ABSTRACT
As a standard of manhood, the image of the Founder puts that of the fox to shame because of the Founder’s capacity to father. Yet that implies that the Founder himself is only a means to Machiavelli’s real goal: the new, uncorrupted society to be created. The vision of that society provides yet a third model of true manhood for Machiavelli, different from the manliness of both fox and Founder. Call it the image of the fraternal Citizen, and let the capitalization of the word mark the image as an ideal type distinct from actual citizenship in this or that historical society. The Citizen is Machiavelli’s most profound and promising vision and the most
political of his images of manhood. It has the potential for synthesizing what is best in his conflicting ideas about autonomy. Yet it is also the most elusive and difficult to reconstruct from the texts. No single work embodies its world, as Mandragola presents the world of the fox and The Art of War that of the Founder. It has to be constructed from scattered sections and passages, often by implication or contrast with what Machiavelli calls “corruption” or “degeneracy.” Yet the edifying vision of the Founder also contrasts with corruption and degeneracy and must nevertheless be distinguished from that of the Citizen. The manhood of Citizenship is clearly tied to Machiavelli’s republicanism, his
deep commitment to politics, and his passionate love of Florence. Yet it is an image drawn at least as much from his reading as from his experience, for it concerns a free and healthy collective life such as Florence never experienced in his time, a way of life to which he refers variously as civic, political, and free: a governo politico or governo libero, a vivere libera, vivere politico, or vivere civile.1
