CFP: 2017 New England Renaissance Conference: Deceit, Deception, and Dishonesty in the Early Modern Era
Submitted by ccarlin on 4 June 2017 - 10:42amSaturday, October 21, 2017 at University of Massachusetts, Boston
Proposals due June 9, 2017
In The Prince (1513), Machiavelli advised that in politics it is better to seem than to be. Venetian statesman Fra Paolo Sarpi, wary of his stance against the Roman church, confided that “I never speak falsehoods, but I do not tell the truth to everyone.” Similarly, Torquato Accetto, secretary to the dukes of Naples, noted in Della dissimulazione onesta (1641) that it was possible “to give truth a small rest” without, however, resorting to untruths.