Machiavelli's Gospel: The Critique of Christianity in the Prince by William B. Parsons

Author:William B. Parsons [Parsons, William B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781580464918
Google: eyo5DAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 28159004
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Published: 2016-01-15T10:57:00+00:00

He used often to exclaim what he had heard from someone, either a Jew or a Christian, and always remembered, and he also had it announced by a herald whenever he was disciplining anyone, “What you do not wish that a man should do to you, do not do to him.” And so highly did he value this sentiment that he had it written up in the Palace and in public buildings. (51.7–8)67

Attention to the Historia Augusta helps us understand why Machiavelli—abandoning the ambivalence of the historians—praises Severus so highly. Although the corruption of Rome made his rule possible, he undertook efforts to stop corrupting incursions by foreign religions. He evidently agreed with Machiavelli’s judgment that “princes of a republic or of a kingdom should maintain the foundations of the religion they hold.”68 Alexander’s augurs were, of course, correct: once it found a purchase within Roman society, Christianity would undermine the foundations of the pagan religion. The strident monotheism of the Abrahamic tradition and the universal character of Christianity do not admit equality with other gods easily.69

Reading the Historia Augusta also helps explain why Machiavelli distorts the histories of Heliogabalus and Alexander. He incorrectly reports that Heliogabalus was so “contemptible” that he was “immediately eliminated,” when in fact he ruled for almost five years—five times longer than his fellow “contemptible” emperors, Julianus and Macrinus (P 19). His penchant for religious spectacle, which evidently fascinated Romans of all classes, may have helped him to stay a conspiracy by his well-paid soldiers.70 Machiavelli, who undoubtedly takes a dim view of Heliogabalus’s eccentric endorsement of Christianity, discounts his success.

Machiavelli includes Alexander among the “lovers of justice” (P 19) who came to a bad end. While he acknowledges that he ruled for fourteen years, he does not note that this makes him the longest-serving emperor on Machiavelli’s list, after Marcus and Severus.71 Neither does Machiavelli report fully the cause of Alexander’s demise. Alexander’s “humane and kind” (P 19) disposition proved ill-suited for combat: in his first significant battle against Rome’s enemies, he faltered. Required to advance his army against the Persians, he remained paralyzed, either “due to fear” or because “his mother may have restrained him because of her womanly timidity and excessive love for her son.”72 Barely surviving this engagement, when the Germans immediately attacked a different front, “Alexander attempted to buy terms from them rather than risk the danger of war” (VI.7.9). Avaricious soldiers used these failures as a pretext to kill him, although they had always despised him for the reasons Machiavelli indicates (VI.9.6–8).

Although he describes Alexander as “effeminate” (P 19), Machiavelli uncharacteristically overlooks the notable defect of spirit and error in judgment that precipitated his death. Instead, he emphasizes his “goodness” (P 19), which Machiavelli opposes to his effeminacy and his subjection to women—despite the fact that Herodian explicitly attributes many of the good features of his rule to the women in his life, and especially his grandmother.73 This appraisal of Alexander immediately follows Machiavelli’s repetition of the advice from chapter 15: “a prince who wants to maintain his state is often forced not to be good” (P 19).

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