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Belphagor
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1545
About the author
Niccolò Machiavelli
2,238 books5,180 followers
The Prince
, book of Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian political theorist, in
1513 describes an indifferent ruler to moral considerations with determination to achieve and to maintain power.
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, a philosopher, musician, and poet, wrote plays. He figured centrally in component of the Renaissance, and people most widely know his realist treatises on the one hand and republicanism of Discourses on Livy .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%...
1513 describes an indifferent ruler to moral considerations with determination to achieve and to maintain power.
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, a philosopher, musician, and poet, wrote plays. He figured centrally in component of the Renaissance, and people most widely know his realist treatises on the one hand and republicanism of Discourses on Livy .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%...
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
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May 4, 2020[3.5] Read in the Bondanella/Musa translation in The Portable Machiavelli.
A short story (in the 16th century termed a novella) in which a devil, Belfagor, is sent to earth - an ancient and widespread motif which probably has an Aarne-Thompson number, but which I, for one, know best from Good Omens (and also an Estonian novel I read a few years ago, The Misadventures of the New Satan).
The cosmology is curious. It's like an exemplar, on a subconscious level, of the Renaissance mixing of Christian and Greco-Roman religion, but from a more systematic perspective it's something of a hodgepodge insofar as I'm aware. There is (capitalised) God, but there are also Pluto and his underlings Minos and Rhadamanthos, and there is hell with devils in it.
The premise - that human women are bullying their husbands into wrongdoing, with the husbands unfairly ending up in hell, Belfagor being sent to investigate as a human - is obvious fodder for anyone writing about misogyny in Machiavelli. However, whilst it's clearly unfair for him to imply the vast majority of women of his time were like this, I would never argue there were no women who bullied their husbands, as several of my 19th-20th century female forebears could have given the Last of the Summer Wine termagants a good run for their money.
Human-Belfagor, aka Roderigo, is, to contemporary eyes, somewhat immature. Although he's posing as a successful merchant, and therefore probably not in the first flush of youth, he's bad at managing money and is prey to his emotions and the lure of status-display. Conveniently for the plot, he marries a demanding, princessy woman who also wants him to buy her and her relatives the best of everything, thus proving the original point the writer set up.
For a while, the story is crafted in a way that could easily induce the reader to root for Belfagor/Roderigo - perhaps like a precursor to Paradise Lost, in which Satan is in effect the hero.
This is then stitched on to another story type, of smart peasant versus devil. (And gradually the peasant displaces Roderigo as hero.) In the way of old fairytales you haven't read before in the exact same version, and therefore you can't be sure what's going to happen, this was relatively gripping and went with a bit of a bang.
There are a few points here in common with Machiavelli's play Mandragola / The Mandrake Root, which was written 5-10 years later. The plot hinges on a swindle that involves taking bodily advantage of young women. A male protagonist is tormented by his own emotions, being madly in love and lust (am curious whether the words were the same in 16th century Italian for holy love and this type of love, as there is such a difference). There is a corrupt clergyman (though in what only-just-pre-Reformation literature isn't there?) And altogether the thing is a good fit for stereotypical ideas of what 'Machiavellian' means, even if plenty of contemporary commentators say the word doesn't reflect the author's life.
The story has a certain amount of zest (and is shorter and more action-packed than The Mandrake Root), though some readers will be too annoyed by the premise for that to matter. Altogether, once you get past the Classical cosmology, it is much like reading an old obscure fairytale, with all the negatives and positives that might involve.
3 May 2020
A short story (in the 16th century termed a novella) in which a devil, Belfagor, is sent to earth - an ancient and widespread motif which probably has an Aarne-Thompson number, but which I, for one, know best from Good Omens (and also an Estonian novel I read a few years ago, The Misadventures of the New Satan).
The cosmology is curious. It's like an exemplar, on a subconscious level, of the Renaissance mixing of Christian and Greco-Roman religion, but from a more systematic perspective it's something of a hodgepodge insofar as I'm aware. There is (capitalised) God, but there are also Pluto and his underlings Minos and Rhadamanthos, and there is hell with devils in it.
The premise - that human women are bullying their husbands into wrongdoing, with the husbands unfairly ending up in hell, Belfagor being sent to investigate as a human - is obvious fodder for anyone writing about misogyny in Machiavelli. However, whilst it's clearly unfair for him to imply the vast majority of women of his time were like this, I would never argue there were no women who bullied their husbands, as several of my 19th-20th century female forebears could have given the Last of the Summer Wine termagants a good run for their money.
Human-Belfagor, aka Roderigo, is, to contemporary eyes, somewhat immature. Although he's posing as a successful merchant, and therefore probably not in the first flush of youth, he's bad at managing money and is prey to his emotions and the lure of status-display. Conveniently for the plot, he marries a demanding, princessy woman who also wants him to buy her and her relatives the best of everything, thus proving the original point the writer set up.
For a while, the story is crafted in a way that could easily induce the reader to root for Belfagor/Roderigo - perhaps like a precursor to Paradise Lost, in which Satan is in effect the hero.
This is then stitched on to another story type, of smart peasant versus devil. (And gradually the peasant displaces Roderigo as hero.) In the way of old fairytales you haven't read before in the exact same version, and therefore you can't be sure what's going to happen, this was relatively gripping and went with a bit of a bang.
There are a few points here in common with Machiavelli's play Mandragola / The Mandrake Root, which was written 5-10 years later. The plot hinges on a swindle that involves taking bodily advantage of young women. A male protagonist is tormented by his own emotions, being madly in love and lust (am curious whether the words were the same in 16th century Italian for holy love and this type of love, as there is such a difference). There is a corrupt clergyman (though in what only-just-pre-Reformation literature isn't there?) And altogether the thing is a good fit for stereotypical ideas of what 'Machiavellian' means, even if plenty of contemporary commentators say the word doesn't reflect the author's life.
The story has a certain amount of zest (and is shorter and more action-packed than The Mandrake Root), though some readers will be too annoyed by the premise for that to matter. Altogether, once you get past the Classical cosmology, it is much like reading an old obscure fairytale, with all the negatives and positives that might involve.
3 May 2020
February 2, 2024
As best as I can decipher this work - it seems to be a tract against marriage - and that women are frivolous creatures - who drive their husbands to ruin in life and then to eternal damnation. Really was disappointed; but I will be the first to admit that if I knew more about Machiavelli and the time in which he lived I may have gotten more out of this work.
October 1, 2019
3 stars for this short story about Lucifer taking a bride. Interesting when thinking of Machiavelli’s The Prince and his style of writing.
August 7, 2025
Satirica. Grottesca. Acuta.
December 29, 2025
Linda fábula que reúne los recursos literarios del renacimiento en un tema que pareciera simple. Gracias al estudio introductorio de José Abad se puede entender mejor la obra.
Muy ligera de leer.
Muy ligera de leer.
April 26, 2020
Machiavelli does fiction?!
Wow, not a bad story, creative indeed.
Wow, not a bad story, creative indeed.
July 30, 2023
food: 400 ducats
rent: 500 ducats
shoes for onesta: 54 000 ducats
investing in onesta’s brothers’ startup businesses: 45 000 ducats
utility: 100 ducats
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my friends have all left me for hell
rent: 500 ducats
shoes for onesta: 54 000 ducats
investing in onesta’s brothers’ startup businesses: 45 000 ducats
utility: 100 ducats
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my friends have all left me for hell
June 10, 2015
Nothing special.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2024
review of
Niccolo Machiavelli's Belphagor
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 20, 2024
I've been reading mention of Machiavelli's notorious The Prince for probably most of my life. "Machiavellian" as unscrupulously manipulative has long been a useful term. Nonetheless, I've never read The Prince or even had much interest in it. Unscrupulously manipulative people are common enuf in the world around me & not in the least bit likeable, I want less of them, not more of them.
But then I found this lovely little bk at a local used bkstore & decided it might be fun to read something by Machiavelli other than what he's famous for. According to the PREFACE:
"The name of Machiavelli has become so closelt identified with his great work of political analysis The Prince that many of us place him only as a dark Renaissance figure 'destitute of political morality, following expediency rather than right, cunning, crafty, perfidious'—for so the dictionary defines 'Machiavellian'.
"Niccolò Machiavelli was in fact the least Machiavellian of men. A true child of the Renaissance (he was born in Florence in 1469 and died there in 1527) he could turn his hand to many things. A concientious and very capable civil servant by profession, he was the author of numerous volumes of history and political theory, a dramatist of distinction and even the composer of popular songs for singing in the streets at carnival time." - p 5
Somehow, I'm relieved by this description. I made a movie called "Imagine Utopias" in wch I recommend that imaginative people NOT inspire unimaginative ones w/ diabolical scenarios that the unimaginative wd not be able to come up w/ on their own. If only Machiavelli had had such a philosophy.
"To preserve the well-being of the State the Prince can resort to any treachery, dissimulation, deception or violence, for, says Machiavelli, 'the generality of mankind are wicked and ever ready to break their words'." - p 6
I've sd that the masses prefer politicians that lie b/c they're the ones that can represent them. An honest politician doesn't represent a nation of liars & cowards. Be that as it may, I prefer people like Jan Hus & Giordano Bruno, both of whom were lured away from safety by the Catholic Church so that they cd be tortured & burnt at the stake as heretics. Thank the Holy Ceiling Light that I don't live in their time b/c I, too, am an honest man, i.e.: a HERETIC.
Instead of Satan we have Pluto:
"For the souls of all men daily arriving in our kingdom still continue to lay the whole blame upon their wives, and as this appears to us impossible, we must be carely how we decide in this business, lest we also should come in for a share of their abuse" - p 10
In this comical short story (that comprises the entire short bk) Pluto decides to investigate the men who arrive for punishment in his domain. The men claim that their being condemned is entirely the fault of their wives. Pluto sends an underling, Belphagor, to the surface world, empowered w/ vast riches, to investigate whether wives are really so terrible.
"The lot fell upon the arch-devil Belphagor, who, previous to the Fall, had enjoyed the rank of archangel in a higher world." - p 12
"he should live with his wife for the space of ten years. At the expiration of this period, he was to feign death and return home, in order to acquaint his employers, by the fruits of experience, what really were the respective conveniences and inconveniences of matrimony." - p 13
Belphagor marries a woman he finds very attractive only to find that her demandingness not only wipes out his vast wealth but also makes his life on Earth w/ her more of a Hell than he can cope w/. He flees, pursued by creditors, & eventually resorts to possessing women for the sake of various financial manipulations.
"He particularly accused a certain friar of having introduced a lady into his monastery in male attire, to the no small scandal of all who heard it, and the astonishment of the brotherhood." - p 24
After a series of such adventures he implants himself in a woman that he refuses to withdraw from until his clever accomplice tricks him.
"Without replying a single word, he leaped out and fled in the utmost terror, leaving the lady to herself, and preferring rather to return to his infernal abode and render an account of his adventures than run the risk of any further sufferings and vexations under the matrimonial yoke." - p 32
Alas, we don't learn if Pluto decides in favor of the condemned husbands as a result of of Belphagor's testimony.
Niccolo Machiavelli's Belphagor
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 20, 2024
I've been reading mention of Machiavelli's notorious The Prince for probably most of my life. "Machiavellian" as unscrupulously manipulative has long been a useful term. Nonetheless, I've never read The Prince or even had much interest in it. Unscrupulously manipulative people are common enuf in the world around me & not in the least bit likeable, I want less of them, not more of them.
But then I found this lovely little bk at a local used bkstore & decided it might be fun to read something by Machiavelli other than what he's famous for. According to the PREFACE:
"The name of Machiavelli has become so closelt identified with his great work of political analysis The Prince that many of us place him only as a dark Renaissance figure 'destitute of political morality, following expediency rather than right, cunning, crafty, perfidious'—for so the dictionary defines 'Machiavellian'.
"Niccolò Machiavelli was in fact the least Machiavellian of men. A true child of the Renaissance (he was born in Florence in 1469 and died there in 1527) he could turn his hand to many things. A concientious and very capable civil servant by profession, he was the author of numerous volumes of history and political theory, a dramatist of distinction and even the composer of popular songs for singing in the streets at carnival time." - p 5
Somehow, I'm relieved by this description. I made a movie called "Imagine Utopias" in wch I recommend that imaginative people NOT inspire unimaginative ones w/ diabolical scenarios that the unimaginative wd not be able to come up w/ on their own. If only Machiavelli had had such a philosophy.
"To preserve the well-being of the State the Prince can resort to any treachery, dissimulation, deception or violence, for, says Machiavelli, 'the generality of mankind are wicked and ever ready to break their words'." - p 6
I've sd that the masses prefer politicians that lie b/c they're the ones that can represent them. An honest politician doesn't represent a nation of liars & cowards. Be that as it may, I prefer people like Jan Hus & Giordano Bruno, both of whom were lured away from safety by the Catholic Church so that they cd be tortured & burnt at the stake as heretics. Thank the Holy Ceiling Light that I don't live in their time b/c I, too, am an honest man, i.e.: a HERETIC.
Instead of Satan we have Pluto:
"For the souls of all men daily arriving in our kingdom still continue to lay the whole blame upon their wives, and as this appears to us impossible, we must be carely how we decide in this business, lest we also should come in for a share of their abuse" - p 10
In this comical short story (that comprises the entire short bk) Pluto decides to investigate the men who arrive for punishment in his domain. The men claim that their being condemned is entirely the fault of their wives. Pluto sends an underling, Belphagor, to the surface world, empowered w/ vast riches, to investigate whether wives are really so terrible.
"The lot fell upon the arch-devil Belphagor, who, previous to the Fall, had enjoyed the rank of archangel in a higher world." - p 12
"he should live with his wife for the space of ten years. At the expiration of this period, he was to feign death and return home, in order to acquaint his employers, by the fruits of experience, what really were the respective conveniences and inconveniences of matrimony." - p 13
Belphagor marries a woman he finds very attractive only to find that her demandingness not only wipes out his vast wealth but also makes his life on Earth w/ her more of a Hell than he can cope w/. He flees, pursued by creditors, & eventually resorts to possessing women for the sake of various financial manipulations.
"He particularly accused a certain friar of having introduced a lady into his monastery in male attire, to the no small scandal of all who heard it, and the astonishment of the brotherhood." - p 24
After a series of such adventures he implants himself in a woman that he refuses to withdraw from until his clever accomplice tricks him.
"Without replying a single word, he leaped out and fled in the utmost terror, leaving the lady to herself, and preferring rather to return to his infernal abode and render an account of his adventures than run the risk of any further sufferings and vexations under the matrimonial yoke." - p 32
Alas, we don't learn if Pluto decides in favor of the condemned husbands as a result of of Belphagor's testimony.
April 14, 2021
La nouvelle du démon qui prit femme... avouez que le titre est tentant. L'histoire l'est encore plus. Imaginez vous que Belphégor, le diable en personne, est envoyé sur Terre pour vérifier si la femme est bien la seule raison qui amènent les hommes en Enfer...
.
Féministes pures et dures, épargnez nous le scandale ! Vous vous en douterez, c'est un livre où la mise en valeur de la femme laisse à désirer. Mais plus que de pointer la femme du doigt, ce livre s'oppose avant tout à l'institution qu'est le mariage, au pouvoir politique et à la religion... Avec beaucoup d'humour et un savoir faire imparable.
.
Je ne vous dis mot sur la fin. Excellente ! Un clin d'oeil, un sourire, un rire franc. Allons, soyons sérieux et rions des petites choses.
.
Féministes pures et dures, épargnez nous le scandale ! Vous vous en douterez, c'est un livre où la mise en valeur de la femme laisse à désirer. Mais plus que de pointer la femme du doigt, ce livre s'oppose avant tout à l'institution qu'est le mariage, au pouvoir politique et à la religion... Avec beaucoup d'humour et un savoir faire imparable.
.
Je ne vous dis mot sur la fin. Excellente ! Un clin d'oeil, un sourire, un rire franc. Allons, soyons sérieux et rions des petites choses.
December 26, 2024
Como Maquiavel detestava mulheres, seria ele o primeiro red pill? rsrs Essa história fala de um demônio que é enviado a terra para viver como um homem casado, pois os homens ia ao inferno dizendo que a vida de casado era pior que o inferno.
Ele vai a terra e se casa com Onesta, que destrói a vida dele. Dai ele foge e é ajudado por um indivíduo, só sei que no final ele prefere voltar para o inferno do que voltar a viver com Onesta.
Ele vai a terra e se casa com Onesta, que destrói a vida dele. Dai ele foge e é ajudado por um indivíduo, só sei que no final ele prefere voltar para o inferno do que voltar a viver com Onesta.
June 30, 2017
Jeg er en stor Machiavelli fan, og lige som "Fyrsten" blev jeg også her fanget af historien om "Belfagor eller djævlen der blev gift", samt digtene i denne lille samling. Machiavelli var således ikke kun en politisk skriver, men også forfatter af skønlitterære værker, digter og dramatisk. Denne lille bog med forord af Mads Qvortrup kan varmt anbefales!!
April 2, 2025
A short story from Machiavelli about a demon who is sent to investigate why so many men coming down to hell are upset with their wives.
When the demon Belfagor takes human form and marries an Italian woman, he sees exactly why so many men are miserable.
A comedic cliche, but a classic one.
The story itself was rather blase, but it does feature a lot of themes that later appear in The Prince.
When the demon Belfagor takes human form and marries an Italian woman, he sees exactly why so many men are miserable.
A comedic cliche, but a classic one.
The story itself was rather blase, but it does feature a lot of themes that later appear in The Prince.
December 17, 2021
Novella di Macchiavelli dove emerge un diavolo incapace di stare al mondo e che viene circuito dagli umani. Molto divertente.
Macchiavelli story where a devil emerges who is unable to be in the world and who is circumvented by humans. Very funny.
Macchiavelli story where a devil emerges who is unable to be in the world and who is circumvented by humans. Very funny.
July 4, 2025
Listening to Professor Flemming's advice to writers and notes during this read was great. It is interesting to see how writers influenced other writers. like how this work influenced Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. In later years, this work influenced Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf.
August 12, 2020
A pretty fun little comedy sketch equivalent from the 16th century.
March 2, 2021
não mas ele criou o humor de homem falar mal do casamento
April 5, 2025
BORING. irdgaf what machiavelli has to say
December 30, 2018
Una versión fabulada del inmemorial principio que dice "Mujer que no joda, es hombre, poco humor le encontré, no porque la historia no lo tenga sino más bien por su tono serio. Sin duda que la moraleja de esta fábula esta bien contenida en esa famosa frase de Oscar Wilde (por irónico que parezca) que dice que cualquier hombre -y en este caso un demonio- puede llegar a ser feliz con una mujer, con tal de que no la ame.
November 29, 2011
Cerita yang sangat ringkas ini menceritakan kisah Belfagor yang ditugaskan untuk menjelma menjadi manusia, karena penguasa neraka merasa heran ketika melihat para manusia yang masuk neraka menganggap siksaan yang paling berat bagi mereka adalah siksaan duniawi saat mereka tinggal bersama istri mereka.
Setelah merasakan sendiri betapa kejamnya siksa duniawi yang dirasakan oleh manusia yang tinggal bersama istrinya, Belfagor pergi melarikan diri dan membuat perjanjian dengan seorang rakyat jelata: jika dia membantu Belfagor melarikan diri, maka orang tersebut akan dibuat menjadi kaya raya oleh iblis tersebut. Setelah melakukan berbagai hal, di klimaks cerita si rakyat jelata ini berhasil membuat Belfagor kembali pulang ke neraka dengan cara memanggil istri Belfagor. Ceritanya agak aneh dan (tentu saja) kurang logis, tapi cukup menghibur.
Rasanya agak aneh juga saat saya melihat kembali cover buku ini dan melihat nama seorang Niccolo Machiavelli sebagai penulis buku ini. Buku karya Machiavelli yang paling terkenal adalah The Prince, tapi saya tidak menyangka bahwa dia mampu menulis karya yang genrenya agak menyebrang ke genre humor seperti ini.
Setelah merasakan sendiri betapa kejamnya siksa duniawi yang dirasakan oleh manusia yang tinggal bersama istrinya, Belfagor pergi melarikan diri dan membuat perjanjian dengan seorang rakyat jelata: jika dia membantu Belfagor melarikan diri, maka orang tersebut akan dibuat menjadi kaya raya oleh iblis tersebut. Setelah melakukan berbagai hal, di klimaks cerita si rakyat jelata ini berhasil membuat Belfagor kembali pulang ke neraka dengan cara memanggil istri Belfagor. Ceritanya agak aneh dan (tentu saja) kurang logis, tapi cukup menghibur.
Rasanya agak aneh juga saat saya melihat kembali cover buku ini dan melihat nama seorang Niccolo Machiavelli sebagai penulis buku ini. Buku karya Machiavelli yang paling terkenal adalah The Prince, tapi saya tidak menyangka bahwa dia mampu menulis karya yang genrenya agak menyebrang ke genre humor seperti ini.
December 18, 2013
A beautiful and funny novella/tale by the great political writer Machiavelli! The theme sounds to repeat an old idea (stereotype), which depicts women, particularly, wives as the cause of men’s suffering and going to hell. Even the Archdevil Belfagor, disguised as a human being in order to investigate the truth regarding the cause of men’s entry to hell, suffered a lot from his beautiful wife, who run him to debts. He ended accepting hell and punishment rather than marriage. One key point Machiavelli seems to address in this novellas is the importance of wittiness, as embodied in Gianmatteo’s final action to save himself from the king’s wrath, by playing a trick against Belfagor. This might reflect Machiavelli’s idea or principle which implying “End justifies the means”, and that one should always consider the end in the first place and how it can be reached. The translation was beautiful and attractive.
June 20, 2020
Machiavelli has essentially used diabolism to tell an extremely stupid 'wife bad!' joke.
November 19, 2017
La segunda vez que lo leí me encantó. Casi que le daría cinco estrellas.
El humor de Maquiavelo es mi tipo de humor, aparentemente.
El humor de Maquiavelo es mi tipo de humor, aparentemente.
January 26, 2020
Meraviglioso, Machiavelli mi ha fatto molto ridere. Incredibile quanto sia bello centinaia di anni dopo!
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews