Machivelli's Discourses

According to Machiavelli, Rome was the ultimate free state in the ancient world. No other empire before it matched its strength militarily, economically, and politically. Although Athens was a great state as well, its government quickly became corrupted therefore becoming vulnerable for conquest by other republics or principalities. One reason that Machiavelli gives for this is that while Athens enjoyed a period of liberty through a democratic government, it was quickly transformed into a tyranny once the composer of its laws, Solon, lost power. Libe

From the founding by Romulus and Numa, Rome was a free city able to live in virtue. However, with time the kings of Rome became corrupt since other forms of government were not incorporated into it. Machiavelli explains by saying that “the prince came to be hated, and, since he was hated, came to be afraid, and from fear soon passed to offensive action, which quickly brought about tyranny” (Machiavelli, 107). This in turn restricted liberty as well as Rome’s ability to achieve greatness. Therefore, the masses overthrew the kings and incorporated a new system of government where rule by a select few replaced the rule of a tyrant. This also became corrupt when the originators of the new regime were replaced with new inexperienced rulers. Again, the masses rid themselves of the newly formed system establishing a democracy for the many. This continued until the formation of the Senate and of the plebs which gave Rome a balanced system where these tumults would happen within the government. Skinner goes onto say:

“They all perceived that the three ‘pure’ constitutional forms- monarchy, aristocracy, democracy- are inherently unstable, and tend to generate a cycle of corruption and decay; and they correctly inferred that the key to imposing virtu by the force of law must therefore lie in establishing a mixed constitution, one in which the instabilities of the pure form are corrected while their strengths are combined” (Skinner, 65).

rty was temporary due to the fact that although the laws were democratic in nature, “Solon had not blended either princely power or that of the aristocracy” into the mixture (Machiavelli, 110). Rome, on the other hand, had institutions in place that in turn laid the ground work for liberty and greatness once the monarchy was abandoned and a republic was established. Liberty in the Roman Republic came in sporadic episodes while in its first stages. However, since Principality and Aristocracy were still present in t

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