Clizia

A valuable, new translation of Machiavelli's marvelous satire! Machiavelli writes in the prologue to Clizia that comedies were invented for the dual purpose of amusing and benefiting the audience. Clizia is no exception. It is a raucous comedy about love that extends to the scandalous, but it also contains a serious teaching about managing passions and relationships. Daniel Gallagher provides a lively and readable translation that enables readers to access not only the humor of the play but also makes possible thoughtful study of the play's more serious themes. His consistent and literal rendering of terms and numerous explanatory notes help readers identify Machiavellian curiosities in the language and understand the play's many allusions to religious and Renaissance doctrines. Robert Faulkner's introduction sets the stage for examining the complex work of art that is Clizia. He shows how the play mixes Machiavellian instruction with its wit and scandal, and that the malicious and scoffing humor is part of the instruction. In Clizia, as in the better known Mandragola, Machiavelli intends reform through comedy. It is a reform that mixes liberation with techniques of management, an eerily contemporary reform of private life that complements Machiavelli's famous reforms of public life.