Discourses on Livy · Chapter
XXXVI explained
This chapter discusses the Roman practice of allowing former high officials to serve in lower military positions without dishonor, contrasting it with modern republics like Venice where such descent is considered shameful.
What happens
This chapter discusses the Roman practice of allowing former high officials to serve in lower military positions without dishonor, contrasting it with modern republics like Venice where such descent is considered shameful. Machiavelli argues that this custom strengthened Rome by ensuring experienced leadership at all levels and curbing the ambition of new men, whereas the Venetian approach weakens the state by fostering inexperience and unchecked ambition.
Themes in this chapter
Leadership and Moral Character
The chapter emphasizes the virtue of humility and public service over personal pride, as seen in Roman willingness to serve in lower ranks after high office.
Necessity and Reason of State
Machiavelli argues that the Roman practice was necessary for the common good, preventing inexperience and ambition from harming the republic.
Characters to notice
- Marcus Fabius
Consul under whom the Romans won a memorable victory against the Veientines and Etruscans.
- Titus Livius
Livy is the source for the account of the battle and the death of Q. Fabius.
Key passages
“Under the consuls M. Fabius and Cn. Manlius, the Romans had a memorable victory in a battle fought with the Veientines and the Etruscans, in which Q. Fabius, brother of the consul, who had himself been consul the year before, was slain.”
During the consulship of Marcus Fabius and Gnaeus Manlius, the Romans won a great battle against the Veientines and Etruscans, but Quintus Fabius, the consul's brother and a former consul himself, was killed.
This event illustrates the Roman practice of former consuls serving in subordinate roles.
“For, eager as the Romans were in the pursuit of glory, they never esteemed it a dishonour to obey one whom before they had commanded, or to find themselves serving in the ranks of an army which once they had led.”
Although the Romans were very ambitious for glory, they did not consider it shameful to follow someone they had previously commanded or to serve as a common soldier in an army they had once led.
Machiavelli highlights the Roman virtue of subordinating personal pride to the public good.
“This course, assuming it to lend lustre to individual citizens, is plainly to the disadvantage of the community, which has reason to hope more from, and to trust more to, the citizen who descends from a high office to fill a lower, than him who rises from a low office to fill a high one; for in the latter no confidence can reasonably be placed, unless he be seen to have others about him of such credit and worth that it may be hoped their wise counsels and influence will correct his inexperience.”
Allowing citizens to refuse lower offices after high ones may seem to honor individuals, but it harms the state. A citizen who steps down from a high post to a lower one is more trustworthy than one who rises from low to high, because the latter lacks experience and must rely on wise advisors to avoid mistakes.
Machiavelli argues that experience in high office makes a citizen more valuable in lower roles, while inexperience in new leaders is dangerous.