"In late 2023, on social media, many women expressed surprise to discover how often their boyfriends thought of ancient Rome. This collective realization became a meme and ensconced the term 'Roman Empire' into the popular lexicon as a great historical ideal about which one often daydreams. Had Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) been alive today, he would have been guilty of a similar infatuation, as ancient Rome was his ideal too. But what was the Roman Empire?"
"Rather, that treatise was written as a gift and de facto job application to Lorenzo di Piero de Medici, Duke of Urbino, and ruler of Florence, for the position of court advisor. Machiavelli was not granted the position, nor did he completely align with The Prince's ethos of amoral cunning and selfish power-lusting. He was far more attracted to the selfless, classical virtues and civic duty of the Roman Republic that preceded the Roman Empire."
Late-2023 social media posts highlighted a popular fascination with the Roman Empire as a recurring historical ideal. Rome's long history encompassed monarchical, republican, and despotic phases, with Montesquieu noting all three natures of state and Nietzsche praising imperial grandeur under an emperor. Machiavelli wrote Il Principe as a gift and de facto job application to Lorenzo di Piero de Medici but was not granted the court advisory position. Machiavelli did not fully embrace The Prince's amoral ethos and instead prized the selfless, classical virtues and civic duty of the Roman Republic, which he examined in his Discorsi on Livy amid Italian disillusionment in 1517.
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