Machiavelli in Tumult

Among the theses that for centuries have ensured Niccolò Machiavelli an ambiguous fame, a special place goes to his extremely positive opinion of social conflicts, and, more in particular, to the claim that in ancient Rome ''the disunion between the plebs and the Roman senate made that republic free and powerful'' (Discourses on Livy I.4). Contrary to a long tradition that had always highly valued...