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Machiavelli: Governments
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The government on which Machiavelli depended had fallen, never to rise again. The national militia in which he placed unbounded confidence had proved inefficient to protect Florence in the hour of need. He was surrounded by political and personal enemies, who regarded him with jealousy as the ex-gonfalonier's right-hand man. Yet at first it appears that he still hoped to retain his office. He showed no repugnance to a change of masters, and began to make overtures to the Medici. The nove della militia were... dissolved; and on the 7th of November 1512 Machiavelli was deprived of his appointments. He was exiled from Florence and confined to the dominion for one year, and on the 17th of November was futher prohibited from setting foot in the Palazzo Pubblico.
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Machiavelli classifies the simple forms of government by a mark of numerical quantity. He uses the terms "The One, the Few, and the Many". (Olive) Many political scientists use Machiavelli's nomenclature in constructing a diagram/schema of Aristotle's bad/good form of governments. Ancient society was very conscious of the grades of men. In the organic natural order, men grew up in tribes where there was hierarchy; the races of men, especially in the Indo-European family were divided between a royal family, aristocratical families, the common class and their servants. The upper castes were marked by special abilities and divine favor. The terms "royal" and "aristocracy" mark out hereditary gifts that nature and divine providence embued upon them.
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Confirmation of this interpretation of the limits of monarchy for Machiavelli may be found in his further discussion of the disarmament of the people, and its effects, in The Art of War. Addressing the question of whether a citizen army is to be preferred to a mercenary one, he insists that the liberty of a state is contingent upon the military preparedness of its subjects. Acknowledging that “the king [of France] has disarmed his people in order to be able to command them more easily,” Machiavelli still concludes “that such a policy is … a defect in that kingdom, for failure to attend to this matter is the one thing that makes her weak” (Machiavelli 1965, 584, 586-587). In his view, whatever benefits may accrue to a state by denying a military role to the people are of less importance than the absence of liberty that necessarily accompanies such disarmament. The problem is not merely that the ruler of a disarmed nation is in thrall to the military prowess of foreigners. More crucially, Machiavelli believes, a weapons-bearing citizen militia remains the ultimate assurance that neither the government nor some usurper will tyrannize the populace.
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When Florence surrendered to the Medicis in 1512, Machiavelli was tortured, imprisoned, and then banished. He retired to a farm near San Casciano where he wrote The Discourses, which discusses all forms of government from a republican point of view, and The Prince, which sets out rules for government of a principality.
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In 1519 Machiavelli partly reconciled with the Medici and he was given various duties, including writing a history of Florence. When the Medici was deposed in 1527 Machiavelli hoped for a new government post. However, now he was distrusted by the republican government for previous association with the Medici.
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When Machiavelli defines a mixed government which is a mirror of a mixed society by numerical adjectives, he is deconstructing the social order of Classical Antiquity and Indo-European trifunctionality. He is minimalizing the character of these upper classes. Again, he is subverting the natural European social order. Mixed government or classical republics are not made up of impersonal groupings of numbers based on quantity but tied to the gifts inherent in a specific caste.
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