NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI was born in Florence in 1469
and lived till 1527. His whole life was connected with the
city of his birth and with its fortunes, emotionally even when
not practically. Though he has been called the first Italian, this
must not disguise from us the fact that he had a prior patriotism
towards Florence. And if in some ways his ideas are much more
those of a citizen of a city-state than of a greater nation, it is be-
cause, despite his rational vision, he is himself conditioned by
the circumstances of place and time.

He came of a good, but not distinguished, Florentine family;
and his lack of aristocratic birth was a permanent handicap to
his achieving really first-rate political office or distinction. In
Florence at this time, as in the whole of Italy, one either had to
be born of the nobility (though the regularity of one's birth was
a minor matter) or to have the adventurous power of leadership
and rise as one of the condottieri.

When Machiavelli came to manhood, Florence was republi-
can; that is to say, it was governed by a fairly small aristocracy
with some popular support, though factions were by no means
absent. Citizenship itself was, as in the Greek city-states, some-
what narrowly confined, and large numbers of the inhabitants
were without political power or rights. Machiavelli's family
and friends had sufficient influence to get him an administrative
position in the city service. In the course of time he attained a
post of responsibility and of some real power, though, the civil

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