Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Maurizio Viroli
Reviewed work(s):
Machiavelli in Hell by Sebastian de Grazia
Source: Political Theory, Vol. 19, No. 2 (May, 1991), pp. 292-295
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/191666
Accessed: 01/06/2009 18:06
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BOOKS IN REVIEW
MACHIAVELLI IN HELLby Sebastiande Grazia.Princeton,NJ: Princeton
UniversityPress, 1989. Pp. 497. $29.95.
De Grazia'sbook is of fundamentalimportance,to be rankedamong the
classic studies on Machiavelli.Machiavelliin Hell not only presentsus with
Niccolo's passions,religiousandmetaphysicalbeliefs, ambitions,hopes, and
attachmentsbut offers us a new interpretationof his political thought.For
this reason,the book is compelling readingfor both the intellectualhistorian
and the political theorist-discussion about the meaning of Machiavelli's
texts must be renewed.
According to de Grazia, Machiavelli emerges as a person who regards
himself as a good man urgingothers toward"rightconduct"and intending
to "teachthe good" (p. 73). He is a moralistin the most classical sense, and
his moral philosophy is rooted in a Pauline andAugustinian anthropology.
It cannot be said with certainty,writes de Grazia,whether or how he be-
lieves in the redemption,Genesis, the serpent,Eve, and Adam. However,
Machiavelli repeatedlyspeaks of a fall thatoccurredsoon afterthe creation
and that affects man's naturefor all times (p. 266).
The moralizingthrustand the anthropologyrootedin theological sources
are the foundationsof Machiavelli's patriotismand republicanism.As de
Graziarightly remarks,Machiavelli's deepest attachmentis to the country,
not the state as an abstractentity.When the countryis in danger,it is of no
importancewhether what we are doing is just or unjust, cruel or kind,
praiseworthyor ignominious: We must simply do what is necessary to
preserve the life and freedom of our country (p. 193). For Machiavelli,
"country"means Italy. Hence the redemptionof Italy from servitude and
misery is for him the primary,and most urgent,political task. What Italy
desperatelyneeds is a redeemer,andMachiavelli'saim as a writeris to invoke
and educatethis "one man alone"who is capableof sweeping the barbarians
out of Italy.
The basic values that inform Machiavelli'spolitical philosophy,stresses
de Grazia,are the freedom of the countryand the common good. The state
attains perfection when the common good is best observed- that is, in a
POLITICALTHEORY,Vol. 19 No. 2, May 1991 292-309
? 1991 Sage Publications,Inc.
292
BOOKS IN REVIEW 293
republicwhere the law rules, where women are honored,where public of-
fices are open to all citizens on the grounds of virtue, where there is a
moderatedegree of social equality,andwhere everyone can safely attendto
his business and enjoy his wealth and property.This, remarksde Grazia,"is
the point of it all" (p. 193). To preserve the freedom of their country,the
citizens andtheirleadersmustbe preparedto fight,thoughwarandexpansion
are not the primarygoals that Machiavellirecommends.Waris an inescap-
able horror.Yet worse still is militarydefeat, particularlyfor the noncomba-
tants. Therefore,it is puerile to invoke peace; instead, it is much better to
follow the advice of the protagonistof the Art of War:"to love peace and
know how to make war"(p. 173).
De Graziaclarifies the meaningof Machiavelli'srepublicanismthrough
an intelligentandrefinedanalysisof the fundamentalconceptsof his political
language: country and state, war and peace, happiness, common good,
equality,liberty,andjustice.
All this, however, is but one partof Machiavelli in Hell. Like a comedy
or a movie, we have to wait until the end to know the conclusion of the story.
And the conclusion is surprisingindeed: Machiavelli is not just a moralist
and a republican;he is the author and advocate of "a new or reformed
redemptivesystem,"the bardof "a truereligion"(p. 385). Niccolo's religion
- or at least the religionof which he wants to convince himself andothers-
is groundedon the notion of a God who loves the foundersof states in deeds
or writings, the foundersof religions, the warriorsand saviors of countries
who know how to enterand exit evil. All of them, by God's immediateand
final judgment,go immediatelyto heaven to sit with the heroes of all times
and enjoy perpetualhappiness. Niccolo too, who in his writings founded
states and fought for the freedom of his country,is certainlymost welcome
in thatsplendidsection of paradise.
Through the discovery of the theological foundation of Machiavelli's
political philosophy, de Grazia presents a new and fascinating interpreta-
tion of the questionof the separationbetween ethics and politics generally
regardedby scholars as Machiavelli's distinctive contributionto modem-
politicalphilosophy.If we believe in a "politicalGod,"all ourpreoccupations
vanish:The evil thatthe foundersor reformersof stateshave to perpetrateis
redeemedby God's direct intervention.The very same actions that would
cost an ordinaryman the loss of his soul are pardonedby God for the sake
of the good of the country.
For de Grazia,the affirmationthatGod treasurespoliticalcommunityand
the common good without referenceor relianceon man's naturalsociability
moves Niccolo away from the conventional doctrineof the common good
294 POLITICALTHEORY/ May 1991
and"constitute[s]the second of his servicesto politicalphilosophy"[the first
being his anthropology](p. 268). The idea of a God who loves the common
good and rewardsthe political man who carriesit out was, on the contrary,
one of the most conventional themes in the humanist and prehumanist
political literature,beginningwith Petrarch'sfamous letterto the signore of
Padua.PerhapsMachiavelli'spronouncementsaboutGod's help andreward
were just ordinaryrhetoricaldevices.
The common source for the humanists and Machiavelli alike was the
SomniumScipionis, a fragmentof Cicero'sRepublicwhich survivedthrough
the Middle Ages in the version edited by Macrobiusas the Commentaryon
the Dream of Scipio. The Commentarywas among the readings of the
humanists, and Machiavelli's father also, not surprisingly, possessed a
copy of it. In de Grazia's interpretation,however, Machiavelli's political
God is much more comprehensivethan that of Cicero and the humanists.
Cicero's text speaks of God who loves more than anythingelse on earththe
civitates- that is, "the assemblies and gatherings of men associated in
justice." De Graziatranslatescivitates as "states"(p. 354), but this slightly
alters the meaning of the Dream and obscures Machiavelli's use of the
conventionaltheme of the "politicalGod."
Accordingto Cicero andthe humanists,God loves political men because
they preservethe political community,the highest good on earth.But they
meant political men in the republicansense, those who found or reform
republics through the political virtues: justice, fortitude, prudence, and
temperance.In Machiavelli's theology, God is more "generous,"as he is
preparedto absolve and indeed reward the princes who have sometimes
abandonedthe virtues and perpetratedcrueltiesand injustices.
If we accept de Grazia's interpretationwe should then conclude that
Machiavelliwas using a conventionalthemein a radicallynew way. But was
Machiavelli really arguingthat the "new prince,"concernedwith securing
his own state- not with the foundingor reformingof a republic- could be
assuredof God's friendshipandamnesty?The crucialpassagethatde Grazia
repeatedly quotes is from the famous "Exhortation"that concludes The
Prince, whereMachiavellireinforceshis appealto the Medicito liberateItaly
from the barbariansby pointing to the examples of Moses, Cyrus, and
Theseus and saying that "norwas God more a friend to them than to you."
What Machiavelli means here is that God will help a new princewilling to
undertakethe task of liberatingItaly because it is a just cause; he is assur-
ing the prince that God will assist him in his worldly deed, but he does not
say that God will also save the prince's soul. The otherpolitical text that de
Graziaquotesis the proposalfor constitutionalreformcomposedin 1520 and
BOOKS IN REVIEW 295
known as Discursus FlorentinarumRerum. Here, de Grazia is right in
stressingthe presenceof the theme of the apotheosisand ascension.But the
personto whom Machiavelliis promisingthe apotheosisis a rulerwhom he
is exhortingto graduallyrestorea republicangovernmentin Florencethrough
laws andconstitutionalreforms.Like Cicero,he is guaranteeingGod'sfriend-
ship and rewardto a political man in the republicansense, not to a prince
who founds and preserveshis state throughfraudand force, if need be.
De Grazia equates the prince and the "new prince"with the leader, the
redeemer,the "one man alone"whom a countryneeds in times of militaryor
moral crisis. Unlike the "good man" whom Machiavelli invokes in the
Discorsi to restorepolitical life, however, the "new prince"in ThePrince is
not supposed to relinquish his power and restore republican institutions
once the crisis is over. Perhapsde Graziahas not been sufficiently sensitive
to the linguistic context of the time. For us, it is obvious to call a prince, a
tyrant,a king, or a republicanleader a "politicalman."Machiavelliand his
humanistspredecessors,however, did not speak this way and regarded,as
does their"politicalGod,"only the foundersor restorersof political life as
political men.
Machiavelli in Hell poses a new set of fascinatinginterpretivequestions
and provides intellectualhistoriansand political theoristswith an enviable
opportunityto rethinkthe validity of theirmethodsof inquiry.Books like de
Grazia'sare rareand, as Machiavelliteaches us, one must seize the occasion
when it comes.
-Maurizio Viroli
PrincetonUniversity
POLITICALRETURNS: IRONY IN POLITICSAND THEORYFROM
PLATO TO THE ANTINUCLEARMOVEMENTby John Evan Seery.
Boulder, CO: Westview, 1990. Pp. x, 384. $39.95.
Political Returnsis a work of grandambition.Seery wants to show that
successful political communityin our time mustbe ironiccommunityand to
show thathis conceptionof ironicpolitical communityis prefiguredin both
the practiceand the theory of politics in ancientGreece and is immanentin
the politics of the antinuclearmovement.Startingfrom the familiarcommu-
nitarianassertionof the root and branchfailureof modernliberalism,Seery
assembles an alternativemodel of political life most strikingfor its attempt
to combine two apparentlyirreconcilableattitudes:on one hand,the detach-
