Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius

LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1883
Permit me to inscribe your name on a translation of Machiavelli’s Discourses which I had your encouragement to undertake, and in which I have done my best to preserve something of the flavour of the original. Yours faithfully,
FLORENCE, May 17, 1883.
I. Of the beginnings of Cities in general, and in particular of that of Rome
II. Of the various kinds of Government; and to which of them the Roman Commonwealth belonged
III. Of the accidents which led in Rome to the creation of Tribunes of the People, whereby the Republic was made more perfect
IV. That the dissensions between the Senate and Commons of Rome made Rome free and powerful
V. Whether the guardianship of public freedom is safer in the hands of the Commons or of the Nobles; and whether those who seek to acquire power, or they who seek to maintain it, are the greater cause of commotions
VI. Whether it was possible in Rome to contrive such a Government as would have composed the differences between the Commons and the Senate
VII. That to preserve liberty in a State, there must exist the right to accuse
VIII. That calumny is as hurtful in a Commonwealth as the power to accuse is useful
IX. That to give new institutions to a Commonwealth, or to reconstruct old institutions on an entirely new basis, must be the work of one Man