of the state in times of war.  He had to begin cautiously in bringing this scheme before the public; for the stronghold of the mercenary system was the sloth and luxury of the burghers.  At first he induced the Dieci di liberta e pace, or war office, to require the service of one man per house throughout the Florentine dominion; but at the same time he caused a census to be taken of all men capable of bearing arms.  His next step was to carry a law by which the permanent militia of the state was fixed at 10,000.  Then in 1503, having prepared the way by these preliminary measures, he addressed the Council of the Burghers in a set oration, unfolding the principles of his proposed reform, and appealing not only to their patriotism but also to their sense of self-preservation.  It was his aim to prove that mercenary arms must be exchanged for a national militia, if freedom and independence were to be maintained.  The Florentines allowed themselves to be convinced, and, on the recommendation of Machiavelli, they voted in 1506 a new magistracy, called the Nove dell’ Ordinanza e Milizia, for the formation of companies, the discipline of soldiers, and the maintenance of the militia in a state of readiness for active service.[2] Machiavelli became the secretary of this board; and much of his time was spent thenceforth in the levying of troops and the practical development of his system.  It requires an intimate familiarity with the Italian military system of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to understand the importance of this reform.  We are so accustomed to the systems of Militia, Conscription, and Landwehr, by means of which military service has been nationalized among the modern races, that we need to tax our imagination before we can place ourselves at the point of view of men to whom Machiavelli’s measure was a novelty of genius.[3]

    [1] Machiavelli never bore the title of Ambassador on these
    missions.  He went as Secretary.  His pay was miserable.  We find
    him receiving one ducat a day for maintenance.

[2] Documents relating to the institution of the Nove dell’ Ordinanza e Milizia, and to its operations between December 6, 1506, and August 6, 1512, from the pen of Machiavelli, will be found printed by Signor Canestrini in Arch.  Stor. vol. xv. pp. 377 to 453.  Machiavelli’s treatise De re militari, or I libri sull’ arte della guerra, was the work of his later life; it was published in 1521 at Florence.

[3] Though Machiavelli deserves the credit of this military system, the part of Antonio Giacomini in carrying it into effect must not be forgotten.  Pitti, in his ‘Life of Giacomini’ (Arch.  Stor. vol. iv. pt. ii. p. 241), says:  ’Avendo per dieci anni continovi fatto prova nelle fazioni e nelle battaglie de’ fanti del dominio e delli esterni, aveva troppo bene conosciuto con quanta piu sicurezza si potesse la repubblica servire de’ suoi propri che delli