Discourses on Livy · Chapter
XL: Of the creation of the Decemvirate in Rome, and what therein is to be noted. explained
Machiavelli analyzes the creation of the Decemvirate in Rome, highlighting the mistakes made by both the Senate and the people that led to tyranny, and the errors of Appius Claudius in his attempt to seize power.
What happens
Machiavelli analyzes the creation of the Decemvirate in Rome, highlighting the mistakes made by both the Senate and the people that led to tyranny, and the errors of Appius Claudius in his attempt to seize power. He contrasts the successful method of tyrants who first destroy the nobles with the people's support against Appius's failure, and discusses how the same causes can lead to either the safety or ruin of a commonwealth.
Themes in this chapter
Leadership and Moral Character
Appius's initial feigned affability and subsequent arrogance illustrate how a leader's character can deceive and ultimately lead to tyranny and ruin.
Necessity and Reason of State
The decemvirs were driven by necessity to convene the Senate when faced with war, revealing the weakness of their position and the limits of their authority.
Ingratitude and Suspicion in Republics
The commons' excessive love of liberty and the nobles' eagerness to govern led them to support a single man, creating the conditions for tyranny, and later the people turned against Appius once his true nature was revealed.
Characters to notice
- Appius Claudius
The chief decemvir who initially feigned favor with the commons to gain power, but later revealed his innate arrogance and attempted to establish tyranny, ultimately leading to his downfall.
- Spurius Posthumius
Sent to Athens along with two others to procure copies of Solon's laws as a basis for Roman law.
- Valerius Corvinus
Senator who, along with Horatius, inveighed against the insolence of the decemvirs in the Senate.
- Virginius
Father of Virginia, who slew his own daughter to save her from dishonor at the hands of Appius, sparking the tumults that led to the fall of the Decemvirate.
- Solon
The Athenian lawgiver whose laws were copied by the Romans as a groundwork for their own legal code.
- King Ferrando
Quoted for his saying that men often behave like small birds, so intent on prey that they do not see the eagle overhead, illustrating the blindness of the Romans in their pursuit of liberty.
Key passages
“For, as King Ferrando was wont to say, men often behave like certain of the smaller birds, which are so intent on the prey to which nature incites them, that they discern not the eagle hovering overhead for their destruction.”
People can become so focused on a short-term goal that they fail to notice a much greater danger approaching.
Machiavelli uses this metaphor to explain how both the Senate and the commons were blinded by their desire to eliminate the tribunes and consuls, respectively, leading to the creation of the Decemvirate and subsequent tyranny.
“For although it be the desire of the nobles to tyrannize, that section of them which finds itself outside the tyranny is always hostile to the tyrant, who can never succeed in gaining over the entire body of the nobles by reason of their greed and ambition; for no tyrant can ever have honours or wealth enough to satisfy them all.”
Even though nobles may want to dominate, those not included in the tyrant's inner circle will oppose him because their greed and ambition can never be fully satisfied.
Machiavelli explains why Appius's decision to side with the nobles instead of the people was a fatal mistake, as the nobles' insatiable desires make them unreliable allies.
“But what they meant as a hindrance, he turned to account.”
What others intended to obstruct him, he used to his advantage.
Referring to Appius's maneuver when the other candidates put him forward to announce the decemvirs, expecting he would not name himself; instead, he named himself first, seizing the opportunity.
