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Renaissance in Italy, Volume 1 (of 7) by John Addington Symonds

CHAPTER V.

153 words  |  Chapter 6

THE FLORENTINE HISTORIANS. Florence, the City of Intelligence--Cupidity, Curiosity, and the Love of Beauty--Florentine Historical Literature--Philosophical Study of History--Ricordano Malespini--Florentine History compared with the Chronicles of other Italian Towns--The Villani--The Date 1300--Statistics--Dante's Political Essays and Pamphlets--Dino Compagni--Latin Histories of Florence in Fifteenth Century--Lionardo Bruni and Poggio Bracciolini--The Historians of the First Half of the Sixteenth Century--Men of Action and Men of Letters; the Doctrinaires--Florence between 1494 and 1537--Varchi, Segni, Nardi, Pitti, Nerli, Guicciardini--The Political Importance of these Writers--The Last Years of Florentine Independence, and the Siege of 1529--State of Parties--Filippo Strozzi--Different Views of Florentine Weakness taken by the Historians--Their Literary Qualities--Francesco Guicciardini and Niccolo Machiavelli--Scientific Statists--Discord between Life and Literature--The Biography of Guicciardini--His 'Istoria d'Italia,' 'Dialogo del Reggimento di Firenze,' 'Storia Fiorentina,' 'Ricordi'--Biography of Machiavelli--His Scheme of a National Militia--Dedication of 'The Prince'--Political Ethics of the Italian Renaissance--The 'Discorsi'--The Seven Books on the Art of War and the 'History of Florence. P. 246.
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Chapters

1. Chapter 1 2. CHAPTER I. 3. CHAPTER II. 4. CHAPTER III. 5. CHAPTER IV. 6. CHAPTER V. 7. CHAPTER VI. 8. CHAPTER VII. 9. CHAPTER VIII. 10. CHAPTER IX. 11. CHAPTER X. 12. CHAPTER I. 13. CHAPTER II. 14. 1494. Up to that date the more recent wars of Italy had been principally 15. CHAPTER III. 16. 1465. In the disorganization caused by Charles VIII., Vidovero of 17. 316. Yet Giovio calls him a just and firm ruler, stained only with 18. CHAPTER IV. 19. 1536. Cosimo succeeded in the same year, and won the title of Grand 20. book iii. sections 20-22, and Nardi, book i. cap. 4, which give 21. CHAPTER V. 22. 4. _Die Chronik des Dino Compagni, Kritik der Hegelschen Schrift_, 23. 1251. See the discussion of this question, as also of the authorship 24. 1455. Their histories are composed in Latin, and savor much of the 25. 83. Compare p. 134): 'Esemplo a' dì nostri ne è grandissimo questa 26. part 2, p. 318. 27. 318. His _Ricordi Politici_ amply justify the second, though 28. 202. Guicciardini is discussing the appointment of Cosimo de' 29. introduction to Macaulay's Essay on Machiavelli, I need hardly enter in 30. CHAPTER VI. 31. CHAPTER VII. 32. chapter 17. 33. 1487. This led to Giovanni de' Medici receiving a Cardinal's hat at the 34. 1540. Giulio was released in 1559 and died, aged eighty-three, in 1561. 35. 1521. During the heyday of his splendor he spent 8,000 ducats monthly 36. CHAPTER VIII. 37. CHAPTER IX. 38. book ii., and the _Memoirs_ of De Comines. 39. 1573. Of the rest we hear only of prolonged torture before stupid and 40. CHAPTER X. 41. 1483. He was then aged only thirteen, and was still governed by his 42. 229. Read also the short account of the massacre of the Barons 43. 1527. The events of the Siege must have surprised Marco 44. 431. It is here worth noticing that Siena, the city of civil 45. 1536. Even when he seemed to favor a republican policy, he continued in

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