Discourses and Considerations on Rome.

In his Discourses Machiavelli provides his famous study of Rome, offering it as a model from which to learn and, in important ways, to emulate. Yet there is another noteworthy analysis of Rome that has not received the careful attention it deserves. Montesquieu, in his Considerations of the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline offers his own, more systematic account of the rise and fall of Rome. This paper will discuss how Machiavelli and Montesquieu differ in their explanations of why Rome fell. Both understand Rome to be the best model of free government up to their time, yet understand that Rome went awry in crucial ways. While Machiavelli seems to nevertheless look to the Roman Republic as a model, Montesquieu eventually turns his attention elsewhere: to Britain. Understanding his Considerations will thus offer insight into this decision and hence into his Spirit of the Laws. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]