citizenship, but expect tumultuous, risky civic life full of contingency. For tranquility, harmony,
and the status quo, republics should emulate Sparta and Venice, but will not expand, and will not
become theaters for glorious deeds and action.
Up until this part, Machiavelli, in spite his rather obvious preferences for the Roman
model, is still arguing in antinomic mode, presenting the choice as an abstract one. The choice is
between the staid, aristocratic escape into determinacy, or the daring risk into the disorderly
world of contingency. But the discussion takes a subtle turn at this point, suggesting the
limitations to such an abstract choice. In previous discussions of these aristocratic republics,
Machiavelli always avoided using the term accidenti, which was as we ve seen was employed
consistently in describing Rome and Florence. He points out that at a moment when Sparta
appeared at its most powerful it was
revealed, on an occasion [accidente] of slight importance in itself, how weak its foundation was,
since, when Thebes revolted at the instigation of Pelopidas and other cities followed suit, this
republic entirely collapsed. In like manner Venice, having occupied a large part of Italy, most of
it not by dint of arms, but of money and astute diplomacy, when its strength was put to the test,
lost everything in a single battle.
Suddenly, the possibility of escaping from contingency by choosing an small, aristocratic
republic which has been an unquestioned assumption until now has been thrown in doubt.
Even if the commoners can be excluded, and the image of harmony can prevail internally, all
states nevertheless cannot escape the fact that they live in a domain of contingency and accidents
externally. Between the accidenti that lies in Venice s origins, and the accidenti that suddenly
exposed the weak foundation of Sparta, the entire category of the escape from the contingency
and tumult embraced by Rome has collapsed. We see that Venice has a contingent origin in time,
and hence has to account for that origin, and grapple with its end, on the very grounds of
contingency it appeared to escape. And since we learn that Sparta has a location in space, and
hence must act in relation to its neighbors on terms that were not preestablished in its
constitution, it too cannot avoid the radical contingency of action in an external world of full of
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In order to be like Venice or Sparta, Rome would have had to avoid refounding itself during accidents, hence
excluding the plebs form the military and political life, and not admitting foreigners as citizens. However, Rome
did both these things, and, by doing so, gave its plebs alike strength, increase and endless opportunities for
commotion. On the other hand, had Rome followed the aristocratic path, it would not have been tranquil but would
not have had opportunities for glorious action: in seeking to remove the causes of tumults, Rome would have
removed also the causes of expansion. A similar point is made about Rome vis a vis Athens and Sparta in II.3.
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1.6
38
Convention