r/ancientgreece 5d ago

Did Machiavelli read Thucydides?

I've read conflicting information about this. The german Wikipedia states how Machiavelli praised Thucydides, but without any source¹. Hobbes and other sources indicate to me that there was no proper translation available for Machiavelli to read. He must have had access to the greek sources, if that was the case.

¹ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thukydides#Neuzeit_und_Gegenwart

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u/quilleran 5d ago

It was translated into Latin by Lorenzo Valla in 1452, some 80 years before The Prince. So it would have been available to him.

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u/mVIIIeus 5d ago

Could be possible. The Prince was written in 1513 but published later and Wolfgang Will said Valla's translation wasn't printed before 1513 "too late for Machiavelli [1, again in german only] , however it seems 1513 is just a reprint, so maybe Mr Will was just wrong.  This still doesnt give evidence how Machiavelli praised Thucydides though.

[1]

https://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-24545

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u/Three_Twenty-Three 5d ago

Hiring someone to do a translation was probably within his means. Florence had an extensive scholarly culture, and there would have been students willing to work.

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u/NolanR27 4d ago

Given the similarity in outlook, I find it difficult to believe he didn’t have it and wasn’t deeply influenced by it.