<span><span><span>The ancient history of philosophy furnishes us with two towering traditions: that of classical political science (Plato and Aristotle), and that of classical hedonism (Epicurus and Lucretius). In the work of Machiavelli, some of the language from classical political science is borrowed or retained; but the substance of the political science built into Machiavelli’s model is actually anchored in the classically hedonistic heritage. By studying Lucretius’ poem </span><span style="font-style:italic;">De Rerum Nature</span><span> and its impact on literary and political circles in Machiavelli’s Florence, an examination is undertaken into the way that the Lucretian concepts served Machiavelli as revolutionary new materials for the creation of a quite new, and quite brutal political science: a science in which the human faculty of deliberation is reduced to the status of near criminality, whereas the unleashing of tumultuous passions is valorized as the very tonic of healthy republican political forms.</span></span><br /></span>