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~MarioDomenichelli~
Machiavellianelementistransparent,eventhoughitdoesneithercorrespond
toGentillet’scaricature,nortotheMachiavelliwefindintheanonymouspre-
facestotheWolfeeditions.Machiavelli,ifIamnotmistaken,nevermentions
JuliusCaesar,Cassius,Brutus,MarcAntonyinDePrincipatibus,althoughhe
frequentlydoesinDiscorsisopralaprimaDeca,ofcourse,andinTeArtofWar.
IntherepublicanperspectiveofIDiscorsi,Caesarisseenbothasthetyrantwho
broughttoanendpoliticalfreedominRomeforever,and,atthesametime,as
thegreatsoldierandstatesmanwhopreparedRome’sgreatnesstocome(Chapt.
10,17,37etc.).Tomyknowledge,nomentionismadeofBrutus’sandCassius’s
plot,andofCaesar’sassassination,whichisoddenoughconsideringthatfrom
Machiavelli’sperspectiveitmighthavebeenacrucialeventofagreatpower
conqueredandlost,andanexemplumwellworthanalyzing.
WhatonefindsinShakespeare’sJuliusCaesarisrather,asIwilltrytoshow,
aMachiavelliturnedtoKilbuonfine”.Asaconsequenceofthis,inaverydialec-
ticalway,Shakespeare’stwotragediesontheRomancivilwarsandthecreation
oftheEmpire,JuliusCaesar,andAntonyandCleopatra,articulateaphilosophy
ofhistorystructuredonthenecessityofEvil,whereRomanhistoryisreadas
theantecedentofEnglishhistorybetweentheendoftheSixteenthandthefirst
decadeoftheSeventeenthcentury.InShakespeare’sKimperialdiptych”jJulius
Caesar(1599),andAntonyandCleopatra(1606)jarhetoricalbattleisfought,
whosechangingfrontsIintendtoanalyze,alsotakingintoconsiderationsome
othervariationsofthesamethemeinTroilusandCressida(1601-2),andOthello
(1603-4)10.
Asthebattlefront-lineisimmenselyfragmented,oneshouldratherspeak
ofaseriesoffront-linesconnectedbywayofanalogyorbywayofsymmetrical
oppositions.IntheImperialDiptychthebattle-lineisnotonlytheonewefind
inJuliusCaesar,opposingBrutus’satticspeech-deliveringtechniquetoAntony’s
Asianrhetoric,buttheconfrontationisalsobetweenaristocraticspeech,onthe
oneside,andMachiavelliandemagogyontheother.InAntonyandCleopatra,
withareversaloftheperspective,Antony’soriental,Asianrhetoricisonthelo-
singside,beatenbyOctavian’slaconicAtticism.Asamatteroffactthequestion
weareposingisconcernedwiththepoweroflanguage,whichcanalsobeexem-
plifiedbytheoppositionbetweenOthello’sKfreeandopennature”,andKhonest
Iago’s”honestyastheexemplumoftheElizabethanMachiavelli-likecharacter.
anti-Machiavelliantradition,bothasaProtestantandCatholicfeatureintheReformationl
CounterReformationage,see:Domenichelli,Cavaliereegentiluomo,86-92.
10TeShakespeareeditionIshallbeusingisTeNortonShakespeare(1997).
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