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    The Republic of Venice
    De Magistratibus Et Republica Venetorum

    Gasparo Contarini (Author), Filippo Sabetti (Edited by), Giuseppe Pezzini (Translated by), Amanda Murphy (Translated by)

    9781487546021

    Paperback / softback, published 1 June 2022

    200 pages
    22.6 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.24 kg

    "The Republic of Venice gives the reader a good look at the institutions and ideas that fostered the city’s success and also how some of those came to influence to the institutions of the young United States." - A. A. Nofi (StrategyPage)

    At a time when social scientists are increasingly focusing on the reasons why nations fail and democracies die, Filippo Sabetti turns to the opposite issue, asking instead why institutions endure. To do so, he presents Gasparo Contarini’s sixteenth-century description of the Republic of Venice to help modern readers understand what made Venice the longest-lived self-constituted republic.

    In its long history, Venice was the only city that succeeded in constructing a durable republicanism, and it was one of the earliest to depart from the hierarchical world of national monarchies and sovereignties. Sabetti suggests that students of politics will find Contarini’s The Republic of Venice just as instructive, if not more so, as Machiavelli’s The Prince. In his analysis of human nature, Contarini matches Machiavelli's secularism and realism, but goes much further; examining the case of Venice, he shows how it is possible for fallible human beings to construct a successful and stable government. This is the first modern English-language edition of Contarini’s classic work, based directly on the original Latin.

    List of Illustrations
    Acknowledgments

    Introduction: Gasparo Contarini and Enduring Institutions
    Filippo Sabetti

    Appendix A: The Myth and Anti-myth of Venice
    Appendix B: Glossary of Terms
    Appendix C: Principal Events in Gasparo Contarini’s Life

    Notes on the Translation: The Latin of De magistratibus et republica Venetorum
    Giuseppe Pezzini

    The Republic of Venice

    Book I. The City and the Great Council
    Book II. The Doge
    Book III. The Senate, the Council of Ten, and the Courts
    Book IV. Magistracies of the Republic
    Book V. Magistracies beyond the City, the Army, and Civic Institutions

    References
    Index

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