Machiavelli

ESSAY 1:

General overview of who Machiavelli is

1500s---Renaissance/rebirth

Believed in using fear in gov’t. Ruling w/fear is reliable.

Wanted to unify Italy

Killing:

okay to kill w/in limits & w/reason

need to kill the whole family in a monarchy to get power

he’s all about power

politically ambitious

used realism/was realistic

Wrote Mandragula and Prince (how to be a good prince)

Mach. wanted someone to unify Italy. How does that connect:

His emphasis on need for a new prince-not hereditary

Needs to use “own arms and prowess” means: Obtaining a state through prowess is clearly more demanding than benefiting from simple good luck. A prince gifted with his own prowess is possessed of a strong foundation to maintain that rule with high ability in politics and military, whereas fortune is unpredictable and may lead as easily to a prince’s deposition as it had to his rise. Thus, maintaining rule is much easier when a prince has used his own skill; “Men who become rulers by prowess similar to theirs[Theseus, Moses, Romulus] acquire their principalities with difficulty but hold them with ease.” Also Machiavelli stresses the importance of having a loyal army to “arrange matters so that when they no longer believe they can be made to believe by force.” Because the maintenance of rule is most important to Machiavelli, he concludes that prowess is a better route to become a prince.

Needs to NOT use “another’s arms and fortune” means: see above-- also, using “another’s arms” such as mercenary troops, soldiers paid to perform a service for the prince, can cause loyalty issues. Lacking loyalty to the prince, money is their only inducement to fight, making them an unreliable mean of defense. They will be unwilling to die in battle and therefore will not fight vigorously for the prince.

Why Mach.’s fav. Examples are…

Theseus, Moses, Romulus, or others:

Who are they? examples of those who became princes by their own...