The Portable Machiavelli

Edited and translated by Peter Bondanella and Mark Musa, "The Portable Machiavelli" not only gives the casual reader a chance to read different personal and professional works of Machiavelli, but also strives to do away with many of the myths that have plagued the man's posthumous fame. For example, the famous "the ends justifies the means" quote is actually a gross exaggeration of what Machiavelli originally wrote, which was "in the actions of all men...when there is no impartial arbiter, one must consider the final result." The biggest counterargument Bondanella and Musa can supply is the simple fact that they include a less famous piece Machiavelli did called "The Discourses." This piece is often not mentioned or even casually footnoted because it presents the true Machiavelli - a man who was supportive of a Republic government run by the citizens. Any one who believes Machiavelli is a supporter of despots will be surprised to read him speaking in support for fair and public trials and a balance of power between rulers and their people.
"When Niccolodi Bernardo Machiavelli entered the world on May 3, 1469, his prospects were modest at best. The Machiavelli were an established middle-class family from the Oltrarno district of Florence, and its members had held an impressive number of offices in the city's govern- ment, including twelve terms as gonfaloniere, or stand-
ard-bearer, and fifty-four terms as prior. NiccolO's father, Bernardo, however, was not one of the more prosperous members of the clan, and Machiavelli could never hope to riyal the wealth or influence of the greater patrician fami- lies of Florence, such as the Ridolfi, the Rucellai, the Strozzi, or the Guicciardini. But if Bernardo's means were
insufficient to guarantee his son instant access to eco- nomic and political power, his great interest in books, particularly the Latin classics, was perhaps a more valu- able legacy. We know that he possessed a copy of Flavio Biondo's Decades. that he borrowed a copy of Justin's history, and that he obtained a prized copy of Livy's his- tory of republican Rome in return for laboriously compil- ing for the printer an index of Livy's place-names."