Discourses on Livy · Chapter
XLVIII explained
Machiavelli discusses how the Roman Senate managed the election of tribunes with consular powers to prevent the commons from dominating the office, either by encouraging the most noble citizens to run or by inserting a base candidate to sha
What happens
Machiavelli discusses how the Roman Senate managed the election of tribunes with consular powers to prevent the commons from dominating the office, either by encouraging the most noble citizens to run or by inserting a base candidate to shame the people into rejecting the whole slate.
Themes in this chapter
Republican Liberty and Popular Government
The chapter illustrates how the Senate manipulated popular elections to preserve republican balance, showing the interplay between elite control and popular will.
Leadership and Moral Character
The Senate's strategy of using either the most noble or the most base candidates highlights the role of character in political outcomes.
Characters to notice
- Titus Livius
Source for the historical account of the Senate's tactics regarding the election of tribunes with consular powers.
Key passages
“He who would not have an office bestowed on some worthless or wicked person, should contrive that it be solicited by one who is utterly worthless and wicked, or else by one who is in the highest degree noble and good.”
To prevent a bad person from getting a position, ensure the candidate is either extremely bad or extremely good.
Machiavelli presents a paradoxical political tactic to control elections.
“The latter device made the people ashamed to give, the former ashamed to refuse.”
The base candidate made the people too ashamed to vote for him, while the noble candidate made them too ashamed to vote against him.
Explains the psychological mechanism behind the Senate's electoral strategies.