and Moral Character Explores the difficulty of wise leaders (Fabius, Nicias) in persuading the people to follow prudent but unpopular courses, and the ruin that follows when leaders yield to popular demand. ### Necessity and Reason of State The senate's decision to grant Penula's request to avoid popular discontent illustrates the necessity of managing public opinion even at the cost of military disaster. ## Character check-ins ### Fabius Maximus Cited as a leader whose cautious strategy against Hannibal was unpopular with the people, who saw it as base; his prudence saved the army after Varro's rash battle. ### Varro Appointed consul because he promised to quickly defeat Hannibal; his rashness led to the disastrous battle of Cannae. ### Hannibal The Carthaginian general against whom Fabius Maximus and Varro campaigned; his presence in Italy for eight to ten years is noted. ### Nicias The Athenian statesman who could not persuade the people against the Sicilian expedition, which led to Athens' downfall. ### Scipio Mentioned as a consul who threatened to appeal to the people to grant him the province of Africa, knowing such proposals are always popular. ### Antonio Giacomini Florentine commander who, after promising to take Pisa, failed and fell into discredit with the people despite past services. ## Key lines > That the people, deceived by a false show of advantage, often desire what would be their ruin; and that large hopes and brave promises easily move them. The populace, misled by an apparent benefit, frequently pursues its own destruction; grand expectations and bold assurances readily sway them. _Opening thesis of the chapter._ > When Veii fell, the commons of Rome took up the notion that it would be to the advantage of their city were half their number to go and dwell there. After the conquest of Veii, the Roman commoners believed it would benefit Rome if half the population moved there. _Historical example illustrating popular delusion._ > Hence grew the ill opinion entertained in Rome of Fabius Maximus, who could never persuade the people that it behoved them to proceed warily in their conflict with Hannibal, and withstand his onset without fighting. This is why Fabius Maximus was so unpopular in Rome: he could not convince the people that they should act cautiously against Hannibal and avoid direct battle. _Example of the people rejecting prudent advice._ > And so blinded are men in favour of what seems a spirited course, that although the Romans had already committed the blunder of permitting Varro, master of the knights to Fabius, to join battle contrary to the latter’s desire, whereby the army must have been destroyed had not Fabius by his prudence saved it, this lesson was not enough; for afterwards they appointed this Varro to be consul, for no other reason than that he gave out, in the streets and marketplaces, that he would make an end of Hannibal as soon as leave was given him to do so. Men are so biased toward bold action that even after Varro's near-disastrous battle, which Fabius had to rescue, they still elected him consul simply because he promised in public to finish Hannibal quickly. _Illustrates the people's preference for boldness over caution._ > I say, then, that there is no readier way to bring about the ruin of a republic, when the power is in the hands of the people, than to suggest daring courses for their adoption. Thus, when the people hold power, the quickest path to a republic's destruction is to propose bold ventures for them to undertake. _Machiavelli's concluding warning._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/liii - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/discourses_on_livy_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters