鷗外とマキアヴェリ

―「人主策」の成立をめぐって

抄録

　 Ōgai Mori, who was transferred to an army medical post at Kokura in Kyushu, a long way from Tokyo, introduced a summary of Machiavelli’s II Principe under the title of Jinshusaku from May to June, 1901. One opinion of his intention was expressed as follows:

　Jinshusaku was written as a result of Ōgai’s interest in the literary world of Tokyo. He had already studied the philosophy of Nietzsche which was then under discussion there and had found a close connection between Nietzsche and Machiavelli. Therefore it can be concluded that he responded to the current situation of literature in an indirect way by introducing Machiavelli’s thought into it.

　But when we consider the situation in which Ōgai was placed and investigate his favorite book Machiavelli’s Buck vom Fürsten, it seems that we may have to alter our opinion.

　Ōgai understood the central theme of II Principe rather negatively. But in his favorite book we can find words such as “Glück”, “Gelegenheit”，“Tapferkeit” and “Wille” underlined, so it seems that he was especially interested in the problem of fortune.

　Though Jinshusaku itself may not have had any direct relation to his literature, he must have thought about the problem of fortune discussed in it. Jinshusaku could be understood from this viewpoint.