Following up on the post Machiavelli and names
A concrete example of how Machiavelli uses names etymologically is constituted by his re-naming of the servant of the wife of the senex amator in his Clizia against the background of Plautus’ Casina.
In Plautus’ play the servant of the senex’ wife called Chalinus is introduced as some kind of military man, which is suggested by such words as “armigerus” (“soldier”; ll. 55 and 257) and “opitulari” (“shield-bearer,” l. 263). [1]
By way of contrast, Machiavelli’s Eustachio, the senex’ wife’s servant in Clizia, is introduced as a “fattore,” and we learn that he is running a farm outside the town. Sofronia advertises her candidate for marrying Clizia as follows:
[M]en’s manners consist in having some ability, and knowing how to do something, like Eustachio, who is used to doing business in the markets, rnning the frm, taknig care other people’s affairs and his own, and is a man who can keep his head aboe water. (II.3) [2]
Accordingly, Eustachio is arguably derived from the Greek word εὐσταθής, meaning “well-based, well-built” (amongst other things), or its cognates. [3]
I am not aware of any other reason, or source, why Machiavelli may have chosen this name.
Finally, consider also the argument by R. L. Martinez concerning the name “Sofronia” as he suggests that it alludes to sophrosyne. He writes:
Sofronia embodies, both etymologically and behaviorally, the Hellenic (and traditionally female) virtue of sophrosyne (self-restraint), romally rendered in Latin as temperentia but also as moderatio, pudicitia (chastity), sobrietas, even sapientia. [4]
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[1] See Casina, The Casket Comedy etc., Loeb Classical Library, edited and translated by W. De Melo (Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: Harvard University Press, 2011).
[2] Cited after The Comedies of Machiavelli, edited and translated by D. Sices and J. B. Atkinson (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. (2007).
Incidentally, Eustachio’s description resembles much more the way in which Plautus’ other slave, Olympio, the senex’ candidate is characterised in Casina.
[3] After the dictionary by Lewis and Short, cited online from Logeion.
[4] R. L. Martinez, “Benefit of Absence: Machiavellian Valediction in Clizia,” in Machiavelli and the Discourse of Literature, edited by A. R. Ascoli and V. Kahn (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1993), 117-144; pp. 132.
First published on 13th November 2024 on Ko-fi