The Life of Castruccio Castracani by Niccolò Machiavelli

Author:Niccolò Machiavelli
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847498328
Publisher: Alma Books
Published: 2020-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Extract from the

Florentine Histories

(BOOK II, 26–27; 29–31)

IT WAS IN THIS PERIOD* that the lordship of Lucca and Pisa was taken away from Uguccione, and Castruccio Castracani, a citizen of Lucca, became their ruler – and, because he was young, ardent and fierce, and fortunate in all he undertook, he became in a very short time the leader of the Ghibellines of Tuscany. For this reason, the Florentines, once their civil discord had been suspended, thought at first, for several years, that Castruccio’s forces would not increase, and later, when they had in fact – to their dismay – increased, they considered how to defend themselves against them. And so that the city leaders should be able to deliberate on the basis of better advice, and execute their decrees with greater authority, they appointed twelve citizens, whom they called the Good Men, without whose advice and consent the city leaders would not be permitted to do anything of importance. Meanwhile, the rule of King Robert had come to an end; and the city, now in charge of itself, reverted to the rule of the usual rectors and magistrates; and the great fear aroused in it by the threat of Castruccio kept it united. He, after many sallies against the lords of Lunigiana, attacked Prato, whereupon the Florentines, determined to come to its aid, shut down their shops and in a great popular movement went there; they assembled twenty thousand infantry and one thousand five hundred horsemen. And in order to take forces away from Castruccio and add them to their own, the city leaders issued a proclamation stating that if any Guelph rebel were to come to the aid of Prato, he would, after the relief, be restored to his native city. As a result, more than four thousand rebels assembled there. This army, so very big and brought to Prato so speedily, filled Castruccio with such alarm that, without attempting to try his fortune in battle, he retreated towards Lucca. This led to a disagreement in the camp of the Florentines, between the nobles and the common people: the people wanted to pursue him, fight him and destroy him; the nobles wanted to return home, saying that it was quite enough to have placed Florence in peril for the sake of liberating Prato; this had originally been the right thing to do, since they had been constrained by necessity, but now that the necessity had vanished, it was not the right time to tempt Fortune, as they risked gaining little and losing much. They could not come to an agreement, and so handed the matter over to the city leaders, who found in their councils the same disagreement as between the people and the nobles. When news of this spread through the city, it brought many men out onto the piazzas, who started to utter many threatening words against the nobility; the result was that the nobles, filled with fear, yielded. This decision, reached belatedly and, by many, unwillingly, gave the enemy time to retreat safely to Lucca.

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