My somewhat solipsistic entry point for these reflections on Machiavelli is an undergraduate paper that dates from 1977.  The hastily written six-page paper argued, unoriginally, that Machiavelli adhered to two moral codes.  These were Christian (or Judeo-Christian) morality and a civic morality, or a morality of the state, that could override Christian morality when the “necessity” of maintaining power, or the goal of political stability, demanded it.  The graduate student teaching assistant who read and graded my paper was not persuaded; Machiavelli, in his view, rejected Christianity in favor of the civic virtues embodied in the ancient Roman republic. The Read more