Belfagor is the single novella remaining of
Machiavelli’s works. It was considered one of the finest of the period.
Machiavelli was considered a skilled storyteller by all who knew him for, after
all, stories form the basis of his most famous work, The Prince, and
others: The Art of War and Discourses. His comic play The
Mandrake Root was a spectacular success. Listen to and read all of these
works to understand Machiavelli best.
“Belfagor” is a compact version of lessons from The
Prince. In it, Pluto wants to figure out if sinners coming to him are correct
in saying it was all their wives’ fault. Belfagor is selected to go into the
world and find out. Belfagor marries a beautiful woman who bankrupts him
through extravagance and demands to fund her family. Belfagor must escape his
creditors. A peasant with great cunning saves him and himself, and they avoid
prison and hanging.
Professor Donald Fleming, a noted Harvard cultural historian
said, “I encourage my students to read and write about five works of an author.
It rounds out their thinking and avoids pigeonholing them. Once they have read
Mark Twain’s ‘Puddenhead Wilson’ or Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night or
Willa Cather’s Alexander’s Bridge, they know far more about the author.
But after the third, fourth, and fifth books, they really know.” So Simply has
recorded five by Machiavelli: the witty Belfagor, the comic Mandrake
Root, the shrewd Discourses, the wise Art of War, and his
masterpiece, The Prince.
Download and start listening now!