Rome and Machiavelli

After centuries of tense liberty, an attempt to reform the agrarian laws in one 33 b c resulted in a bitter factional struggle which led to a series of destructive civil wars. In the ensuing chaos, julius caesar emerged as the leader of the popular party and eventually used the pleb support to transform himself into rome's first tyrant. Machiavelli saw that florence could easily go the same way. So how could florence be pulled back from the brink?