MACHIAVELLI, RHETORIC AND POLITICS

Abstract

The objective of this article is to discuss the importance and the value of rhetoric in the Renaissance and the nature of the relationship established between rhetoric and politics in the Renaissance republican thought and in particular in Machiavelli´s work. It attempts to show the close connection between philosophy, rhetoric and politics, followed by a brief presentation of the rhetorical genres and preeminence, the deliberative genre over other genres. The relationship between rhetoric and politics in Renaissance will be considered based on the analysis of two deliberative speeches; the first taken from the History of the Florentine People, by Leonardo Bruni, the other is extracted from History of Florence, by Machiavelli. The analysis should not only expose the close link between rhetoric and politics in Bruni and in Machiavelli, but also that, precisely because of this bond, the discourses analyzed reveal distinct conceptions of Republic.