226
ESSAYS ON LIBERTY
society; he was a patriot, a republican, a Liberal, but above all this, a man sagacious enough to know that politics is an inductive science. A sublime purpose justifies him, and he has been \vronged by dupes and fanatics, by irresponsible dreamers and interested hypocrites. The Italian Revolution, passing from the Liberal to the national stage, at once adopted his name and placed its lf under his invocation. Count Sclopis, though he declared him Penseur þrofolzd, Icrh/ain ad1nirable, deplored this untimely preference: U II m'a été pénible de voir Ie gouvernel11ent provisoire de la Tuscane, en I 859, Ie lendemain du jour où ce pays recouvrait sa liberté, publier un décret, portant qu'une édition complète des æuvres de Machiavel serait faite aux frais de l'état." The research even of our best masters, Villari and Tommasini, is prompted by admiration. Ferrari, who comes so near him in many qualities of the intellect, proclaims him the recorder of fate: "II décrit les rôles que la fatalité distribue aux individus et aux masses dans ces moments funestes et glorieux où ils sont appelés à changer la loi et la foi des nations." His advice, says La Farina, \vould have saved Italy. Canello believes that he is disliked because he is mistaken for a courtier: "L' orrore e l' antipatia che molti critici hanno provato per i1 Machiavelli son derivati dal pensare che tutti i suoi crudi insegnamenti fossero solo a vantaggio del Principe." One biographer, Mordenti, exalts him as the very champion of conscience: "Risuscitando la dignità del- l' umana coscienza, ne affermò l' esistenza in faccia alla ragione." He adds, more truly, "È uno òei personaggi del dramma che si va svolgendo nell' età nostra." That is the meaning of Laurent when he says that he has imitators but no defenders: "Machiavel ne trouve plus un seul partisan au XIX e siècle.-La postérité a voué son nom à l'infamie, tout en pratiquant sa doctrine." His characteristic universality has been recognised by Baudrillart: "En expriman t ce mauvais côté, mais ce mauvais côté, hélas, éternel! Machiavel n'est plus
