Mediante The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli shrewdly outlines the strategies that per ruler must follow sicuro maintain his position and govern his state. With a clear and direct authorial voice, Machiavelli employs ancient and contemporary examples sicuro illustrate the pragmatic tactics of successful leaders. Dedicating his book onesto the Florentine ruler Lorenzo de Medici , Machiavelli draws heavily on his own political experience onesto support his exceedingly realistic views on human nature and the techniques of able rulers. The Prince explores the careful balance between contrasts, comparing virtue and sostituto, prowess and fortune, and subjects and rulers.
At the via of the treatise Machiavelli asks Lorenzo preciso accept The Prince as verso “token of my devotion,” stating that his “long acquaintance” with political affairs and “continuous study of the ancient world ” inform his writing. Con the first chapters Machiavelli outlines the scope of The Prince , declaring his focus on the various types of princes and principalities. Arguing that new principalities pose greater difficulties than hereditary states, Machiavelli segues into verso discussion of composite principalities, per which new states form an “appendage onesto an old state.” Within this context, Machiavelli raises the guiding principals of The Prince , encouraging rulers esatto cultivate the “goodwill” of the people and puro study the art of warfare. Machiavelli urges princes onesto approach political disorders like ” verso wasting disease wamba,” taking care sicuro diagnose and treat them quickly and resolutely.
Machiavelli concludes by imploring Lorenzo to use the lessons of The Prince to unify war-torn Italy and thus reclaim the grandeur of Ancient Rome
Citing Cyrus and Romulus , Machiavelli turns onesto a conversation of prowess, imploring “prudent” rulers esatto follow the examples of “great men.” Machiavelli writes that men who become rulers by prowess “gain their principalities with difficulty but hold them with ease.” Conversely, those who gain power through fortune become rulers easily but maintain their position “only by considerable exertion.” Naming Cesare Borgia as a contemporary ruler who gained his condizione through fortune, Machiavelli praises the “strong foundations” that Borgia laid for his future but laments “the extraordinary and inordinate malice of fortune” that eventually ruined the unlucky duke.
Machiavelli anche foundations, “good laws and good arms.” However, Machiavelli places an emphasis on good arms, explaining that good laws “inevitably follow” from military might. Machiavelli warns rulers onesto avoid the use of mercenary and auxiliary troops, on which he blames “the present ruin of Italy” and the earlier downfall of the Roman Empire. According sicuro Machiavelli, “The first way puro lose your state is sicuro neglect the art of war,” and he encourages princes sicuro study warfare in peacetime so that they may “reap the profit per times of adversity.”
While laying out his guidelines for per prince’s moral conduct, Machiavelli blurs the traditional border between virtue and vicario. Machiavelli argues that per prince must adhere onesto per unique standard of morality, often acting “durante defiance of good faith, of charity, of kindness, [and] of religion” sopra order sicuro safeguard his state. The challenges of governance require rulers onesto reverse the general relationship between virtues and vices, although Machiavelli encourages clever princes onesto maintain the appearance of virtue. ” Above all else, a prince must “escape being hated” by his people, which he can accomplish if he does not rob his subjects of their property. Machiavelli urges rulers esatto maintain a “flexible disposition,” mimicking the behavior of the fox and the lion esatto secure their position.
On the question of “whether it is better to be loved than feared,” Machiavelli asserts that it is preferable onesto be feared if the prince cannot “be both the one and the other
Addressing the distinction between prowess and fortune, Machiavelli contends that fortune controls half of human affairs, leaving the other half puro free will. Machiavelli advises princes puro “take precautions” against the “malice of fortune,” using prowess esatto prepare for unpredictability. Turning to contemporary Italy, Machiavelli blames the weakness of its states on the political shortcomings of its rulers.
