This paper deals with Herder’s first acquaintance with Machiavelli and Machiavellianism.
To achieve this end, it analyzes Herder's relevant writings (Haben wir noch jetzt das
Publikum und Vaterland der Alten? and Journal meiner Reise im Jahr 1769) and his sources
(Frederick the Great’s controversial Anti-Machiavell as well as David Hume’s radical
History of Natural Religion). As a result, two issues arise which characterize Herder's
enduring interest in Machiavelli’s work and personality as well as his aftermath from the
second half of the 1760s onwards: 1) Frederick the Great’s machiavellianist
antimachiavellianism: 2) the model of ancient-Rome civil religion and its adaptation to
modern times.
