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LETTERS PATENT. - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings, vol. 4 (Diplomatic Missions 1506-1527) [1506]

Edition used:

The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, tr. from the Italian, by Christian E. Detmold (Boston, J. R. Osgood and company, 1882). Vol. 4.

Part of: The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings, 4 vols.

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LETTERS PATENT.

We, the Ten of Liberty and the Balia of the republic of Florence, signify to all who may see these letters patent, that the bearer of them is the excellent and discreet Niccolo, son of Messer Bernardo Machiavelli, our Secretary, whom we send to levy a certain number of infantry and to conduct them into the Pisan territory. And therefore we command all who are inscribed on the rolls of the military ordinance of our republic to render the same obedience to the said Niccolo as you would to our magistracy. And to you, rectors, officers, and subjects, we command to render him all the assistance he may need, or which he may require of you in the execution of this commission.

Mandantes, etc.

Datum in Palatio Florentino,die 16 Augusti 1508.

Niccolo Machiavelli,Secretary.†

THIRD COMMISSION TO THE ARMY BEFORE PISA.*

[† ]No letters from Machiavelli relating to this mission have been found; but there are in the National Library (Florence) three letters from the Ten, one from Niccolo Capponi, Commissary-General, and one from Pietro Soderini to Machiavelli, in relation to this mission.

[* ]The devastation of the Pisan territory by the Florentines had greatly excited the displeasure of the king of France, who disliked this mode of making war; although he subsequently found it to his advantage, after the republic had replied rather bluntly to his threats, and still more so after their having satisfied his avarice by the present of one hundred thousand francs. Thereupon the siege of Pisa was pressed with great activity, and in February, 1509, “the Ten” sent their Secretary to the camp to watch the progress of the siege, provide all necessaries, and to direct the efforts made for preventing succor from reaching the besieged by vessels coming up from the mouth of the Arno.

How admirably Machiavelli fulfilled his duties and how well he deserved of his country in carrying out the objects of his mission, is attested by the letters addressed to him by the Ten, the Commissary-General Capponi, and others in authority, which are on file in the National Library at Florence. So that one of his recent biographers said of him, very justly, that “he was the very soul of the siege of Pisa, whilst the militia which he had organized were the instruments of a victory which was followed by a surrender of Pisa in the month of June.”

Whilst with the army before Pisa, Machiavelli was sent on a special mission to Piombino, and afterwards to Pistoja, but in both instances he returned to the camp after a few days’ absence. The instructions to Machiavelli by Marcellus Virgilius, etc., and his reports upon these missions, are inserted amongst the despatches relating to the siege of Pisa.