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About 8 h 40 min to read.Inizia {{ days }} giorni gratisA chi è rivolto
Readers who like politics, history and sharp argument will enjoy it. It suits anyone curious about how republics rise and fall, how leaders keep or lose trust, and what Rome teaches about power.
Che cos’è questo libro
Why do people pay a fortune for a broken piece of ancient statuary, yet ignore the ancient men who built free states? That puzzle opens the Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius. Niccolò Machiavelli, a Florentine who had watched his own republic rise and fall, wrote it as a commentary on the early books of the Roman historian Livy.
He picks out scenes from Livy and asks what they teach about winning freedom, keeping it, and losing it. You will hear him argue that quarrels between rich and poor can make a state strong, that religion binds citizens, and that a people judges better than a prince. The past, he says, is a working manual and not a museum.
In questo riassunto
- 1Ancient Rome offers lessons people can still useFree
- 2Mixed government lasts longer than any pure form
- 3Quarrels between nobles and commons built Roman freedom
- 4Lawful accusation protects a state and slander destroys it
- 5A republic's founder must act alone, and tyranny earns shame
- 6Religion and trusted leaders hold a free people together
- 7Corruption makes freedom fragile and hidden ambition spreads
- 8Empire comes from armed citizens, partners and sound judgment
- 9Renewal, plots and changing times test every ruler
- 10Later readers have argued with these ideas and kept using them
Punto chiave 1 di 10
Ancient Rome offers lessons people can still use
Machiavelli begins with a complaint. Buyers pay high prices for fragments of ancient statues. Lawyers rely on ancient legal experts, and doctors follow ancient cures. Yet when it comes to founding laws, running armies or growing a state, almost no one turns to the ancients.
He blames a failure to read history properly. Readers enjoy the variety of events but never think of imitating them, as though human nature had changed since Roman days. Machiavelli rejects this. People are born, live and die by the same patterns in every age.
So he will go through Livy and note whatever helps a reader understand both ancient and modern affairs. In his first chapter he tells of an architect who offered Alexander a city shaped like a man, then admitted he had not planned how people would eat. Alexander built Alexandria instead, where soil and sea could feed a population. Learn from the cases, not just the glory.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio
About 8 h 40 min to read.Inizia {{ days }} giorni gratisPaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 141,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 9 h 25 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio
What is Discourses on Livy about?
It is Machiavelli's commentary on the early books of Livy's history of Rome. He uses Roman examples to discuss how republics are founded, how they stay free, how they grow, and how rulers and citizens should act.
How is Discourses on Livy different from The Prince?
The Prince is a short guide for rulers of principalities. The Discourses is a longer study that favors republics, and it spends more time on laws, conflict between classes, citizen armies and the role of the people.
Do you need to know Roman history to read it?
No. Machiavelli retells each Roman episode before drawing a lesson from it, and he often links it to events in Florence and Italy. The stories carry the argument, so the book is easy to follow.
Why does Machiavelli praise conflict between nobles and commons?
He argues that the quarrels in Rome produced the laws that protected liberty, and that the tribunes gave the people a lawful voice. He sees this tension as a source of strength, not just disorder.
What is the main message of Discourses on Livy?
Ancient examples can guide modern politics. Free states last when power is balanced, accusations are lawful, citizens bear arms, and institutions are renewed. Leaders who adapt to the times and respect law keep both power and trust.
Cite this edition
Machiavelli, Niccolò. Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/discourses-on-the-first-decade-of-titus-livius.
Machiavelli, N. (2026). Discourses on the first decade of Titus Livius. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/discourses-on-the-first-decade-of-titus-livius (Original work published 1531)
Machiavelli, Niccolò. Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/discourses-on-the-first-decade-of-titus-livius.
@book{machiavelli2026discourses,
author = {Machiavelli, Niccolò},
title = {Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/discourses-on-the-first-decade-of-titus-livius},
note = {First published 1531}
}
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Get the full summary of Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio, free
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