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Machiavelli's La Umana Commedia Akira Murata: Machiavelli’s La Umana Commedia Political Philosophy No.24 Machiavelli’s La Umana Commedia: key thoughts on understanding his major political works Akira Murata* Abstract: This paper clarifies the originality of Machiavelli’s political philosophy, explaining Th e P rince and Discourses on Livy in the context of his comedies Mandragola and Clizia. Tw o comedies are characterized by the optimistic vision of human affairs, i.e., the vision of human comedy (umana commedia). The vision of human comedy expressed in Machiavelli’s comedies is based on two principles: the first is the consideration of motion or change as superior to standstill, and the second involves the idea that new things trump old things – that is, youth triumphs over the aged. The vision incorporates the optimistic belief that, relying on these principles, a happy grand finale can be achieved in this world, solely through human free w ill (libero arbitrio). The p o lit ical philosophy of Machiavelli took on matchless originality by injecting the prospect of human comedy into the gravest subjects of the public sphere. 1. The originality of Machiavelli Adequate comprehension of Machiavelli’s comedies Mandragola and Clizia underlies a proper grasp of the originality behind his political philosophy. Researchers have made efforts to explain the originality of Machiavelli, i.e., his departure from the traditions of classical antiquity and Biblical religion, as observed in The Prince and Discourses on Livy (Berlin, 1979, pp. 33 – 49). However, these efforts have often been thwarted by the fact that Machiavelli regarded himself not only as the founder of “new modes and orders” (modi ed ordini nuovi) but also as an optimal follower o f the tradition of classical antiquity (D., I, proemio [I, pp. 197 – 199]). In fact, Th e * Akira Murata teaches political science at Aoyama Gakuin Women’s Junior College, having earned a Doctorate of Political Science in 2015. His most important publication to date is The Birth of Comedy; Machiavelli’s Literary Works and His Political Philosophy (Fukosha, 2016). He also collaborated on the Japanese translations of Leo Strauss’s Thoughts on Machiavelli (Keiso Shobo, 2011) and On Tyranny (Gendaishicho Shinsha, 2007). E-mail: [email protected] 19 Akira Murata: Machiavelli’s La Umana Commedia Political Philosophy No.24 Prince and Discourses on Livy as his major political works both contain extremely novel teachings indicating a remarkable secession from the great traditions and traditional teachings, representing a considerably faithful succession from classical antiquity. Accordingly, the procedure of separating the novel elements seen among the various teachings in these two works is crucial. The procedure appears to involve first abstracting certain anthropological insights that appear most clearly in Mandragola and Clizia among Machiavelli’s complete works, followed by a re-examination of The Prince and Discourses on Livy based on these insights. The two comedies are characterized by an extraordinarily optimistic vis ion of human affairs involving the assertion that happiness can eventually be achieved solely from human resources (i.e., without divine grace) in this world (i.e., as opposed to another world). It is, so to speak, a vision of commedia umana (human comedy) rather than commedia divina (divine comedy) (De Sanctis, 1965, pp. 297 – 298). The innovativeness of Machiavelli’s political philosophy is clarified by the fact that the philosophical anthropology behind the foundation of such an optimistic vision permeates the core topics of his two-major political works. The author sets sail for “unknown waters and lands” by introducing a vision of human comedy, which work s such as The Decameron held via pastimes and jokes in the private sphere, into the gravest public sphere. Grasping the originality of Machiavelli appears to involve abstracting the aspects of human comedy (i.e., the extremely optimistic elements) in his major political works. The pessimistic and tragic aspects of his content should be understood as vestiges of traditional speculation1. The optimistic vision of human comedy expressed in Machiavelli’s Mandragola 1 By way of example, seeking to identify the origin of the idea of raison d'etat in modern history from Machiavelli’s works is a tragic process. “It is a tragic process, a continuously repeated combat against insuperable forces of destiny, which we have to present. In and out among all the other bright threads of the historical weft, there twines uninterruptedly (and everywhere immediately recognizable) the red, only too often blood-red, thread of raison d’etat” (Meinecke, 1984, p. 21). It is also a tragic interpretation to regard Machiavelli as “one of the makers of pluralism” (Berlin, 1979, p. 79). “If, as I believe, the ends of men are many, and not all of them are in principle compatible with one another, then the possibility of conflict―and of tragedy―can never wholly be eliminated from human life, either personal or social” (Berlin, 1969, p. 169). 20 Akira Murata: Machiavelli’s La Umana Commedia Political Philosophy No.24 and Clizia is based on two principles. The first involves the concept that motion or change is superior to standstill. The traditional philosophical doctrine, that advocates the imitation of nature imagined as an order of a static condition, consequently preaches obedience to fixed ethical codes, has led individuals, families and cities to death and ruin (morte e rovina) rather than to life (vita). Instead, if it is supposed that nature gains in beauty and nobility rather than in vulgarity through change and variety, and if such a new sort of nature is imitated – that is to say, with constant adaptation to changes in circumstances and self-transformation among individuals, families and cities – it is possible to evade a tragic collapse and engineer a favorable outcome. Comical delight and raucous laughter require not only a complete reform of the idea of nature but also a reversal of traditional ontology, which teaches that a single and immovable item loses value when exposed to variety and changeability. The second principle, which supplements the first, is that new things always trump old things, meaning that young men always defeat old men. Families and cities as well as ind ividuals are subject to biological necessity, which makes their bodies or materials age, guiding them toward an eventual destiny of death and ruin. Accordingly, comical optimism must be guaranteed by the ongoing rise of new things that restore the beginning (principio) of the life process by revolting against old things and overthrowing them. The vision of such human comedy is typically expressed in the plot of a comedy in which an obstinate old man, who is often a lawyer or a judge, is defeated and dethroned by a young man driven by natural desire. The young man often subsequently marries, giving the audience hopes of new life. These two principles (i.e., the motifs of transformation and the old giving way to the new) appear quite frequently in farces from the 13th century and in classical comedies as a whole. However, as Machiavelli himself remarked, comedies intrinsically describe personal lives2. The Prince and Discourses on Livy broke with the great traditions and 2 See the following passage from A Dialogue on Language: “In this category are comedies, for though the aim of comedy (il fine d’una commedia) is to hold up a mirror to domestic life (vita privata), the way it does this, all the same, is with a certain urbanity and with expressions which excite laughter, so that the men who come eagerly to enjoy themselves, taste afterwards the useful lesson (esemplo utile) that lay underneath” [III, p. 271]. 21 Akira Murata: Machiavelli’s La Umana Commedia Political Philosophy No.24 took on matchless origina lity, revealing ethics and political science closely combined with the two principles of human comedy that had been intrinsically enclosed within the madding noise of the private sphere. These works outlined plans to evade the tragedy of death and ruin by making full use of virtue (virtù) and prudence (prudenza) identified with human free will (libero arbitrio) toward the eventual realization of eternal joy (eterna gioia) in this world rather than in another. First, this treatise places Machiavelli in the historical context of popular festive culture, which peaked in the West around 1500. Second, it abstracts elements constituting the radical optimis m of human comedy from Mandragola and Clizia. Third, it represents an attempt to extract the novel and optimistic prospects underlying The Prince and Discourses on Livy based on a reinterpretation thereof. This is a move to research the issue of the origins of modernity, which can also be referred to as “the problem of Machiavelli”3. 2. The prosperity of popular festive culture around 1500 As a writer, Machiavelli was best known for comedy output during his lifetime (see, Martinez, 2010, p. 206). However, previous studies on his political musings have generally neglected his Mandragola and Clizia. The few studies that have discussed these parts of his catalogue have tended to simply focus on biographical details or to point out the reverberations of his major political content, which is also certainly found in his comedies. Such neglect is probably at least partially attributable to the appearance of Machiavelli’s comedic output as a kind of pastime or a way for him to stave off boredom after he tired of contemplating more serious subjects . Afte r having lost his position as secretary of the Florentine Republic (1512), Machiavelli wrote The Prince as a political treatise in order to achieve reappointment (1513). In August 1514 when his reappointment efforts reached a complete deadlock, he confessed in personal correspondence, “I have renounced…thoughts about matters 3 Leo Strauss regarded Machiavelli’s The Prince and Discourses on Livy as “the first wave of modernity” (Strauss, 1989, pp.
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