'Termaximus': A Humanist Jest

Abstract

Machiavelli, Guicciardini is distinctly doubtful that this would ever happen in reality. Yet his interest in Machiavelli's ideas is unmistakable. To what conclusions does this investigation lead? First, it throws light on the extent of Guicciardini's knowledge of Machiavelli by defining its limits. Whenever parts of the Reggimento or the Ricordi can be linked to specific passages in Machiavelli's works, the passages come from the Discorsi. The evident conclusion is that the only political work of Machiavelli with which Guicciardini was acquainted was the Discorsi; he did not know the Prince.' On the other hand it is clear that when writing the Reggimento and the Ricordi Guicciardini not only knew the Discorsi but had studied them very carefully. The interest he takes in the ideas of Machiavelli is much greater than has been assumed. It remains to consider whether Machiavelli's ideas, beyond deeply arousing Guicciardini's interest, exerted a definite influence upon the political system which is embodied in the Reggimento and the Ricordi, and, if so, what the nature of this influence is. As has already been pointed out, the general approach of Machiavelli and Guicciardini to political problems is similar. Their political writings have the same aim : to rationalize their practical political experience, to find the laws behind the involutions of history. In spite of this, there is an essential difference between the conceptions of the two men. Machiavelli arrived at his brilliant generalisations by explaining the present through the past, by analysing the complex situations of his time in terms of the greater and simpler proportions of Roman history. Guicciardini, on the contrary, was convinced of the fundamental difference between the past and the present, and drew for his political writings mainly on the material which his own time could offer him. His work is characterized by penetrating analyses of given situations which he does not allow himself to expand into general conclusions. There can be no doubt that this was the natural bent of his mind. But that his aversion to generalisations became a principle, may be ascribed to the considerations which the opposing principles, expressed in the Discorsi and focussed in Machiavelli's "Romanism," forced upon him.