Abstract

In the Social Contract, Rousseau endorses the so-called oblique interpretation of The Prince, according to which the text is a «satire», a denunciation of tyranny. Rousseau also refers to Machiavelli's Discourses and the Florentine Histories in a highly selective way. This article aims to reconstruct analogies and differences, continuities and discontinuities between the two political thinkers. It focuses on their privileged model of republic and on their overall approach to politics. Machiavelli and Rousseau developed different republican theories: the former hinges on the moment of conflict and the latter on the issue of equality.