Reading 1
Niccolo Machiavelli taught the world a lesson in practical politics. He was born in 1469, the son of a lawyer, and grew up in the Italian city of Florence. In 1498 he obtained a minor clerical post in the Florentine government, a job he held for fourteen years. He became a trusted public servant and eventually a diplomat, traveling to every important city-state in the peninsula and to several foreign courts as well.
Everywhere Machiavelli observed politicians and their ways; he became an analyst of power. Above all, he loved Italy and longed to see it united under one monarch. In 1512, he lost his position because of a change in the Florentine government. He then settled in a small community outside the city and took up writing. The most famous of all his works is The Prince, a hand- book containing the rules he had developed through his observations, and rules which he hoped a
monarch would use to unite Italy. He gave his advice to the DeMedici family in the hopes of regaining his popularity and position as an advisor. Machiavelli died in 1527 and five years later The Prince was released to the public.
“It is a good thing to be considered generous. But if liberality is not openly displayed for all to see, no one will ever hear about it, and under these
circumstances a person would soon become known as a miser. For this reason many men who wish to earn a reputation for liberality depend upon lavish displays or costly shows, which are easily seen. If a prince does this, he is likely to spend most of his money on display, and if he wishes to keep his reputation for liberality he will have to impose heavy taxes and do everything possible to obtain more funds. This course of action will make his subjects begin to hate him; they will no even respect him because he will be poor. His liberality will have injured many and benefitted only a few. So many of his subjects will grow angry with him that his position will be endangered by any little incident. If he recognizes this fact and tries to spend less money, people will notice the change and accuse him of being a miser.
Since a prince cannot exercise the virtue of liberty without risking his
position, he must not object too much to being called miserly. In the long run he will be thought more liberal when his subjects see that his income is sufficient to keep the government going. Without raising taxes, he will be able to defend himself against his enemies and undertake new enterprises without burdening his people with additional taxes. In this way he is really being liberal to all those from whom he does not collect higher taxes.
Reading 3
“Is it better to be loved more than feared or feared more than loved? Ideally, one ought to be both feared and loved, but it is difficult for the two sentiments to go together. If one of the two must be sacrificed, it is much safer to be feared than loved. In general men are ungrateful, dishonest, cowardly, and covetous. As long as you help them, they will do your bidding. They will offer you their blood, their goods, their lives, and their children when it appears that you will not need to take them up on the offer. But when you try to collect, they often go back on their word. If a prince has relied solely on the good faith of others, he will be ruined. Men are less afraid to offend a prince they love than the one they fear. The feel free to break the obligation, which they owe for love whenever it suits them to do so. But they will do their duty if they fear, for the threat of punishment never fails to bring them to heel.
Still a prince should be careful to make himself feared in such a way that if men do not love him, they at least do not hate him. Fear and the absence of hatred can go together. Both can be won by a prince as long as he does not interfere with the property of his subjects. When he as to take anyone’s like, let him be sure the reasons for doing it is plain. Above all he must not seize their property, for men will more easily forget the death of their father than the loss of their worldly goods…
“Everyone knows that it is a good thing for a prince to keep his word and live a faithful life. The history of our own times shows, however, that those princes who have done great things have little regard for keeping faith. They have in the long run been able to overcome those who have made loyalty and honesty in the basis of their rule.
Reading 5
“It is not necessary for a prince to have all the good qualities, but it is necessary for him to seem to have them. I will even go so far as to say that to actually have these qualities and to be guided by them always is dangerous, but to appear to possess them is useful. Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, sincere, religious, and also to be so. But a prince must always be ready to embrace the opposite qualities of the occasion demands it. New princes particularly are unable to live by these fine qualities. They are often obliged, in order to maintain their position, to act against faith, against charity, against humanity, and against religion. A prince must be ready to shift with the wind as the ups and downs of fortune
dictate. He should not deviate from what is good if he can avoid it, but he should be ready and able to do evil when it is necessary.
A prince should be careful to say nothing which is not full of the above named five qualities. He should leave the impression that he is all mercy, faith, integrity, humanity, and religion. Of these none is more necessary than to seem to be religious, for men usually judge by what they see rather than by what actually is. Everyone sees what you appear to be; few know what you really are, and those few will not dare to set themselves up in opposition to the many. In the affairs of men, and especially in the affairs of princes, the end justifies the means. Let a prince, therefore, aim at conquering and maintaining the state and the means by which he does this will always be praised by everyone. The world consists mainly of vulgar
“I know many people who believe that events in this world are so governed by fortune and by God and that mere men can do nothing to control them. This opinion is held increasingly in our own day; at times even I am partly inclined to share it. But upon examination I have come to the conclusion that fortune rules only about half our actions, and that she allows the other half, or thereabouts, to be governed by us…
Each man may arrive at his goal by a different path. We can see two cautious men, one of who succeeds while the other fails. In the same way, we can see two men succeed equally well by employing different methods, on being cautious, perhaps, and the other impetuous. This result comes from the nature of the times and not from the method which the men employ. We can conclude that sometimes two men acting differently attain the same goal while of two others who act in the same way. One may reach is goal and the other fall shore. A man must always shift his tactics with the times. If he is always cautious when the times demand sudden action, he will be ruined. If a man could change his tactics with time and
circumstances, fortune might never frown upon him…
I conclude then, that if fortune varies and men remain fixed in their ways, the will be successful so long as these ways fit the circumstances of the moment, but when the times call for other tactics they will fail. I certainly think that it is better to be impetuous than cautious, for fortune is a woman, and it is necessary, if you wish to master her, to conquer her by force. It can be seen that she lets herself be
Machiavelli
Questions to accompany reading Reading 1
1. Who is Niccolo Machiavelli?
2. What was his purpose in writing the document?
3. How does Machiavelli feel about living in reality vs. having high hopes for a perfect society?
Reading 2
4. What is Machiavelli’s advice regarding generosity? Explain.
5. What does Machiavelli explain about being viewed as a miser?
those being loved by them.
8. Which do you think is better? Why?
9. According to Machiavelli, what is the danger in trusting people?
Reading 4
10. What are Machiavelli’s feelings about keeping a promise?
11. Why does he feel this way?
13. What are all of Machiavelli’s recommended qualities of a leader?
14. What does Machiavelli advise a prince to do if he does not possess all of those qualities?
15. Explain his statement, “for men judge more by the eye than the hand.”
Reading 6
16. What does Machiavelli think about fate, destiny, and free will?
17. What is Machiavelli’s advice about changing with the times?