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Niccolo Machiavelli
Statesman and Political Philosopher, 1469 - 1527
Niccolo Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469 in Florence,
Italy. Machiavelli was a political philosopher and diplomat
during the Renaissance, and is most famous for his political
treatise, The Prince (1513), that has become a
cornerstone of modern political philosophy.
In The Prince, Machiavelli offered a monarchical ruler
advice designed to keep that ruler in power. He
recommended policies that would discourage mass political
activism, and channel subjects' energies into private
pursuits. Machiavelli wanted to persuade the monarch that
he could best preserve his power by the judicious use of
violence, by respecting private propertyand the traditions
of his subjects, and by promoting material prosperity.
Machiavelli held that political life cannot be governed by a
single set of moral or religious absolutes, and that the
monarch may sometimes be excused for performing acts of
violence and deception that would be ethically indefensible
in private life.
During the Renaissance Italy was a scene of intense
political conflict involving the dominant city-states of
Florence, Milan, Venice, and Naples, plus the Papacy,
France, Spain, and the HolyRoman Empire. Each city
attempted to protect itself by playing the larger powers off
against each other. The result was massive political
intrigue, blackmail, and violence. The Prince was written
against this backdrop, and in its conclusion Machiavelli
issued an impassioned call forItalian unity, and an end to
foreign intervention.
Machiavelli’s other major work, Discourses on the First
Ten Books of Titus Livius (1513-21), was mainly
concerned with “republics,” defined as states controlled by
a politically active citizenry. In “Discourses” he emphasized
that for a republic to survive, it needed to foster a spirit of
patriotism and civic virtue among its citizens. Machiavelli
argued that a republic would be strengthened by the
conflicts generated through open political participation and
debate.
Partly because Machiavelli’s pragmatic view of the
relationship between ethics and politics, he has been
widely misinterpreted. The adjective “Machiavellian” has
become a pejorative used to describe a politician who
manipulates others in an opportunistic and deceptive way.
It is a common misconception that Machiavelli faked his
own death. There is no historical evidence that he did.
RE #2
Historian and statesman, b. at Florence, 3 May, 1469; d.
there, 22 June, 1527. His family is said to have been
descended from the old marquesses of Tuscany, and to
have given Florence thirteen gonfaloniers of justice. His
father, Bernardo, was a lawyer, and acted as treasurer of
the Marches, but was far from wealthy. Of Nicolò's studies
we only know that he was a pupil of Marcello Virgilio. In
1498 he was elected secretary of the Lower Chancery of
the Signory, and in later years he held the same post under
the Ten. Thus it chanced that for fourteen years he had
charge of the home and foreign correspondence of the
republic, the registration of trials, the keeping of the
minutes of the councils, and the drafting of agreements with
other states. Moreover he was sent in various capacities to
one or other locality within the State of Tuscany, and on
twenty-three occasions he acted as legate on important
embassies to foreign princes, e.g.
to Catherine Sforza (1499), to France (1500, 1510, 1511), to
the emperor (1507, 1509), to Rome (1503, 1506),
to Cæsar Borgia (1502), to Gian Paolo Baglione atPerugia, to
the Petrucci at Siena, and to Piombino. On these embassies
he gave evidence of wonderful keenness of observation and
insight into the hidden thoughts of the men he was dealing
with, rather than of any great diplomatic skill. After the
defeat of France in Italy (1512) the Medici once more
obtained control of Florence; the secretary was dismissed
and exiled for one year from the city. On the discovery of
the Capponi and Boscoli plot against Cardinal Giovanni de'
Medici, Machiavelli was accused as an accomplice, and
tortured, but he was set free when
the cardinal became Pope Leo X. Thereupon he retired to
some property he had at Strada near San Casciano, where
he gave himself up to the study of the classics, especially
Livy, and to the writing of his political and literary histories.
Both Leo X and Clement VII sought his advice in political
matters, and he was often employed on particular missions
affecting matters of state, as, for instance, when he was
sent to Francesco Guiccardini, the papal leader in the
Romagna and general of the army of the League, concerning
the fortification of Florence. He made vain efforts to secure
a public post under the Medici, being ready even
to sacrifice his political opinions for the purpose. He
returned home after the sack of Rome (12 May, 1527) when
the power of the Medici had been once more overthrown,
but his old political party turned against him as one
who fawned on tyrants. He died soon afterwards.
Machiavelli's writings consist of the following works:
Historical: "Storie Fiorentine", which goes from the fall of
the Empire to 1492, dedicated to Clement VII, at whose
request it had been written. "Descrizione del
modo tenuto dal duca Valentino nello
ammazzare Vitellozzo Vitelli, etc."; "Vita di Castruccio
Castracane"; "Discorsi sopra laprima deca di TitoLivio";
"Descrizione della peste di Firenze dell' anno 1527"; to this
group belong also his letters from his embassies as well as
his minor writings concerning the affairs
of Pisa, Lucca, France, Germany.
Political: "Il Principe", "Discorso sopra il Riformare lo Stato di
Firenze"; "Dell'arte della guerra", and other military works.
Literary: "Dialogo sulle lingue"; five comedies:
"Mandragola"; "Clizia"; a comedy in prose; "The Andria" of
Terence, a translation; a comedy in verse; "I Decennati" (a
metrical history of the years 1495-1504); "Dell' Asino d'oro",
writings on moral subjects; "La serenata"; "Canti Carnas
cialesehi"; a novel, "Belfagor", etc.
Machiavelli's character as a man and a writer has been
widely discussed, and on both heads his meritsand demerits
have been exaggerated, but in such a way that his demerits
have preponderated to the detriment of
his memory. Machiavellism has become synonymous with
treachery, intrigue, subterfuge, and tyranny. It has been
even said that "Old Nick", the popular name of
the Devil among Anglo-Saxonraces, derives its origin from
that of Nicolò Machiavelli. This dubious fame he has won by
his book the "Principe", and the theories therein exploited

were further elaborated in his "Discorsi sopra Livio". To
understand the "Principe" right it must be borne in mind that
the work is not a treatise on foreign politics. It aims solely
at examining how a kingdom may be best built up and
established; nor is it a mere abstract discussion, but it is
carried on in the light of an ideal long held by Machiavelli,
that aUnited Italy was possible and in the last chapter of the
work he exhorts the Medici of Florence(Giuliano
and Lorenzo) to its realization. His aim was to point out the
best way for bringing it about; he did not deal with abstract
principles and arguments, but collected examples from
classical antiquity and from recent events, especially from
the career of Cæsar Borgia. So that the "Principe" is a
political tract with a definite aim and intended for a
particular locality. To gain the end in view results are to be
the only criteria of the methods employed, and even the
teachings of the moral law must give way to secure the end
in view. Good faith, clemency, and moderation are not cast
overboard, but he teaches that the interests of the state are
above all individual virtues. These virtues may be useful,
and when they are a prince ought to exercise them, but
more often in dealing with an opponent they are a
hindrance, not in themselves, but by reason of the
crookedness of others.
Whosoever would prevail against the treachery, crime, and
cruelty of others, must himself be beforehand in misleading
and deceiving his opponent and even in getting rid of him,
as Cæsar Borgiahad done. While on the other hand Gian
Paolo Baglione made a mistake, by omitting to imprison
or put to death Julius II, in 1506, on the occasion of his
unprotected entry to Perugia (Discorsi sopra Livio, I, xxvii).
Again, a prince must keep clear of crime not only when it is
hurtful to his interests but when it is useless. He should try
to win the love of his subjects, by simulating virtue if he
does not possess it; he ought to encourage trade so that his
people, busied in getting rich, may have no time for politics;
he ought to show concern for religion, because it is a potent
means for keeping his people submissive and obedient.
Such is the general teaching of the "Principe", which has
been often refuted. As a theory Machiavellism may perhaps
be called an innovation; but as a practice it is as old as
politicalsociety. It was a most immoral work, in that it cuts
politics adrift from all morality, and it was rightly put on
the Index in 1559. It is worth noting that the "Principe" with
its glorification of absolutism is totally opposed to its
author's ideas of democracy, which led to his ruin. To
explain the difficulty it is not necessary to claim that the
book is a satire, nor that it is evidence of how easily the
writer could change his political views provided he could
stand well with the Medici. Much as Machiavelli lovedliberty
and Florence he dreamed of a "larger Italy" of the Italians.
As a practical man he saw that hisdream could be realized
only through a prince of character and energy who would
walk in the steps ofCæsar Borgia, and he conceded that
the individual good must give way to the general well-being.
As a historian Machiavelli is an excellent source when he
deals with what happened under his eyes at the various
embassies; but it should be remembered that he gives
everything a more or less unconscious twist to bring it into
conformity with his generalizations. This is more marked
even in his accounts of what he had heard or read, and
serves to explain the discrepancies in the letters he wrote
during his embassies to Cæsar Borgia, the "Descrizione",
etc., the ideal picture he drew of affairs in Germany, and his
life of Castruccio Castracane, which is rather
an historical romance modelled on the character of
Agathocles in Plutarch. He knew nothing of historical
criticism, yet he showed how events in history move
in obedience to certain general laws; and this is his
great merit as an historian. His natural bent was politics, but
in his dealings with military matters he showed such skill as
wouldamaze us even if we did not know he had never been
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a soldier. He recognized that to be strong a state must have
its standing army, and he upholds this not only in the
"Principe" and the "Discorsi" but in his various military
writings. The broad and stable laws of military tactics he
lays down in masterly fashion; yet it is curious to note that
he lays no great stress on firearms.
His style is always clear and crisp and his reasoning close
and orderly. What poetry he has left gives no proof of poetic
talent; rather, the comedies are clever and successful as
compositions and only too often bear undisguised traces of
the moral laxity of the author (this is shown also in his
letters to his friends) and of the age in which he lived. His
"Mandragola" and "Clizia" are nothing more or less
thanpochades and lose no opportunity of scoring
against religion. Machiavelli did not disguise his dislike
forChristianity which by exalting humility, meekness, and
patience had, he said, weakened
the social andpatriotic instincts of mankind. Hence, he
mocked at Savonarola though he was
the saviour ofdemocracy, and he had a special dislike for
the Holy See as a temporal power, as he saw in it the
greatest obstacle to Italian unity; to use his own expression,
it was too weak to control the whole peninsula, but too
strong to allow of any other state bringing about unity. This
explains why he has no words of praise for Julius II and
his Italian policy. It was merely as an opportunist that he
courted the favour of Leo X and Clement VII. On the other
hand, when death came his way he remembered that he
was a Christian and he died a Christian death, though his
life, habits, and ideals had been pagan, and himself
a typical representative of the Italian Renaissance.
RE# 3
Among the most original thinkers of the Renaissance is a
brilliant and slightly tragic figure, Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-
1527). Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
his name would be synonymous with deviousness, cruelty,
and willfully destructive rationality; no thinker was every so
demonized or misunderstood than Machiavelli. The source
of this misunderstanding is his most influential and widely
read treatise on government, The Prince, a remarkably
short book that attempts to lay out methods to secure and
maintain political power.
His life spanned the greatest period of cultural
achievement in Florence to its ultimate downfall. This
period was marked by political instability, fear,
invasion, intrigue, and high cultural achievement as
the tiny states of Italy, including the Papal States,
were pulled into the politics and wars of Europe by the
immense gravity of two large states, Spain and
France. His life began at the very start of this process:
in 1469, when Ferdinand and Isabella married and
through this marriage created a new, large kingdom
of Spain composed of Castile and Aragon, Machiavelli
was born to a wealthy Florentine lawyer. In his
lifetime, he would see the efflorescence of Florentine
culture and political power under the brilliant political
genius of Lorenzo de'Medici. He would also see the
twilight of the Medici power as Lorenzo's son and
successor, Piero de'Medici, was thrown from power by
the Dominican monk, Savonarola, who set up a true
Florentine Republic. When Savonarola, fanatic about
reform, was himself thrown from power and burned, a
second Republic was set up under Soderini in 1498.
Machiavelli was the secretary of this new Republic, an
important and distinguished position. The Republic,
however, was crushed in 1512 by the Spanish who
installed the Medici's as rulers of Florence once
again.

It seems that Machiavelli really had no political
commitments or political stripe: he seems to have
been on nobody's side politically. For when the Medici
came to power, he began to work overtime to get in
good with them. It seems that either he was ruthlessly
ambitious or believed in serving in government no
matter what political group or party was in charge.
The Medici, however, never fully trusted him since he
had been an important official in the Republic. They
imprisoned and tortured him in 1513 and eventually
banished him to his country estate at San Casciano
(all this torture and imprisonment, however, didn't
stop him from trying to get in good with the Medicis).
It was during his exile in San Casciano, when he was
desparate to get back into government, that he wrote
his principle works: the Discourse on
Livy , The Prince , The History of Florence , and two
plays. Many of these works, such as The Prince , were
written for the express purpose of getting a job in the
Medici government.
The tremendous innovation of both the Discourses
on Livy and The Prince was Machiavelli's uncoupling
of political theory from ethics. Throughout the
Western tradition, as in the Chinese tradition, political
theory and policy was closely linked to ethics.
Aristotle summed up this connection when he defined
politics as merely an extension of ethics. Throughout
the Western tradition, then, politics had been
understood in terms of right and wrong, just and
unjust, temperate and intemperate, and so on. The
moral terms used to evaluate human actions were
employed to evaluate political actions.
Machiavelli was the first to discuss politics and
social phenomena in their own terms without recourse
to ethics or jurisprudence. In many ways you could
consider Machiavelli to be the first major Western
thinker to apply the strictly scientific method of
Aristotle and Averroes to politics. He did so by
observing the phenomena of politics, reading all that's
been written on the subject, and describing political
systems in their own terms. For Machiavelli, politics
was about one and only one thing: getting and
keeping power or authority. Everything else—religion,
morality, etc—that people associate with politics has
nothing to do with this fundamental aspect of politics
—unles being moral helps one get and keep power.
The only skill that counts in getting and maintaining
power is calculation; the successful politician knows
what to do or what to say for every situation.
With this insight, Machiavelli in The Prince simply
describes the means by which individuals have tried
to seize and to maintain power. Most of the examples
he gives are failures; the entire book is suffused with
tragedy for at any moment, if the ruler makes one
miscalculation, all the authority he has so assiduously
cultivated will dry up like the morning dew. The social
and political world of the The Prince is monstrously
unpredictable and volatile; only the most superhuman
calculative mind can overcome this social and political
volatility.
Throughout The Prince and the Discourses , it's
clear that Machiavelli has praise only for the winners.
For this reason, he admires figures such as Alexander
VI and Julius II, universally hated throughout Europe
as ungodly popes, for thei astonishing military and
political success. His refusal to allow ethical
judgements enter into political theory branded him
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throughout the Renaissance as a kind of anti-Christ. In
chapters such as "Whether a Prince Should Be True to
his Word," Machiavelli argues that any moral
judgment should be secondary to getting, increasing
and maintaining power. The answer to the above
question, for instance, is "it's good to be true to your
word, but you should lie whenever it advances your
power or security—not only that, it's necessary."
It might help to understand Machiavelli to imagine
that he's not talking about the state so much in
ethical terms but in medical terms. For Machiavelli
believed that the Italian situation was desparate and
that the Florentine state was in grave danger. Rather
than approach the question from an ethical point of
view, Machiavelli was genuinely concerned with
healing the state to make it stronger. For instance, in
talking about seditious points of view, Machiavelli
doesn't make an ethical argument, but rather a
medical one—"seditious people should be amputated
before they infect the whole state."
The single most articulated value in the work of
Machiavelli is virtú (Latin virtus), which is related to
our word, "virtue." Machiavelli means it more in its
Latin sense of "manly," but individuals with virtú are
primarily marked by their ability to enforce their will
on volatile social situations. They do this through a
combination of strong will, strength, and brilliant and
strategic calculation. In one of the most famous
passages from The Prince , Machiavelli describes the
proper orientation towards the volatility of the world,
or Fortune, by comparing Fortune to a lady: "la
fortuna é donna," or "Fortune is a Lady." Machiavelli is
referring to the courtly love tradition, where the lady
that constitutes the object of desire is approached
and entreated and begged. The ideal Prince, however,
for Machiavelli does not entreat or beg Lady Fortune,
but rather physically grabs her and takes whatever he
wants. This was a scandalous passage and still is
today, but it represents a powerful translation of the
Renaissance idea of human potential to the area of
politics. For if, according to Pico della Mirandola, a
human being can self-transform into anything it
wants, then it must be possible for a single, strong-
willed individual to order the chaos of political life.
Despite his hopes that the Medicis might prove
to be those ideal rulers that could unite Italy, they
did not remain in power for long. When Guilio
de'Medici left Firenze to become Pope Clement VII,
the subalterns that he left in charge of the city
managed it very poorly. The people soon
overthrew the Medici rule and established the
Third Republic of Firenze in 1527. Machiavelli saw
his chance and tried to get a position in the new
republic, but the new rulers distrusted him
because of his long association with the Medici. So
on June 22, 1527, only a few months after the
establishment of the Third Republic, Machiavelli
died. That same year, Rome was sacked by
Emperor Charles VII and the pope was forced to
ally with Charles. In 1530, the pope and Charles
led a punitive expedition against Firenze and
crushed it as an independent state. Three years
after the death of Machiavelli and two years before
the publication of The Prince , , the state that
Machiavelli worked so hard to help and believed so
much in blinked out of existence.
Medieval Sourcebook:
Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince [excerpts], 1513
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are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as long

as you successed they are yours entirely; they will offer you
Niccolo Machiavelli, a diplomat in the pay of the Republic of their blood, property, life, and children, as is said above,
Florence, wrote The Prince in 1513 after the overthrow of when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they
the Republic forced him into exile. It is widely regarded as turn against you. And that prince who, relying entirely on
one of the basic texts of Western political science, and their promises, has neglected other precautions, is ruined;
represents a basic change in the attitude and image of because friendships that are obtained by payments, and not
government. by nobility or greatness of mind, may indeed be earned, but
they are not secured, and in time of need cannot be relied
upon; and men have less scruple in offending one who is
That Which Concerns a Prince on the Subject of the
beloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by the
Art of War
link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is
The Prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select
broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear
anything else for his study, than war and its rules and
preserved you by a dread of punishment which never fails.
discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who
rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way
who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he
private station to that rank. And, on the contrary, it is seen can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated,
that when princes have thought more of ease than of arms which will always be as long as he abstains from the
they have lost their states. And the first cause of your losing property of his citizens and subjects and from their women.
it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire a
state is to be master of the art. Francesco Sforza, though
being martial, from a private person became Duke of Milan; From: Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, ed. W. K. Marriott.
and the sons, through avoiding the hardships and troubles London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1908, pp. 117-118, 129-131
of arms, from dukes became private persons. For among
other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to
be despised, and this is one of those ignominies against
which a prince ought to guard himself, as is shown later on.
Concerning Things for Which Men, and Especially
Princes, are Blamed
It remains now to see what ought to be the rules of conduct
for a prince toward subject and friends. And as I know that
many have written on this point, I expect I shall be
considered presumptuous in mentioning it again, especially
as in discussing it I shall depart from the methods of other
people. But it being my intention to write a thing which shall
be useful to him to apprehends it, it appears to me more
appropriate to follow up the real truth of a matter than the
imagination of it; for many have pictured republics and
principalities which in fact have never been known or seen,
because how one lives is so far distant from how one ought
to live, that he who neglects what is done for what ought to
be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation; for a
man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of
virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much
that is evil.
Hence, it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to
know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not
according to necessity. Therefore, putting on one side
imaginary things concerning a prince, and discussing those
which are real, I say that all men when they are spoken of,
and chiefly princes for being more highly placed, are
remarkable for some of those qualities which bring them
either blame or praise; and thus it is that one is reputed
liberal, another miserly...; one is reputed generous, one
rapacious; one cruel, one compassionate; one faithless,
another faithful.... And I know that every one will confess
that it would be most praiseworthy in a prince to exhibit all
the above qualities that are considered good; but because
they can neither be entirely possessed nor observed, for
human conditions do not permit it, it is necessary for him to
be sufficiently prident that he may know how to avoid the
reproach of those vices which would lose him his state...
Concerning Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether it is
Better to be Loved than Feared
Upon this a question arises: whether it is better to be loved
than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that
one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to
unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than
loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.
Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that they