ABSTRACT
This chapter explains conditions for a possible discourse on orality in Niccolò Machiavelli. It considers a condition of generic possibility, or the state of language he had at his disposal. The chapter considers a more specific condition regarding the author studied here, namely a chancery secretary's training in the language of politics: in fact his work induced a permanent relationship with writing, but this training also brought with it the construction of his own capacity to transcribe, transform, or translate oral material into written material. The chapter refers to the historical moment under consideration: Machiavelli belonged to a generation most of whom came to politics in Florence of Savonarola's time, in a situation in which one of the most important instruments of the city's domestic politics was the radically oral public discourse of the Dominican friar and in which there developed heated debates.
