15 h 41 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 15 h 41 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the quarrels that divide a city also help keep it free?
In Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius, Niccolò Machiavelli turns Rome’s early history into a study of freedom and power. Drawing on the historian Livy, he examines founders, restless citizens and generals. Each scene opens a hard question: how does a republic take root, defend itself and avoid falling under a tyrant?
The book moves through three parts: Rome’s laws, offices and religion; its wars and growth; and the deeds of individual men. Machiavelli argues that ordinary citizens can guard liberty better than nobles. He asks you to judge political choices by their results, not their good intentions, and to see conflict as more than a threat.
What you’ll discover
- The uses of conflict Explore why Machiavelli sees Rome’s struggles between nobles and common people as a source of freedom.
- Citizens who guard liberty Meet a thinker who trusts ordinary people and fears the reach of tyranny.
- Laws, belief and belonging Examine how Rome’s laws, offices and religion help hold its civic life together.
- War beyond the battlefield Follow Machiavelli’s questions about citizen armies, military choices and the reasons for Rome’s growth.
- The weight of leadership Consider how a single person’s deeds can renew a state or bring it to ruin.
Who will love it
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.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- History offers lessons for action
- Power needs checks from other powers
- Public conflict can protect freedom
- Founding power must serve everyone
- Shared belief holds citizens together
- Corruption can empty institutions of purpose
- Expansion needs citizens and sound judgment
- Renewal and adaptation preserve a state
- Judge power by how it works
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Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius
by Niccolò Machiavelli · 1531
A Florentine official studies Rome's early republic to teach his own age how to keep a free state alive.
Challenging5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
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.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 h 25 min6 h 40 min fast, 10 h slow
- Length
- 119,700 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1531by Niccolò Machiavelli
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
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.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1531
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 10 h 10 min
- Level
- Challenging
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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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.
The author
Niccolò Machiavelli
1469–1527 · Italian political philosopher
Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence in 1469 and died there in 1527. He served the Florentine republic as an official and diplomat from 1498 to 1512. He wrote The Prince in 1513 and Discourses on Livy during the 1510s. He also wrote plays, poetry, and a history of Florence.
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