Discourses on Livy · Chapter
Chapter VI: Whether it was possible in Rome to contrive such a government as would have composed the differences between the commons and the senate explained
Machiavelli examines whether Rome could have avoided the conflicts between the commons and senate by adopting a government like Sparta or Venice.
What happens
Machiavelli examines whether Rome could have avoided the conflicts between the commons and senate by adopting a government like Sparta or Venice. He argues that such tranquility would have required either excluding the commons from war or closing the state to foreigners, both of which would have prevented Rome's expansion and greatness. He concludes that the tumults were necessary for Rome's growth and that a republic must accept such inconveniences if it seeks empire.
Themes in this chapter
Class Conflict and Political Order
The chapter centers on the necessity of class conflict between the commons and senate for Rome's expansion, arguing that such tumults, while inconvenient, were unavoidable for achieving greatness.
Necessity and Reason of State
Machiavelli emphasizes that human affairs cannot remain static and that necessity often forces a republic to expand, making the Roman model of accepting internal discord the more honorable and practical path.
Historical Cyclicality and Human Nature
The discussion of Sparta and Venice shows how republics that avoid expansion eventually decline, reflecting the cyclical rise and fall of states due to inherent human and political dynamics.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Weighing all which circumstances, we see that to have kept Rome in the same tranquility wherein these republics were kept, one of two courses must have been followed by her legislators; for either, like the Venetians, they must have refrained from employing the commons in war, or else, like the Spartans, they must have closed their country to foreigners.”
To avoid internal conflict, Rome would have had to either keep the common people out of military service or ban immigration, as Venice and Sparta did.
Machiavelli identifies the trade-off between internal peace and external strength.
“For which reason in all our deliberations we ought to consider where we are likely to encounter least inconvenience, and accept that as the course to be preferred, since we shall never find any line of action entirely free from disadvantage.”
In decision-making, we should choose the option with the fewest drawbacks, because no choice is without problems.
This reflects Machiavelli's pragmatic approach to political trade-offs.
“But all human affairs being in movement, and incapable of remaining as they are, they must either rise or fall; and to many conclusions to which we are not led by reason, we are brought by necessity.”
Since everything in human life is constantly changing, states must either grow or decline, and necessity often forces actions that reason alone would not dictate.
Machiavelli underscores the inevitability of change and the role of necessity in political life.