84 pages • 2 hours read
Niccolò MachiavelliThe Discourses
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1531A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 1, Chapters 31-60Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 1, Chapter 31 Summary: “Why Roman Commanders Were Never Excessively Punished for Errors They Committed, Nor Were They Ever Punished When Their Ignorance or Poor Decisions Resulted in Harm to the Republic”
Roman military leaders have plenty to worry over during warfare, including humiliation in battle: “Judging, therefore, that the disgrace of having lost was more than enough punishment, the Romans did not want to demoralize their commanders with other penalties” (89).
Book 1, Chapter 32 Summary: “A Republic or a Prince Should Not Delay in Rewarding Men Even in Situations of Necessity”
States must treat their people generously in peacetime as well as in war. Giving them benefits merely to get their help during battle will make them think invasion is good for them:
Any state […] that acts otherwise and really believes it can win men back with benefits the instant danger arises deceives itself, because not only will this fail to make the state secure, but it will accelerate its own ruin (91).
Book 1, Chapter 33 Summary: “When a Problem Has Arisen Either Within a State or Outside It, It Is Safer To Delay Dealing With It Than to Attack It”
Men often rise to prominence in ways that seem good, and by the time it becomes clear that some such men are bad, it is too late to stop them. Trying to remove them causes more harm than good, as with Caesar, whose enemies realize too late that he is a danger, and whose efforts to stop him destroy the republic. It is better to wait, “because when you put off dealing with them, they either fade away by themselves or at least the evil is postponed for a longer time” (93).
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