Abstract
The debate on agrarian laws and the limits on private landholding puts in opposite fields the supporters of nobility and those of the plebs. The former accuse the reformers of violating legitimate property, and as a result, provoke the end of Roman republic; the latter denounce that their acquisitions destroy the common good and liberty. The article aims at showing that in chapter 37, Discourses on Livy, I, Nicolò Machiavelli presents his own version of that controversy, as he adopts the rhetoric principle of in utramque partem and explores the dilemma produced by the influence of ambition on human condition to refuse a mediate solution between the two parts.
Keywords:
Agrarian Laws; Ambition; Plebs; Nobility; Rhetoric