Machiavelli In Machiavelli's writings the ruling few go under many different names. In the ancient context they are often simply called "the Senate," but he also refers to them as i grandi, gli ottimati, la nobilità and i potenti. The fact that the aristocratic element here appears under a wide variety of names, it could be argued, reflects the open nature of the class structure of early sixteenth century Florence in general, and its ruling class, the Reggimento, in particular. It also seems to

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... suggest that Machiavelli considers the ruling elite to be too complex and fleeting a phenomenon to be fixed or contained in a single name. Machiavelli's account of the relation between the people and the nobles displays a similar complexity. On the one hand, throughout the Discourses, he describes the Plebs as gullible and easily deceived and the nobles as shrewd and cunning. But far from condemning the elite's manipulation of the populace's religious beliefs for political ends, Machiavelli praises it and even exhorts his contemporaries to revive it, as he puts it, by reinterpreting Christianity "according to virtue." He contrasts the Roman Senate, which according to him (D.I.38) "always judged things as they should be judged and always took the less bad policy for the better," to the rash, undisciplined and imprudent elites of modern Florence. But on the other hand, it could be argued, Machiavelli endorses an aggressive and ferocious form of popular republicanism in which the general populace, acting as "the guardians of liberty," controls the elites by often harsh and brutal methods. According to Machiavelli, the nobility is in need of this check because of its inherent and unquenchable desire to dominate and its propensity for corruption, while the people are singularly suited for patrolling the nobility because of their love of liberty and their hatred of being dominated. The picture is further complicated by the fact that Machiavelli does not treat the elite as a uniform or homogeneous class. On several occasions, he distinguishes between the prudent and the imprudent parts of the Roman Senate, and he repeatedly identifies a category of men, whom he alternately describes as prudent (prudenti) or wise (savi). As a rule, these rare individuals belong to the nobility, but they can also be found among the plebs. Refusing to view prudence as a class distinction, Machiavelli implies that the good and the prudent among the nobles should use the people -and their desire not to be dominated -against the