Florentine thinker, S. Lavaert underlines the double reception to which [Spinoza] was subjected: sometimes as a defender of tyranny and an immoral policy, sometimes as a republican proposing a democratic and liberating vision of society. The book delves into this second reception by showing how, around Machiavelli's legacy, the sixteenth and XVII centuries, a constellation of authors that can be brought together by several common points: a naturalism that identifies God and nature, a critique of religion as an instrument of political domination, and a democratic prism that values freedom and equality.

• AbbreviationsNotes on Translation and AcknowledgmentsPrefaceI. Machiavelli’s Example1. A (re)construction2. Istorie fiorentine3. Parole – Il duca Valentino – I popoli della Valdichiana4. Il Principe5. DiscorsiII. Fictions, Laws, and Religions1. Theophrastus redivivus2. Artefact3. Religion as political art4. Institutions5. Equal freedomIII. Lieutenants1. De jure ecclesiasticorum2. No equality without freedom, no freedom without equalityIV. A Political Balance (Between Passions and Reason, State Interest and the Multitude)1. Johan/Pieter de la Court2. Naeuwkeurige consideratien van staet3. Consideratien van Staat4. Politike DiscoursenV. The Example of the Indians1. Franciscus van den Enden2. Kort verhael van Nieuw-Nederlants Gelegentheit3. Plokhoy’s Kort en klaer ontwerp4. From the Vrije Politijke Stellingen to Finis est in Holandia5. "do not dare to speak with their mouth, [but] use their fists"VI. Translation and Truth: A Dialogue1. Adriaan Koerbagh2. ’t Samen-spraeck3. Hobbes’s Leviathan in translation4. Een Bloemhof van allerley lieflijkheyd sonder verdriet5. Een Ligt schijnende in duystere plaatsenVII. Spinoza’s Reversal1. 1661 – 16652. Tractatus theologico-politicus, 16702.1 First movement, first motive2.2 Second movement, second motive2.3 Third movement, third motive3. Countermovement, 1670 – 16763.1 1671 – 16733.2 16743.3 1675 – 16764. Tractatus politicus, 16774.1 The basis4.2 Experience4.3 […]VIII. Une mauvaise rhapsodie, un artifice1. A revolutionary thesis2. L’Esprit de Spinosa/Traité des trois imposteurs3. Unmasking deceit4. The effectual truth for everyoneCounterpoint 1Counterpoint 2Counterpoint 3IX. Quodlibet. In the spirit of MachiavelliAppendix. The Manuscript Finis est in HolandiaEditorial noteTranscriptionTranslationBibliography