Discourses on Livy · Chapter
XLIX explained
This chapter discusses the difficulty of framing laws to preserve freedom in cities that began in subjection, using Rome and Florence as contrasting examples.
What happens
This chapter discusses the difficulty of framing laws to preserve freedom in cities that began in subjection, using Rome and Florence as contrasting examples. It highlights the creation of the censors in Rome as a key institution for maintaining liberty, and examines the challenges Florence faced due to its dependent origins, including flawed judicial systems. The chapter also compares Venice's approach to punishing powerful citizens.
Themes in this chapter
Republican Liberty and Popular Government
The chapter examines how laws and institutions like the censorship help preserve freedom in a republic, contrasting Rome's success with Florence's struggles.
Leadership and Moral Character
The role of the censors as arbiters of morals and the impact of Mamercus's reform highlight the importance of virtuous leadership in maintaining liberty.
Necessity and Reason of State
The discussion of the dictator's power to execute justice in urgent cases reflects the need for extraordinary measures in times of necessity.
Characters to notice
- Romulus
One of the early lawgivers of Rome, providing initial ordinances.
- Numa
Successor to Romulus who contributed to Rome's early laws.
- Tullus Hostilius
Roman king who added to the body of laws.
- Servius Tullius
Roman king who further developed Rome's legal framework.
- Mamercus
Dictator who reduced the term of censors from five years to eighteen months, but was punished by the censors.
Key passages
“For as the censors became the arbiters of morals in Rome, it was very much owing to them that the progress of the Romans towards corruption was retarded.”
The censors, by overseeing public morals, significantly slowed Rome's decline into corruption.
Highlights the importance of the censorship in preserving Roman freedom.
“But returning to the matter under consideration, we have, in connection with the creation of this new office, to note, that if those cities which, as was the case with Rome, have had their beginning in freedom, and have by themselves maintained that freedom, have experienced great difficulty in framing good laws for the preservation of their liberties, it is little to be wondered at that cities which at the first were dependent, should find it not difficult merely but impossible so to shape their ordinances as to enable them to live free and undisturbed.”
If even Rome, born free, struggled to create laws to sustain freedom, it is no surprise that cities originally under foreign rule find it nearly impossible to establish lasting liberty.
Core argument of the chapter: the origin of a city determines its capacity for self-governance.
“This, instead of order, has occasioned the greatest disorder in our city.”
These reforms, rather than bringing order, have caused the worst chaos in Florence.
Critique of Florence's piecemeal and partisan reforms.