Wemayadd，thattheverseswithwhichtheMandragolaisinterspersed，appeartoustobethemostspiritedandcorrectofallthatMachiavellihaswritteninmetre。Heseemstohaveentertainedthesameopinion;forhehasintroducedsomeoftheminotherplaces。Thecontemporariesoftheauthorwerenotblindtothemeritsofthisstrikingpiece。ItwasactedatFlorencewiththegreatestsuccess。LeotheTenthwasamongitsadmirers，andbyhisorderitwasrepresentedatRome。
[NothingcanbemoreevidentthanthatPaulusJoviusdesignatestheMandragolaunderthenameoftheNicias。Weshouldnothavenoticedwhatissoperfectlyobvious。wereitnotthatthisnaturalandpalpablemisnomerhasledthesagaciousandindustriousBayleintoagrosserror。]
TheCliziaisanimitationoftheCasinaofPlautus，whichisitselfanimitationofthelostkleroumenoiofDiphilus。Plautuswas，unquestionably，oneofthebestLatinwriters;buttheCasinaisbynomeansoneofhisbestplays;norisitonewhichoffersgreatfacilitiestoanimitator。Thestoryisasalienfrommodernhabitsoflife，asthemannerinwhichitisdevelopedfromthemodernfashionofcomposition。Theloverremainsinthecountryandtheheroineinherchamberduringthewholeaction，leavingtheirfatetobedecidedbyafoolishfather，acunningmother，andtwoknavishservants。Machiavellihasexecutedhistaskwithjudgmentandtaste。Hehasaccommodatedtheplottoadifferentstateofsociety，andhasverydexterouslyconnecteditwiththehistoryofhisowntimes。
Therelationofthetrickputonthedotingoldloverisexquisitelyhumorous。ItisfarsuperiortothecorrespondingpassageintheLatincomedy，andscarcelyyieldstotheaccountwhichFalstaffgivesofhisducking。
Twoothercomedieswithouttitles，theoneinprose，theotherinverse，appearamongtheworksofMachiavelli。Theformerisveryshort，livelyenough，butofnogreatvalue。Thelatterwecanscarcelybelievetobegenuine。Neitheritsmeritsnoritsdefectsremindusofthereputedauthor。Itwasfirstprintedin1796，fromamanuscriptdiscoveredinthecelebratedlibraryoftheStrozzi。Itsgenuineness，ifwehavebeenrightlyinformed，isestablishedsolelybythecomparisonofhands。Oursuspicionsarestrengthenedbythecircumstance，thatthesamemanuscriptcontainedadescriptionoftheplagueof1527，whichhasalso，inconsequence，beenaddedtotheworksofMachiavelli。Ofthislastcompositionthestrongestexternalevidencewouldscarcelyinduceustobelievehimguilty。Nothingwaseverwrittenmoredetestableinmatterandmanner。Thenarrations，thereflections，thejokes，thelamentations，arealltheveryworstoftheirrespectivekinds，atoncetriteandaffected，threadbaretinselfromtheRagFairsandMonmouthStreetsofliterature。Afoolishschoolboymightwritesuchapiece，and，afterhehadwrittenit，thinkitmuchfinerthantheincomparableintroductionoftheDecameron。Butthatashrewdstatesman，whoseearliestworksarecharacterisedbymanlinessofthoughtandlanguage，should，atnearsixtyyearsofage，descendtosuchpuerility，isutterlyinconceivable。