Prophecy, Education, and Necessity. Girolamo Savonarola between Politics and Religion

In the course of the time, Savonarola’s figure recurs in Machiavelli’s writings in quite different ways: in 1498 the Dominican is characterised as capable of using the prophetic language to deceit the multitude; in The Prince he is the unarmed prophet; in the Discourses he is the religious reformer and, at the same time, the ambitious and partial politician; in 1521, lastly, he is the man who can quickly find arguments and turn them to his favour. All these images reflect Machiavelli’s preoccupations at different stages and situations, but they also witness Savonarola’s significance for the development of Machiavelli’s thought. The Dominican is in fact the only modern example of conjunction of lawgiver, new prince, and religious prophet. Machiavelli’s judgment on his achievements changes therefore in concurrence with the transformation of his opinions on the relationship between politics and religion. In fact, in The Prince and in the Discourses on Livy Machiavelli takes into account the imaginary and passion-like nature of politics. This conclusion arises directly from the experience that Machiavelli made in Florence during Savonarola’s hegemony, when ‘the populace at large’ (A. Brown, ‘Savonarola, Machiavelli and Moses: a Changing Model’, in Florence and Italy. Renaissance Studies in Honour of Nicolai Rubinstein, edited by Peter Denley and Carolin Elam, London: Committee for Medieval Studies (Westfield College) 1988, p. 65) poured into the political life. Machiavelli assumes that politics, when it involves great masses of population, is always strictly related to religion, as the most pervasive way to govern and educate popular imagination. Thus, the notions of ‘prophecy’ (as a synonym for the Ancients’ ability to take control over time), ‘education’ (as a synonym for religion) and ‘necessity’ (as a synonym for ‘virtue’), that are so crucial in Machiavelli’s thought, have to be interpreted as an attempt to reformulate the classical ‘prudence’ after the Savonarolan experience.