Anatomia di un’edizione latina tardo-cinquecentesca del Principe di Machiavelli

Abstract

This essay aims to study the composition of the last of the three impressions of De principe libellus produced by the press of Pietro Perna in 1580, twenty years after the first edition (Basel, 1560). This particular print is distinguished by the addition of a series of parallel texts, ranging from Giovio’s elogium of Machiavelli to brief translations from Cassius Dio (speeches for and against monarchical power), as well as anti-Machiavellian pamphlets aimed at affirming the legitimacy of popular resistance to tyranny. These appendices were intended by the printer to serve as ‘antidotes’ to the reading of Machiavelli, for both Reformed and non-Reformed readers who considered the work of the Florentine Secretary shameful and wrong.