Indignation and Civil Divisions in Machiavelli’s

Journal title RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA
Author/s Guido Frilli
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2026/1
Language Italian Pages 16 P. 56-71 File size 151 KB
DOI 10.3280/SF2026-001005
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Florentine Histories. The article investigates the role of indignation in Florentine Histories, arguing for its cen-­ tral importance in shaping the dynamics of civil conflict. Florence emerges as a city permeated by grudges, vendettas, and persistent rivalries, in which indignation fuels discord among families, factions, and social groups. This passion consistently presents itself as a form of “just anger”, grounded in the desire to redress injuries and restore justice;; yet it seldom yields constructive political outcomes. In contrast to ancient Rome – where laws and institutions enabled the channeling of popular emotions into productive political forms – the Florentine republic failed to discipline indignation, al-­ lowing it instead to degenerate into factionalism and private violence. Machiavelli thus interprets civil disorders as pathologies of the passions: the Florentine people, unable to transform resentment into ordered justice, remained trapped in a conception of free-­ dom reduced to license and frustration. The article ultimately argues that the decisive difference between Rome and Florence lies in their respective capacities to institution-­ alize indignation, granting it political and symbolic form and thereby transforming it into a constitutive element of republican public justice.

Keywords: Machiavelli, indignation, civil passions, justice, republic, liberty.

Guido Frilli, Indignazione e divisioni civili nelle Istorie fiorentine di Machiavelli in "RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA" 1/2026, pp 56-71, DOI: 10.3280/SF2026-001005