"Consider the general respect for antiquity. Consider, for example, how often we pay great price for some fragment of an ancient statue, to omament our houses or to give to artists who strive to imitate it in their own works. And yet to found a republic, maintain states, govern a kingdom, organize an army, conduct a war, dispense justice, and extend empires, you will find neither prince,
nor republic, nor captain, nor citizen who uses the historical examples of antiquity! The majority of those who read history take pleasure only in the variety of the events which the history of the
ancients relates, without ever thinking of imitating their noble actions."
Niccolo Machiavelli, introduction to his treatise on the works of the Roman historian Livy, circa 1517
a) Describe one historical development reflected in the passage
b) Describe Machiavelli's argument concerning the uses of antiquity
Oop