Machiavelli aristotelico nella Francia del XVI secolo: un'operazione linguistica
Résumé
The place of Machiavellian texts in sixteenth century France was unique in Europe, partly because they were read in a sort of ideal dialogue with the Aristotelian ones, as shown by Loys Le Roy's great vernacular edition of Aristotle's Politics. The reasons for such a dialogue between the two great Greek and Tuscan authors have not yet been analysed. Also unstudied is the peculiar "double-reading" that was set up by the French. This article suggests that several translations of and commentaries on Machiavelli's works in France engaged in a comparison with Aristotle mainly for linguistics reasons, that is to cancel the Italian roots of the Florentine Secretary's thought as well as the linguistic origin of the text itself. To read Machiavelli as a kind of modern Aristotle was thus a solution to make him "more French and modern". A similar proposal could also be useful to assess a new vision of the status of the auctor, as well as to study the impact of translation in early modern European culture.