La Mandragola: An Interpretation

Author(s): Theodore A. Sumberg

Source: The Journal of Politics , May, 1961, Vol. 23, No. 2 (May, 1961), pp. 320-340
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Southern Political
Science Association

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/2126708

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 LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION

THEODORE A. SUMBERG
New York Citly

M ACHIAVELLI'S PLAY, La Mandragokl, opened in the 1520's.1-

It is a ribald spoof of marital fidelity that seems odd to have
come from the pen of a philosopher. The usual explanation is that
Machiavelli was pressed for a few ducats after his discharge from
public office and so filled his idle time throwing off something to
please the corrupt taste of his day. The prologue asks the audience
to forgive the author for wasting his time on trifles. This essay aims
to show instead that the play is very serious, written at the top of
Machiavelli's form, and part and parcel of his political teaching.
It is a guide on how to carry out a conspiracy against a corrupt
regime. It is hence two plays in one: one light and frivolous, the
other serious and even didactic. Machiavelli thus earns his ducats
hiding the philosopher he never ceased to be.

The gist of the superficial plot is this. Callimaco, a young Flor-

entine living twenty years in Paris, returns home impelled by the
desire to see Lucrezia, young wife of Nicia, represented to him as
the most beautiful woman on earth. Upon seeing her he becomes
so taken by her beauty that he bends all efforts to win her, no easy
task however because her virtue seems proof against any attack.
To help him he calls in Ligurio, a wily Florentine good at arranging
things, and they decide to play upon the strong desire for an heir
of the couple who are childless after six years of marriage.
Passing himself as a doctor, Callimaco prescribes a fertility-
giving potion of mandrake roots though it has the inconvenience that
the first man who shares Lucrezia's bed after she takes the drink
will die within a week. Afterward, however, connubial life will na-
turally produce children. Despite initial resistance, Nicia, a pillar
of respectability in the community, goes along with the plan of pick-
ing up in the streets one night a young man who, led by force to

'In my study I have used the edition of Casa Editrice Nerbini (Florence,
1906).

[320]

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION 321

Lucrezia, will take onto himself the fatal effects of the drug. Lucre-
zia also accepts the plan, letting herself be persuaded by her mother,
Sostrata, and especially by Friar Timoteo, who for money makes
common cause with the plotters by calming Lucrezia's outraged
conscience.
The plan works to a perfection and it is even Nicia who leads
the young man (Callimaco in disguise, of course) to Lucrezia's
bedroom. In the wee hours of the morning Callimaco reveals the
fraud to Lucrezia who accepts him permanently as her lover. Upon
daybreak, after the young man, his disguise resumed, has been led
away, Nicia in a fit of a gratitude to Dr. iCallimaco offers him the
permanent hospitality of his home. Lucrezia will have her child.
The plot is excellently comic. No wonder the play is one of the
gems of Italian comedy. Even the respectable Macaulay stuttered
for words to praise it enough. Yet a careful reading uncovers some
loose ends: some happenings just do not seem to fit; people speak
out of character; superfluous incidents crop up repeatedly; and so
on. 'Taken together, these defects show a decided sloppiness that is
not common in a masterpiece. The common explanation is that the
author is out of his element, and besides one cannot expect perfec-
tion from a pioneer effort in modem drama. I suggest, however, that
the sloppiness is only apparent, and that in particular it suggests
another plot hidden from vulgar sight that contains some dangerous
elements of Machiavelli's political teaching, meant only for the few
who will understand and apply them. 'Correctly understood, this
hidden plot is no doubt all of one piece, whole and integral, the
brilliant construction of a very gifted mind. Here are some ele-
mentary notes on various aspects of the political plot.

II

We admire David for his victory over Goliath, but we give even
more honor where not puny force, but none, topples not superior
force, but its full monopoly. This is the wizardry and the glory of
fraud. It wins against all odds; it does the seemingly impossible.
It runs high risks, to be sure, hence its few successes, but all action
runs risks, which is why even superior force exerted against per-
verse fortune is put to irout. The real cunning of fraud is to expose
itself to fortune as little as possible by entering only briefly the
arena of action. Now, there is much fraud in politics, especially in
conspiracies. In such dangerous undertakings fraud must prevail

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322 THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS [Vol. 23

with little or no force against all the powers that be. Conspiracies
are therefore the supreme test of political acumen.
The use of fraud in conspiracy can be even highly moral, since
conspiracy is the arm, often the only one, of the downtrodden
against the established order, which with all its rottenness and cruel-
ties would otherwise last forever, thanks to the awe naturally at-
taching to authority that goes well-armed. But since this authority
can be toppled by the people, or at least a determined, clever band
of them, conspiracy can really be the redress of injustice, the hope
of right against might. On a more objective view, it is often a
safety-valve that lets off pressures that would otherwise erupt
violently. In espousing conspiracy one not only casts a stone at
injustice but promotes peaceful change.
Now, all this is 'Machiavelli as he emerges from his famous
tracts. His play is a dramatic representation of the same view. While
the audience sees the victory of the lovers, the few see the bloodless
victory of the new order over the ancient -regime.
There is no show of force in the play. No one carries a weapon
with the exception of Nicia who puts on a small sword upon joining
the other plotters to find the young man to drag to Lucrezia. But
he never unsheathes the sword and its uselessness is emphasized by
the irony of his buckling it on the moment before he loses his wife.
Why does he not use the sword? Deceit paralyzes his hand, guile
disarms him. He is never so weak as when he goes armed. The
play shows that the unarmed may conquer the armed; fraud can
prevail over force. The action in the play consequently gives the
lie to the statement of the Prince (iCh. 6) that the armed prophets
win and the unarmed lose. Not if a clever fellow, unarmed, dis-
arms an armed fool.
Machiavelli gives the name of Lucrezia to the wife. This calls
to mind Lucretia of ancient Rome who, taken by violence, brought
kingly rule to an end. Machiavelli's Lucrezia, taken by guile, will
be without tumult the mother of a new line of rulers in Florence.
Machiavelli meant it when he advised rulers not to take men's
wives from them, not by violence at any rate.

III

The use of fraud, though pacific, is as grim as a military cam-

paign. It is no less in earnest than force because it has the same
purpose of overthrowing an enemy. Hence Machiavelli's rich use

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION 323

of military terms (Act IV, Scene 9) at a high moment of action

when the plotters seize the young man. Is the peaceful campaign
amorous or political? It is both, each in its own way, but that it is
political is not immediately evident, though several facts of cumula-
tive impact suggest it.
One fact is the intensity of Callimaco's passion for Lucrezia. It
is the material for a tragedy of star-crossed lovers, not of a light-
hearted comedy of bourgeois cuckoldry whose spirit more appro-
priately would be that if she be not for me then let her for the devil
be. But Callimaco says that even life itself is at stake in his at-
tempt to win Lucrezia (I,3 and IV,4). Not even an ardent young
man will accept such high risks for an amorous escapade. For did
Callimaco the lover fail, he would simply return to Paris where con-
solatory women abound, easily attracted to his youth, good looks,
breeding and wealth. But even giving full value to the madness
that is love, Callimaco's passion looks to something beyond. It is
in fact the life-and-death struggle for political power. Did Calli-
maco the conspirator fail, only with exceptionally good luck could
he escape death by going into exile. There is no turning back for
one engaged in a conspiracy in the enemy's own gates. Win or die
is more typically a political than an amorous option.
The play takes place during twenty-four hours, from sunup to
sunup. Action is rapid and the tension unrelieved. There is no rest
for conspirators where life itself is at stake. Callimaco sets in mo-
tion the plan after one full month in which he unobserved observes
Florence. Setting aside a month for planning is too rational for
lovers who traditionally abide not slowfooted time. A successful
conspirator, however, must test well the ground he will leap upon.
Calm planning and swift action is the essence of wise conspiracy.
Callimaco admits his passion to Ligurio toward the end of the
month and only the day before the plan's execution to others. He
therefore gives associates little time to denounce him. Moreover he
takes only three men along with him, each one for essential tasks:
Siro his servant, his acquaintance Ligurio and Timoteo the friar.
Not knowing the third, Callimaco must examine his credentials very
carefully. He entrusts Ligurio with the task of proving the friar's
disposition to sell his scruples for money. In a conversation started
by Ligurio the friar expresses his willingness to help in the abor-
tion of an unmarried noblewoman who lives in a convent. The story
is false, but by giving his assent Timoteo shows himself worthy of

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324 THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS [Vol. 223

doing something less morally repugnant, and is then ta

member of the group.
Callimaco treats Siro with great circumspection. He tells him
only the bare minimum of the plot. Were the escapade only amor-
ous, a servant's loyalty could be counted on, for both in literature
and life his usefulness in such matters is traditional. But where life
and death is at stake silence is the first law of survival. Not a few
conspiracies have been brought to ruin by unwary associates. Calli-
maco's policy of keeping Siro at arm's length is in fact justified
when Siro shows himself to be a giddy blabbermouth (IV,5).
Ligurio is the right-hand man of Callimaco. In both planning
and executing he has great weight and is even a moral support to
Callimaco in his moments of despair for the success of the venture.
Ligurio is also the one whose disloyalty would be most dangerous,
for he is most capable of disclosing to iCallimaco's enemies where,
when and how he could be caught. Callimaco must therefore assure
himself of Ligurio's trustworthiness. In fact, he chose well for
Ligurio is deceit's own child and his loyalty is for hire.
Above all, the conspirator must guard against rivalry in his
associates. Siro and Timoteo are not in the running, but Ligurio is
a potential rival. That he is not a real one is the basis for Machia-
velli's represetation of Ligurio as a man with a passion for food,
not sex. His delight in the pleasures of the table is repeated several
times. It shows that the conspirator must choose associates with
ambitions that do not conflict with his. Indeed, the stronger these
ambitions are, the better, for they keep the potential rival out of
the conspirator's special domain of political rule. Thus the stress
on the parallel, not converging, desires of Callimaco and Ligurio.
It is otherwise strange that Ligurio has no interest in lovely
Lucrezia. He obviously is not a well-rounded character. This seems
to be bad dramaturgy by Machiavelli but it is good political science.
The passion to rule is very common, as is the passion for sexual con-
quest. Being proof against the second universal passion, Ligurio
shows himself to be eminently aloof from the other. That he could
not possibly be a rival for political power is why Callimaco can
place so much confidence in him.
IV

Callimaco is thirty years old and Lucrezia several years younger.

Machiavelli does not give her age, but if she married between six-

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTRPRETATION 325

teen and eighteen-the beautiful girls are married off early-she

would be between twenty-two and twenty-four years old when abed
with Callimaco she tells him

io ti prendq per signore, padrone e guida. Tu mio padre, tu

mio difensore, e tu voglio che sia ogni mio bene .

"Father" certainly is a curious term of endearment among young

lovers, especially since Lucrezia does not use it toward her husband
who is probably twice her age. But Callimaco is in fact a father,
the father of a new republic. A wife has for long been held to repre-
sent the body politic and he newly possessed of it is naturally pater
patriae.2
The curious exchange of endearments comes at the end of the
play. Up to that point the play is a conspiracy whose victory
launches a new republic. At the curtain's fall the republic enters
upon its new career. We can never be sure how it turns out, but
before Machiavelli lets down the curtain he intimates how to pre-
serve, as well as found, a new republic.
The new city is a new birth. It is the Renaissance that Machia-
velli would like to inaugurate. In the morning Nicia says to his
wife that she is acting as if she were born anew (V,5). At the same
time Timoteo says to Sostrata that it appears that she has a new
lease on life (V,6). A new dawn shines over everything.
Marriage imitates political life. It creates a small society that
is the seed of the larger society. There is a sort of marriage be-
tween Callimaco and Lucrezia. Timoteo calls it a "match" (III, 8).
Nicia, the perfect cuckold, asks Callimaco at the play's end to give
his hand to Lucrezia. This is the "marriage" ceremony officiated by
the almost self-ousted husband. But the old marriage tie is pre-
served in appearance while the new one arises. The "marriage"
between the two lovers is the new state that wisely keeps old ap-
pearances, as Machiavelli recommends in the Discourses (Book I,
Ch. 25).
The new polity consists of the same members bound together
in a new relation. This new relation is suggested by the new
robes some members put on. The morning after, when all sally
forth with grateful hearts to attend church, Lucrezia and others
go newly clothed. This fact is hardly of sartorial significance only.
2"A wife stands for the body politic elsewhere in Bacon, as she does in
Plato." Howard B. White, "Bacon and the Orphic Myth," Socia Research
(Spring, 1960), p. 35.

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 326 THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS [Vol. 23

It is also stated that Lucrezia will greet the new day newly bathed.
It is important that at the end of the play the full cast of char-
acters comes together before entering church. It is the only time
they are all together. This is the new society living in a new unity.
This unity centers in its new leadership, the nominal husband
(Callimaco) replacing the legal one (Nicia).
The cast is newly clothed, not newly made. There is not the
least hint of a change in character, of a new birth of moral orienta-
tion. Callimaco lacks the reforming zeal. He imposes no new educa-
tion, no new ordinances. He lets everyone alone, presumably believ-
ing that a new order can be established taking people as they are.
Plato in his Republic would wipe the slate clean, starting afresh
with ten-year olds, but Machiavelli would probably say that this
effort is so visionary that it makes impossible the creation of a new
society. For him it is enough that a new leadership shake the old
elements into a new political arrangement.
Of course, soon a new member will enter society, Lucrezia's and
Callimaco's child bearing Nicia's name. This is the new state ex-
tended into the future. But a slight difficulty presents itself here
because it is never stated that it is Nicia, not Lucrezia, who is
sterile. It can be supposed that it is the husband as another example
of the many ironies of the play. Always boasting of his sexual
prowess, Nicia is sterile. This fact is even suggested by one circum-
stance: though Nicia recalls sowing wild oats in his youth, he makes
no mention of having had thildren, which he would very likely do
to counter Callimaco's suggestion that perhaps Nicia is the sterile
one.
Nicia is middle-aged and probably will die before Callimaco. The
young man may even hasten Nicia's death. He tells Lucrezia dur-
ing their night together that he will marry her upon Nicia's death.
Formal marriage following de facto marriage, the new regime will
be fully legitimized. But this m-ust wait its time since Callimaco
would run high risks killing off Nicia at once. The new state can-
not immediately slough off its old appearance; too much novelty at
one time is upsetting.
At the proper moment Callimaco will probably get rid of Nicia
by an "accident". Why deny oneself the fraud that won the new
eminence? Callimaco will therefore bide his time and arrange Nicia's
death at an opportune moment. It is true that his hand might be
forced if Nicia, despite his stupidity, wakes up from his dream; in

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION 327

such circumstances Callimaco could not hesitate despite the risks.

Besides as the new ruler he would enjoy a monopoly of force.
Though gained by fraud, the new power will naturally use force
whenever necessary to maintain itself. Machiavelli recommended
gentleness in getting power and brutality in keeping it.
Nicia is the only possible threat to the new order. It is thus
significant that he has no relatives nor even friends to avenge him
for losing both wife and life. He is therefore the ideal object of
conspiracy. His government falls without a blow. Moreover, he is
completely isolated by the action of the play, for all characters
gravitate to Callimaco even before the dark deed is done. The con-
spirator can attack such a weak order with one eye to preserve, as
well as to gain, the new polity.
Callimaco unchallenged will very much be master of the new
order. Its very foundation in fraud will sustain it, for anyone re-
vealing the adulterous deception condemns himself. Timoteo says
correctly that each one will keep a secret if he fears consequences to
himself in revealing it (III, 9). By talking Timoteo would reveal
his betrayal of his holy duties, while Siro and Ligurio could not
help show their nefarious part did they reveal the plan. Sostrata
would dishonor her daughter exposing the hoax to public eye. Rank
selfishness silences their tongues.
In the new order Callimaco will soon be more feared than loved.
This no doubt is how he would want it to be. Even Lucrezia will
soon come to fear him since his least displeasure with her might
provoke him to reveal her adultery-but only as a last resort for
he would also stand self-condemned. However, whereas he might
escape with his life with the revelation of the plot, she would have
no avenue of retreat. Honor and life itself would be lost. What mar-
riage bond could be stronger?
The new state rests on force, as do all political orders. Yet it is
not force but rather the threat to use it that stabilizes. Its mere
presence creates the fear that is one of the props of the new regime.
This fear, aroused by force that is always held in reserve, is the
tie that binds. It is also necessary to give people what they want to
prevent discontent from breaking the bounds of fear. Stability is
also the reward of self-interest satisfied. In the play each member
gets what he wants and therefore the universal interest in preserv-
ing the regime. Siro and Ligurio enjoy the largesse of Nicia's home.
Lucrezia has the embraces of a young lover plus coveted children

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 328 THE JOURNAL o0 POLITICS [Vol. 23

and Timoteo enjoys greater generosity from his expanded flock

that is afire with a new enthusiasm. Of course, man being a variable
creature he may easily grow discontent, so that the ruler also needs
the support of fear if the people ever lost sight of their self-interest.
The last action of the play is the entrance of the entire cast into
the church to hear thanksgiving Mass. Callimaco and Lucrezia prob-
albly enter arm-in-arm to kneel before Timoteo, radiant at the altar.
This last scene is outrageously irreverent in the superficial plot and
central to the political plot. It is the church itself that blesses the
adulterous union. The new state is also grounded on faith. Faith is
a social bond that cements the new society. The church is another
and not the least important pillar of the new order.
The church will have a larger role in the new republic than in
the old one. Nicia points out that for ten years he has not exchanged
even a word with the friar even though his wife is a constant
churchgoer. This fact is out of character for a person of traditional
education and so very respectful of the law. It is said in the pro-
logue that Nicia is tied to Boethius, often called the first of the
Scholastics, but yet for ten years he has not seen the inside of a
church. Callimaco will show no such indifference to public faith; he
will attend Mass frequently and always in the public eye. Calli-
maco's churchgoing is entirely political in motive because it is
abundantly clear that he has not a shred of faith. His behavior is
warrant enough for his lack of faith, but even when he expresses
contempt for Timoteo his argument rests on no Christian principles.
Yet this man, not a Christian, will always occupy the most promi-
nent pew in the metropolitan cathedral.

V.

Machiavelli urges conspiracies only against corrupt states. Flor-

ence of his day was decidedly corrupt and there is evidence enough
in the simple fact that La Mandtagola went over so well with all the
best people from the Pope on down. Florence in his play is also
corrupt. Two facts, already noted, suggest this. Livy's Lucretia
killed herself after being taken forcibly, while Machiavelli's Lu-
crezia, persuaded into dishonoring her nuptial tie, said that after
all perhaps it is Heaven's will (V, 4). Her downfall is all the more
striking because at the play's outset she is the only decent person
in the community. From good to bad is but a step. And significantly

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION 329

enough it is her Christian conscience that is her undoing. For such

a conscience is what the friar plays upon. The conscience of pagan
Lucretia could not be so used. Real virtue is with the pagans, not
the Christians.
The other sign of corruption is Nicia's avoidance of churchgoing.
Only a corrupt community exerts no pressure on its leading citizens
to conform to official piety, and this pressure need not have been
strong for so fearful a creature as Nicia. Faith indeed is at a low
level in the ancient regime.
Other signs of Florence's corruption are in the cast of characters.
The most respectable character, Nicia, is the most corrupt of all,
for it is he alone who believes that the young man taken from the
streets will die after spending a night with Lucrezia. The others
appear to be in on the hoax, probably including Sostrata and even
more likely, Timoteo, while Lucrezia has it suggested to her by the
friar that it is not certain that the young man will die. This doubt
may generously be regarded as softening her complicity in the
planned murder, but Nicia goes along in full knowledge. He will kill
a man to have an heir. In fact, he expresses but little remorse when
he thinks of the coming death of the young man (V, 2). That the
young man will not be poisoned by the sugared water that Lucrezia
drinks Nicia does not know and so is no mitigation of his crime.
Was a respectable person ever pictured as such a monster?

'This man, who is an accomplice in a planned murder, could

not be more law-abiding. Nicia pleads repeatedly with the fellow-
plotters not to transgress the law, even in its most picayune detail.
The mortal dread of sanctions and the loss of good name are con-
stantly before him. He is Ithe hypocrisy that is the official ethic of
Florence.

Siro is a relatively decent person. He knows very little beyond

his master's immoderate passion for a married woman and he does
little but go along with his master's instructions. The need to gain
his daily bread would still whatever moral qualms he might have.
His contribution to and his reward from Lucrezia's debauchery
being the most modest of the group, he is therefore the least shame-
less of the plotters. All this suggests that Siro may even be held up
as the repository of popular morality that, if it has nothing of lofty,
neither has anything of vile. The same is true of the nameless
woman who briefly converses with the friar in the church (III, 3).

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330 THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS [Vol. 23

The humble ignorant folk ask fewv questions and uphold official
morality.
Not all the poor are in the middle plane of morality. Though
now mother-in-law of a leading citizen, Sostrata came from humble
origins and perhaps not very moral ones. Ligurio says he knew her
in the old days of her youth. What kind of people would a match-
maker know? Perhaps she was in the same traffic or something simi-
lar. It is not even precluded that she was a pleasure-giver as well
as a pleasure-seeker. It is curious in any case that Machiavelli makes
no mention of Lucrezia's father. He gives her no last name as he
does to Callimaco and Nicia. Is her paternity in doubt? Is she per-
haps the nameless offspring of an illicit union of a woman-about-
town who had enough clevemess to arrange for a good match of her
beautiful daughter to a rich man? If so, Sostrata was the first one
to carry out a successful piece of fraud against Nicia. Perhaps Calli-
maco, knowing this, was emboldened to undertake a larger, more
ambitious conspiracy against him.
That the heirs of new Florence will spring from the illegitimate
daughter of a trollop would disturb Machiavelli not a bit. Good
lineage is no just title to power, only cleverness in seeming to have
the traits that go with noble upbringing. It is seeming so, not being
so, that counts. Clever people can invent genealogies as easily as
they invent histories, so that even, humble folk, if clever enough,
can rise to eminent positions in the community. Even if they are
found out after a time, the humble folk that are ruled may admire
the trick that their rulers pulled off so well.
It would be wrong from the above to impute a democratic bias to
Machiavelli. This would be contradicted, among other reasons, by
the care with which he shows how Callimaco and Nicia differ in
treating Siro. Though hardly knowing him, Nicia soon takes him
into his confidence, while Callimaco, who has. him as a servant for
ten years, very carefully keeps him at a distance. Nicia seeks Siro's
advice that iCallimaco almost contemptuously declares he will not
do. Callimaco obviously knows how to keep common people in their
place. He is no man to allow the people to get out of hand. He de-
serves authority because he knows how to wield it. If there is any-
thing good in traditional Florence, he will defend it well against
the common herd that would soon overwhelm Nicia.
The revolutionary character of Machiavelli rests on no demo-
crati-c insurgency. Callimaco, the new Prince, is a gentleman, a man

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION 331

of leisure and inherited property, always aware of his super

What he is not is a man of inherited ideas. Both he and his creator
are anti-traditional in the intellectual sense. They are aristocrats
by intellect who will use the new science to overthrow the existing
nobility and their ancient ideas. Siro and his class have no access to
this science.

VI.

Callimaco is an orphan reared in a foreign land who returns

home to start things afresh. He is a Florentine Moses, but with these
two differences: he is obedient to his own law, not divine will, and he
leads his people nolt to a new land across the seas or across the
desert, but to new dwellings on their ancient soil. The old is reno-
vated, not abandoned; Europe is renewed, not replanted in other
climates; the fresh start is upon a civilized, not a primitive, base.
Machiavelli himself quotes Livy: Crescit interea Roma Albae ruinis.
But Rome was but 12 miles from Alba.
Callimaco, left Florence when he was ten years old. But at no
time did he sell his home there, so he could not have thought to
stay abroad forever. He also keeps open house for Florentines pass-
ing through Paris, so he never loses contact with his native city.
But living twenty impressionable years in Paris he naturally be-
comes more Parisian than Florentine. It is significant that Machia-
velli calls upon this two-thirds Parisian to restore Florence. The first
great patriot of Italian nationality, as Machiavelli is commonly
called, makes a two-thirds Frenchman the father of new Italy, and at
a time when France occupied many Italian cities, as the play itself
notes in I, 1. That the near-Parisian will rule the new Italy well
is more important than that he be Italian. The prudence that the
ruler acquires, even abroad, ranks over the nationality he is born in.
In contrast, Nicia is an Italian who never left Italy and whose oust-
er ushers in new Italy.
As a young man in Paris, Callimaco spends his time in three
pursuits: studies, pleasure and business. No one pursuit interferes
with the others. The complete man is able to function well on all
three levels. Callimaco embodies in himself the three types of life
that men pursue, according to Aristotle (NE 1095b15). Machia-
velli is against classical specialization and even more he is
against the idea that the wise man, is the best. In political life wis-

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332 THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS [Vol. 23

dom, or studies, does not rank above the other two pu

velli believes instead that the man exclusively wise pla
role. Machiavelli wants to take politics out of the star-
Even the practically wise man, the statesman, repre
impractical ideal. The political ruler that C'allimac
accessible, participates in all phases of life and is
political arena.
Machiavelli takes pains to call attention to the limitations of
Callimaco. The young man definitely is not the hero who lives on
a plane too lofty to be reached by others. He falters, stumbles, gets
consumed in doubt and gives himself prematurely to despair for
failure to see solutions at hand. He commits errors of omission and
commission. Invariably it is Ligurio who sets him on the right track.
He devises the final plan, improvises in {the course of its execution
and takes an increasing part in pulling it off. It is Callimaco and
Ligurio together who bring things off well. The complete statesman
is 'Callimaco and Ligurio in council, the leader and his counselor
jointly acting. There is obviously less need to demand excellence in
the ruler if a strong counselor is always at hand.
Yet it is Callimaco who rules, not Ligurio. Ligurio is even one of
those few who in an exaggerated way is aloof from the all too human
desire for power and fame. In contrast, Callimaco has not only
political ambition, but other things that Ligurio lacks, the external
goods, as Aristotle calls them, including proper birth, wealth, good
appearance. These goods are given by accident, not by nature. He is
thus endowed by fortune with attributes needed in political life.
The ruler therefore is not naturally best, even if cleverness alone is
put as the best. Having these goods, as well as some natural clever-
ness, Callimaco can even buy the services of others, including the
greater cleverness of Ligurio.
Callimaco's youth is also an important fact. He is the prototype
of the youth movement. Were wisdom the only warranty of rule,
then only men of wisdom could wear the purple. In Plato's Republic
only upon reaching fifty would the philosopher-king spend his time
half-in and half-out of the cave. At thirty, when 'Callimaco assumes
command, Plato's ruler would enter upon five years of rigorous
training in dialectic and the ultimate principles of morality, followed
by fifteen years of public service in subordinate posts for experience's
sake. Callimaco needs the apprenticeship of neither study nor ex-
perience to rule. It is surely no coincidence that just at thirty he

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION 333

rises to leadership. As a lover it would be enough that he were

young, not exactly thirty years of age, but Machiavelli gives this age
to pit his own preference for youth in politics against the thesis
of Plato that rule is for the gray-haired.
The young are headstrong and governed by their passions. This
is just the force needed to govern others. Such people do not shy
away from risks. Their life is an exciting adventure in taking risks.
By understanding obstacles they sweep them aside. This is Calli-
maco seconded by Ligurio. It is precisely on this point that Nicia
falls down. He has no spunk. Risking nothing, he loses all. Never
moving from one spot, he is a stationary target for all the outrageous
arrows of fortune. He resolves little and in the rare times he is set
on a resolution he easily backslides. Such men are made to give
way to bolder spiirits.
The name Nicia brings to mind the honored Athenian general,
rival of Alcibiades, who paid such strict attention to virtue. Always
hesitant, always cautious, he was pushed almost against his will in
a very risky military enterprise against Syracuse that brought dis-
aster to himself, his men, his state. He is led, by events to disaster,
while Callimaco, as well as Alcibiades, young men of passion, will
grab hold of events and lead them to happy results.
Both Callimaco and Nicia are men of inherited wealth, but with
opposite attitudes toward its use. Nicia is the penny-pincher who
lets not a cent go with one hand without thinking of retrieving it
with the other. Callimaco will put all in his enterprise, as he says
to Timoteo (IV, 5), and though there is some bravado here per-
haps, at various times throughout the play Callimaco shows willing-
ness to ,risk large sums. All Ihis wealth is capital, not to conserve,
but to venture with. It is therefore fitting that Machiavelli has Calli-
maco getting the girl as well as the use of Nicia's house. There is
also irony in the fact that though Callimaco expresses willingness
to put money in his plan, he lays out not a cent. It is Nicia who
pays; the miserly Nicia is made to invest his own money to found
the state that ousts him.
It is to be noted too that 'Callimaco is willing to invest money,
not give it away. There is no generosity in him; he has nothing of
the magnanimous gentleman. He wants to see a return on his money.
Callimaco lacks. other private virtues. He !really is no more than a
clever rascal. At various times he expresses doubt about the success
of his plan, and even whether the reward will repay the risks, but

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334 THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS [Vol. 23

he never doubts the morality of his actions. A gentleman only by

social position, he has no honor and hence no shame at what he
does. Keen intelligence, according to Machiavelli, does not goi with
morality; he who knows may be bad. Men in fact are not good by
honor but by necessity. Necessity lacking, they will go from good
to bad in a trice. Witness Lucrezia.
What drives Callimaco to his goal? The desire foir fame, but
why? Is it to serve others? No. There appears to be no motive
in the sense of a goal chosen among alternative ends. He is moved
rather by a drive that looks to its source, not to its object. It is
gain for gain's sake. His ruling passion is very aptly symbolized by
the desire for sexual conquest. Of all impulses in nature it is the
one that least looks beyond itself. Cupid indeed is blindfolded. The
desire for fame is of the same kind: a blind imp!ulse that represents
a deep need of man. Even gained, the satisfaction, acute as it is,
may not be worth the candle, as Callimaco says to himself, but it is
the irresistible force that pushes him on.
That this is so is brought out among other facts by the obvious-
ly specious reason for Callimaco's return to Florence. At a dinner
party with friends, where the men fall to discussing which is the
most beautiful woman in the world, a Florentine so praises Lucrezia
that Callimaco straightaway is off to see for himself. Who can be
blind to the irony of a man leaving Paris in search of a woman? The
fact is that he has no reason to leave, any more than he has a reason
to gain power in Florence. The desire foir rule is sufficient unto
itself.
Callimaco's passion to rule contrasts with the philosopher-king
who needs coercing to take on political leadership. He has almost
to be dragged from the sight of the eternal heavens to enter the
dark cave of civil life, for he believes he is losing something more
valuable than political leadership. But Callimaco knows nothing
more valuable than politics. His studies at Paris did not get hold
of him any more than the discourse of Socrates won the soul of
Alcibiades.
In his tracts Machiavelli writes that conspiracies often arise
from offenses given by rulers. There are certainly historical instances,
but La Mandragola suggests a deeper basis for conspiracy (also
recognized in the Discowses III, 6). Callimaco is never offended by
Nicia, in fact is given every reverence. His conspiracy rather is a
free act of will whose origin lies in envy, not injury. It follows that

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION 335

a ruler assures himself safety from conspiracy by not giving o

even of that were always possible. Envy among high-spirited su
is almost inevitable. And so there always is some tension between
the ruler and the ruled, at least among the more daring of these.
This is the insecurity at the base of all public authority.

VII.

La Mandragola is a comedy to the nth degree. The ending could

not be happier at whatever level you take the play. Boy gets girl,
and he is even led in hand to her by her husgband to live with her
in perpetual bliss in the husband's home. There is no discordant
note except that too much of a good thing arouses suspicion. The
play is also the ultimate comedy politically: a new ruler is installed
in power over the old one who in ignorance of his ouster presents
no threat to the new order. At the end of the play Nicia gives the
key of his house to Callimaco and Ligurio. Here is the transfer of
ownership, though not of title, of the old dwelling. It is almost too
good to be true.
The play is a comedy in several other senses. Like most comedies
it ends in a marriage of sorts, the adulterous union of Callimaco
and Lucrezia. But "they lived happily ever after" has no hollow
sound here because Machiavelli creates an environment for them
that suggests stability. Children are soon on the way to bless this
union. It is the most successful marriage in history.
The play opens in discord over who will possess the body politic
and ends in concord,, both rivals for power eminently content. The
movement is upward toward the final harmony. The rise in Calli-
maw's estate parallels the rise in the play's comic element: from
almost a stranger in Florence to its ruler in one bound. It is an
amazing success story. Imagine the insolence of even having such an
ambition, but here overvaulting ambition not only escapes chastise-
ment but gets more than it dreamed of. Of course, the fact that
Callimaco set his aim so high helps him to reach it. Boldness pays
off handsomely; think big to do Ibig.
Plato's Republic leaves modern man sad that the good state
sketched therein can so very rarely, if ever, come about. That so
noble an ideal remains in words is a tragedy.. Machiavelli's new
republic leaves us encouraged and astir wilth new hope because the
good regime, not requiring a rare combination of men and events,

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336 THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS [Vol. 23

can be put in practise. Hope is real and legitimate. We can hope

because it pays to hope. Hope is the soul of Machiavellian comedy.
Callimaco as well as the cuckolded husband get their hearts'
content. The first attains true happiness, the second false happiness.
The second is not a mite less genuine than the first. The difference
is simply that the first is for the few who can live with the truth
and the second for the many whose natural medium is illusion. The
good republic will give to each his type of happiness. Since politics
is rule over many, it will take special pains to spread abroad the
second kind of happiness. Delusions wear off, it is true, but the
astute ruler has a Pandora's box full of them.
At the point of most action in the play, when all the men are
deployed to snatch the young man from the streets, all the plotters
go masked. We all carry masks in playing our different roles in so-
ciety. Many have different sets of masks for different circumstances.
The ruler is especially versatile in changing masks with the scenes.
Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit regnare. This point calls to mind the
"noble lies" by which Plato would have the wise ruler govern a
healthy social order. It is the same thing in Machiavelli, but in quite
another moral context. In particular, in Machiavelli's comedy there
is progress with no increase in morality. No one gets better in the
course of the play. In fact, one character, Lucrezia, the only decent
one originally, becomes decidedly worse. Hence moral impirovement
is no condition of progress; even more, progress requires a lowering
of the moral level.
Is there progress in general welfare? More concretely, are peo-
ple better off in Callimaco's repiublic than in Nicia's? Callimaco, the
more astute ruler, would no doubt look more to the well-being of
his subjects. He undoubtedly would have more success in promoting
their contentment. It was said earlier that he would try to satisfy
his subject's self-interest as a prop to the stability of his regime.
His people would therefore be beltter off, if not more moral.
Callimaco's greater concern for the ruled is compatible with the
full satisfaction of his egoism. In fact, it is the safest ground for
realizing this egoism. By letting the people have their way as much
as possible (for he would not want to improve them), the ruler
continues in the enjoyment of his power over them. Nevertheless
the others are merely the environment of his own satisfaction. It
would be unthinkable that he sacrifice himself for them.
If the play has an upward course, what exactly propels it for-

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION 33 7

ward? It is, largely the force of one man. The conspirator must be
the soul of manliness. It is he with his counselor who dominates
events, puts his imprint on things, makes the epoch his own. This
force is psychological more than physical, for it consists in attract-
ing people. Here is, where sexuality and political rule meet in one
man.
It is significant that no accidents intervene to, check the momen-
tum of the plot to final success. This, fact is surprising because few,
if any, histoirical conspiracies have worked so smoothly. It is as if
fortune at long last were removed from the flow of events. It is the
strong man that banishes Dame Fortune. Callimaco takes over so
firmly that he casits her out of his path. In fact, treated thus rough-
ly, she enlists herself on the side of youth and boldness, (Ch. 25, last
paragraph, the Prince).
The moral, is that man can make himself, given strong will and
cleverness. He can cast off his providential destiny of always falling
short of his goals. He would come into his own if he would but rely
on himself. Life itself is a comedy that can burst the bounds of that
monkish vale of tears in which we have hitherto been imprisoned.
It als,o follows that for Machiavelli the only environment in which
man lives is the political order he creates. There is, no cosmos, no
God, no other framework for his, life, for then he would be depend-
ent on it. But in fact he is dependent only on himself. It rests, with
him to cast himself oiut of the cosmic or divine order of his, past
imaginings.

VIII.

Machiavelli puts a mask on himself as well as his cast. The

masked dramatist covers the face of the arch-conspirator. Against
whom does he conspire? Against his, audience, of course. While the
audience laughs at the play, Machiavelli laughs at the audience. He
puts horns on the audience laughing at the cuckoldry of Nicia. By
making them laugh he disarms them, and amidst their laughter he
and his associates go about busily uprooting the established order.
He has the last laugh.
His mask is that of the heavily-painted clown who plays the
fool, the favorite role of the wise man. It is really almost a necessary
role since the world tends to react violently a,gainst those it ill
understands, and who it correctly surmises pay it little heed. Only

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338 THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS [Vol. 23

as a fool can the wise man mingle unmolested with the people.
Machiavelli understood Socrates' fate as well as anyone. Playing
the clown is even more necessary for Machiavelli than for earlier
philosophers, for he starts a new and more dangerous kind of
philosophy. It is philosophy that aims to be useful, changing the
world, not only understanding it. Anaxagoras asks,: "Why are we
born? 'To contemplate the wo,rks of nature." In contrast, never lost
in contemplation, (lor else hiding the fact), Machiavelli enters into
political commitments and therefoire is more a threat to the social
order than the philosophers; who came before him.
Machiavelli would be helpful to the world because he really loves
it. Others, were in love with the cosmos or God, but not M'achiavelli.
He is ever loyal to the polis alone. Of course, his lolve for the human
is not for what it is, but for wha,t it could become. To make it better
is the master aim of his, philosophy. But his love is so strong that
he even bears with little dismay the hard knocks the wolrld gi;ves
him. If it will not be helped while he is alive, he will help it pos-
thumously. His literature will do, what his deeds were not allowed
to do (end of introduction to Book III of the Discourses). In the
fulness of time his love will be reciprocated by the new city that
will honor him as its real founder.
It must often occur to the careful reader of the play that
Machiavelli and Ligurio are brothers, under the skin. Both are astute
counselors, of princes; both are content to serve the fame of others,
or are content to seem content; and both are superioir to the men
they serve. There is only the small difference that Ligurio is. a
counselor rewarded in his time while Machiavelli is not, an,d the
large difference that while Ligurio served one conspiracy, Machia-
velli serves many. H'is play will keep Machiavelli conspiring for
all time.
A man writing in his own, name can easily condemn hims,elf, but
writing in the name of others, he can ward off blows and thus speak
more boldly. He can even adopt several noms de plume. A play is
but a whole set of assumed names. So in fact is, a dialogue, and the
opportunity that the dialogue gave Plato the comedy gives to
Machiavelli. Moreover, what man says through hisi characters in a
dialogue or a play can be given not only by words but by action,
the action that speaks louder than wolrds. For though we hesitate
to say shameful things and even hesitate to put shameful things in
the mouths of others, we may take the smaller risk of having other

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1961] LA MANDRAGOLA: AN INTERPRETATION 339

people, masked and in the night, do shameful things. Since a play

has more action than a dialogue, it is even a more excellent medium
for dangerous opinions.
In his tracts Machiavelli gives illustrations to embody ideas.
The play is a series of illustrations that have the advantage of being
more freely developed than the textual illustrations. These must be
historical or contemporary, and though the author can distort them
-as Machiavelli did so cleverly-they must not be out of shape of
recognition. In a play however there is even more freedom to, choose
illustrations because these can be picked from the wide world of
imagination. La Mandragola is a series of illustrations freely chosen
and developed.
If the play is a bold and hidden expression of Machiavelli's po-
litical teaching, it must be understood that it covers only one aspect
of it, even though an important one for a thinker acting as adviser
to revolutionists. One cannot say everything in a play, and in par-
ticular there is a whole area of general knowledge that falls outside
its limits. It is also awkward in. showing the limits of propositions.
In fact, neither the comedy nor any one work of Machiavelli repre-
sents his full teaching. La Mandragola contributes only something to
confirm or correct points made in the other works.
Machiavelli. wants as fellow-conspirators students of inquiring
minds, not imitators. He seeks those who will adapt him to, changing
times and circumstances, not those who will look upon him as an ob-
ject of revered traditio'nal wisdom. It is even suggesited in the play
that Machiavelli has contempt for such wisdom and its acolytes.
Ligurio knows no Latin, a fact totally extraneous to the love plot.
But Latin is the language of traditional knowledge, so that by not
knowing it one is cut off from that knowledge. Now, Nicia speaks
Latin in the play and Machiavelli even. says in the prologue that
Nicia read all of Boethius. Nicia is also a practitioner of law, which
contains the very spirit of Latin. Yet it is Nicia who, comes to;
grief and Ligurio who wins. Ligurio's natural cleverness is worth
more than all the words written in the old language.
Callimaco knows Latin too, but he does not stand in awe of it.
Even more: he uses his, knowledge of Latin to, befuddle Nicia, for
in the two separate occasions in which Callimaco speaks Latin he
sends Nicia into a paroxysm of delight. Sio it pays to be familiar
with traditional knowledge in a society honoring it, so long as one
stays clear of its presuppositions. Natural guile always comes first.

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340 THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS [Vol. 23

Thus the doctor of medicine-a fake one to boot-bests the doctor

of laws. This is the lesson o'f the play. Needless to say, Nicia could
not be more contemptuous of physicians (I, 2).

Ix.

In this essay I have tried to explain several aspects of Machia-

velli's play, but there are some things that escape me. One example
is the use of numbers; the play swims in numbers.3 They certainly
point to something beyond a silly little comedy. Most numbers are
even. There are 38 even numbers and 13 odd numbers. Why such
a heavy preponderance of even numbers? It is known that the an-
cients held odd numbers sacred and reserved them for divine things.
Virgil writes in his Eclogues (VIII, 75): numero deus impare
gaudet. Does Machiavelli choose even numbers in revolt from the
wisdom of the ancient gods? Do even numbiers, stand for the new
path of political science tha,t he is oplening up,?
Ten is the most characteristic number in the play. It is the most
perfect number and s,tands for completion and victory. Troy fell in
its tenth year of seige and Odysseus arrived home in the tenth year
of his wanderings. At ten o'clock in the evening the "marriage" of
Callimaco and Lucrezia was consummated. The play has, 37 scenes,
which are two independent meaningful numbers tha,t equal ten.
Multiples of ten also abound. If Dante could say of Beatrice "Ella
era un nove", then La Mandragola is a ten.
Three is also an important number in the play. Callimaco has
three pursuits, his life falls into three divisions and at three A.M.
he reveals his identity to Lucrezia. Such matters must be explained
to have a full understanding of the political plot. But the first step
is to recognize the work of political science in the light comedy.

3They also permeate the tracts. For this and other points see Leo Strauss,
Thoughts on Machiavelli (Glencoe, 1958). Nevertheless, my interpretation of
the play differs greatly from his.

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