Foscolo read Machiavelli as exposing tyranny while strengthening rulers

Evidence

Foscolo wrote in his famous poem Dei Sepolcri [On Tombs]: “Io quando il monumento vidi ove posa il corpo di quel grande| che temprando lo scettro a’regnatori| gli allor ne sfronda, ed alle genti svela| di che lagrime grondi e di che sangue ;” [When I saw the monument where lies the body of that great man who, even as he strengthens the sceptre of rulers, plucks away the laurel leaves and reveals to their peoples the tears and blood running down it.] In other words Foscolo saw Machiavelli as revealing the tyranny of the rulers even while he strengthened their power. But Gramsci condemns the moralism of this reduction of Machiavelli to little more than an encouragement to “tyrant-haters”. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2096

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Defines Foscolo’s interpretation of Machiavelli as a contrast against which Gramsci positions his own reading.