Rhetorical Strategies and the Manipulation of Discourse in Machiavelli’s Writings

Abstract

This chapter sheds light on the narrative strategies and techniques involving reported speech in Machiavelli’s diplomatic records and historical writings. The focus is on the diplomatic correspondence of his 1502 mission to Cesare Borgia and on his Discourses on Livy. Analysis of the rhetorical devices that Machiavelli uses to report his own words and those of others shows that his letters and the Discourses exploited the intrinsically reconstructive nature of reported speech and its paradoxical communicative function: to maximize the perception of veracity through unrestrained manipulation. Two case studies will shed light on the relationship between fact and fiction and between information and its manipulation in early modern Italy. In particular, these relationships are captured by analyzing the interplay between, on the one hand, the communicative dynamics of diplomatic writings and, on the other, research into old historical texts and the writing of contemporary history. Machiavelli’s writings demonstrate clearly that direct discourse could be used as a tool to reinforce the verisimilitude and credibility of a narrative. At the same time, his careful selection and manipulation of reported words exploited the persuasive force of the words of others to further his own line of argument.