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HISTORICAL ABSTRACT. 165
yoked. Niccol6 Capponi appointed Gonfaloniere for thirteen 1527.
months [Varchi, bk. iii ; Segni, bk. i ; Nardi, bk. viii, etc.]
l_aehiavelli.--Is sent on February 3 to Guicciardini at Parma
[Opere, P. M. vi. 232; Spedizione seconda a Francesco Guicciardini]
to represent to him the defenceless state of Florence
[Guicciardini, Op. Ined. v. 200, letter of February 6 : ' Da Firenze mi
scrivono mandate il Machiavello per sollecitare le provvlsioni che
bisognando arebbono a avere di qua,' etc.]. Arrives February 7-
Goes with Guicciardini to Bologna, beginning of March lOp. Ined.
v. p. 275] ; to Imola, April 2 [letter to his son Guido, Op. viii.
226] ;to Forli, April 5 ; corresponds with Franceseo Vettori [Op. viii.
228-233 ]. On April I8, at Brisighella. Thence to Florence, ? still
following Guicciardini. Is despatched by Guicciardini to interview
Andrea Doria at Civita Vecchla [letter of May 22 ; Op. vfi. 509].
Returns to Florence after the establishment of the Repubhc ; on
June 20 is taken ill ; on June 22 dies.
[Stones connected with his death.
i. That he dmd from an overdose of medicine [see the prescription
in Op. viii. i7o ]. The origin of the story to be fbund in a
letter from his son Pietro (given in Op. i. CXXlX) to Francesco
Nelli : '... _ morto il di 22 di questo mese Niccol6 nostro Padre
dl dolori di ventre, cagionati da un medicamento preso il di 20.'
Repeated by Paolo Glovio [_fatoque functus est, quum accepto
temere pharmaco, quo se adversus morbos praemuniret, vitae suae
jocabundus illusisset,' etc.] and by others. The .story, which is a
mere legend, is examined by Villari, iii. 364; Artaud, ii. 2oo;
Tommasini, i. 643, note 6.
ii. That before his death he had a dream, and chose rather to
go to Hell to reason with philosophers and politicians than to visit
the dull company of Heaven. See Busini's letter, quoted m Introduction,
p. 4o, and Villari, iii. p. 366.
fii. That he died from vexation at seeing Donate Giannotti
appointed Secretary of the Signoria [Busini; Varchi]. But Machiavelli
died before Giannotti was appointed.
These legends, which are of no importance in themselves, were
seized upon by Machiavelli's opponents, and in time became the
commonest weapons of controversy, and are constantly referred to
by the older critics.]
TANTO NOMINI NULLUM PAR _LOGIUM.