Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius

Niccolò Machiavelli

Jul 2022 · Chronicles Book 33 · LA CASE Books · AI-narrated by Archie (from Google)

About this audiobook

Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius is a work of political history and philosophy written in the early 16th century (c. 1517) by the Italian writer and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli, best known as the author of The Prince. The Discourses were published posthumously with papal privilege in 1531.

The title identifies the work's subject as the first ten books of Livy's Ab urbe condita, which relate the expansion of Rome through the end of the Third Samnite War in 293 BCE, although Machiavelli discusses what can be learned from many other eras including contemporary politics. Machiavelli saw history in general as a way to learn useful lessons from the past for the present, and also as a type of analysis which could be built upon, as long as each generation did not forget the works of the past.

Machiavelli frequently describes Romans and other ancient peoples as superior models for his contemporaries, but he also describes political greatness as something which comes and goes amongst peoples, in cycles.

About the author

Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian political theorist and historian that is best known for his book The Prince, which made his name a byword for deceit, despotism and political manipulation. Machiavelli's name has been used for centuries to describe the use or approval of unscrupulous political action, despite the fact that he was well respected as an honorable man, who was the victim of corruption, political deceit and violence throughout his political career in Florence. His concept of civic virtue became a central element of republicanism, which strongly influenced the development of European and American political thought and made him the first modern political thinker. Monroe Clark McBride's first recorded book was read for a blind student at his high school in Modesto, California, where he also played disc jockey on the school's ten-watt radio station. As a young adult, Monroe volunteered his voice for an organization that recorded textbooks and other documents for blind students in the local schools. In later years, he has been the voice for television commercials, trade show videos, and a series of leadership training modules published online. Monroe is the proud father to five and grandfather to nine. He and his wife reside in beautiful southern California.