Discourses on Livy · Question
How does Discourses on Livy develop the theme of Ingratitude and Suspicion in Republics?
Answer
Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli develops Ingratitude and Suspicion in Republics across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The text analyzes why republics sometimes treat their great citizens with ingratitude, contrasting Rome's relative leniency with Athens' harshness, and advises princes and captains on how to avoid or survive such treatment.
The chapter discusses how republics often treat their great citizens with ingratitude, as seen in the exile of Camillus and the suspicion toward Scipio, and how this can be a danger to liberty.
The nobles' suspicion of the plebeian dictator and the ensuing accusations reflect the ingratitude and distrust that can destabilize a republic.
The chapter discusses how suspicion against powerful citizens (like Coriolanus, Valori, Soderini) can destabilize a republic if not channeled through lawful accusations.
Evidence in the book
- Book I
The chapter discusses how republics often treat their great citizens with ingratitude, as seen in the exile of Camillus and the suspicion toward Scipio, and how this can be a danger to liberty.
- How an hereditary king may come to lose his kingdom
The nobles' suspicion of the plebeian dictator and the ensuing accusations reflect the ingratitude and distrust that can destabilize a republic.
- Why it is that changes from freedom to servitude, and from servitude to freedom, are sometimes made without bloodshed, but at other times reek with blood.
The chapter discusses how suspicion against powerful citizens (like Coriolanus, Valori, Soderini) can destabilize a republic if not channeled through lawful accusations.
- VIII
Manlius's calumny exploits popular suspicion and ingratitude toward Camillus, showing how envy and distrust can destabilize a republic.
- XXIV
The apparent ingratitude of the Romans in trying Horatius is reinterpreted as a necessary safeguard against the arrogance that would arise if past services were allowed to excuse future misdeeds.
- XXVIII
The chapter directly examines why republics show ingratitude toward their great citizens, comparing Rome and Athens and attributing it to the level of suspicion arising from past subversions of liberty.
- XXIX
Central theme of the chapter; Machiavelli analyzes how suspicion of victorious captains leads to ingratitude in both princes and peoples.
- On Envy, Authority, and the Defense of a City
The chapter directly addresses how princes and commonwealths can avoid the vice of ingratitude toward successful captains, and how suspicion leads to ingratitude.
