Abstract

The contribution focuses on the figure of Nabis, the Spartan king to whom Machiavelli refers in his considerations on the “civil principalityµ. The sources present him as a ruthless tyrant, able to secure popular support through an astute policy of land redistribution. The hypothesis is that the positive assessment of Nabis’ actions proposed by Machiavelli may depend on the self-defence he “pronouncesµ in the Ab urbe condita. The humanists’ reflections on the rhetoric of the reported speeches in historiographical works – of which the Discorsi bear explicit traces – help to situate Machiavelli’s reading of Livy’s work in a more precise way. By isolating the Spartan’s contio from its broader narrative context, Machiavelli was able to develop an original interpretation of the figure of Nabis as a prince able to transform the people into a military force capable of defending the life of the state to the bitter end.