requires a more extensive analysis of the play itself as well as an examination of the characters
Machiavelli creates.
The first character we are introduced to is Callimaco Guadagni. Callimaco is an
orphaned native of Florence who, at the age of ten, was sent by his guardians to live in Paris. He
had been living in Paris for ten years when King Charles the VIII of France invaded Italy in
1494. Convinced that he would “be able to live more securely” in Paris, he decided against
repatriating, and stayed in Paris for another ten years until fortune judged that he “was having
This act of fortune came in the form of a man named Camillo Calfucci, a
fellow Florentine, who started a dispute with Callimaco over whether the women in Paris were
more beautiful than the women in Florence. Not being able to participate in the dispute himself,
given the very young age he left Florence, he listened to the debate until Camillo declared that
“even if all Italian women were monsters, one of his relatives [Madonna Lucrezia] was enough
to recover their honor.”
Stricken with the desire to see Madonna Lucrezia, Callimaco travels
back to Florence, and upon seeing her, is filled with a burning desire to be with her.
Unfortunately, Lucrezia is married to Messer Nicia, a rather dull-witted dottore. It is for this
reason that Callimaco employs the help of Ligurio to overcome this difficulty.
The name that Machiavelli gives to his ‘protagonist’ is also highly significant. The name
Callimaco is most likely a compound of two ancient Greek words: kalos, meaning noble, or
beautiful, and mache, meaning battle. His last name, Guadagni, is an Italian noun meaning
‘profits.’ Taken together, the name means something like ‘the one who is noble in battle profits.’
The name certainly fits, and ties the character of Callimaco closely to the virtuous prince that
Machiavelli describes in his work of that name. Like the prince, he is able to overcome the
unending twists of fortune that drive the plot of the play by employing virtù. Having his end in
9
Mandragola, Act I, Scene 1.
10
Ibid.
9
Convention