Tradition and Rupture: Rhetoric between Machiavelli and Humanism

Abstract

This article takes its beginning from the analysis given by some scholars of the work and thought of Machiavelli. According to this analysis Machiavelli’s rhetoric would mark a break from the rhetoric and political thought of previous humanists This article aims to show that if there was a break, it did not occur suddenly and without any preparation on the part of previous humanists who wrote before Machiavelli (contrary to what some of these commentators assert). Rather these humanists contributed to the break, as did also the Greek and Roman authors and philosophers of classical antiquity.