On Machiavelli’s Rhetoric: Persuasion in and Beyond the Speeches of Le Istorie Fiorentine

Considering four case studies and focusing on inventio, this article examines the rhetorical sources and strategies underlying the direct speeches that Niccolò Machiavelli included in his Istorie fiorentine. In doing so, it also explores how the rhetorical texture of these speeches compares with Machiavelli’s other writings, both prose and poetry, as well as with the practice of deliberative rhetoric in Florence, particularly in the context of the so-called Consulte e pratiche. As a result, this analysis highlights some of the ways in which classical rhetorical precepts lived on in Machiavelli’s writings and, more broadly, in Renaissance Florence’s practices of political deliberation. At the same time, it suggests that a rhetorical approach can foster a more holistic exegesis of Machiavelli’s works.