machiavelli's the prince: an excerpt

7/29/2019 Machiavelli's The Prince: An Excerpt

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4 ~ Break with Medieval Pol itical ,Theory

Turning away from the religious orientation of the Middle Ages, Renaissancethinkers discussed th e human condition in secular terms and opened up possi.bilities for thinking about moral and political problems in new ways. Thus,Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), a Florentine statesman and political theorist,broke with medieval political theory. Medieval political thinkers held that theruler derived power from God and had a religious obligation to rule in accor-dance with God's precepts. Machiavelli, though, ascribed no divine origin to


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302 Part Three Early Modem Europekingship, nor did he attribute events to the mysterious will of God; and he explicitly rejected the principle that kings should adhere to Christian moral

t e a c h i n g ~ . For Machiavelli, the state was a purely human creation. Successful kings or princes, he asserted, should be concerned only with preserving and strengthening the state's power and must ignore questions of good and evil, morality and immorality. Machiavelli did not assert that religion was supernat-ural in origin and rejected prevailing belief that Christian morality should

. guide political life. For him, religion's value derived from other factors: a ruler could utilize religion to unite his subjectsand to foster obedience to law.

Niccolo MachiavelliTHE PRINCEIn contrast to medieval thinkers, Machiavelli did not seek to construct an idealChristian community but to discover how politics was really conducted. Hestudied. politics in the cold light of reason, as the following passage from ThePrince illustrates.

I t now remains to be seen what are the meth-ods and rules for a prince as regards his sub-jects and friends. And as I know that manyhave written of this, I fear that my writingabout it may be deemed presumptuous, differing as I do, especially in this m ~ t t e r , from theopinions of others. But my intention being towrite something of use to those who understand, it appears to me more proper to go tothe real ttuth of the matter than to its imagi-nation; and many have imagined republics andprincipalities which have never been seen orknown to exist in reality; for how we live is sofar removed from how we ought to live, that hewho abandons what is done for what ought tobe done, will rather learn to bring about hisown ruin than his preservation.

Machiavelli removed ethics from politicalthinking. A successful r\uler, he contended,is indifferent to moral and religious consid-erations. But will not the prince be pun-ished on the Day of Judgment for violatingChristian teachings? In startling contrast tomedieval theorists, Machiavelli simply ig-nored the question. The action of a prince,he said, should be governed solely by ne-cessity.

A man who wishes to make a profession ofgoodness in everything must necessarily cometo grief among so many who are not good.Therefore it is necessary for a prince, whowishes to maintain himself, to learn how not tobe good, and to use this knowledge and not useit , according to the necessity of the ,case.

Leaving on one side, then, those thingswhich conc:ern only an imaginary prince, andspeaking of those that are real, I state that 'allmen, and especially princes, who are plas:ed ata greater height, are reputed for certain quali-tIes which bring them either praise or blame.Thus one is considered liberal, another . , .miserly; . . . one a free giver, another rapacious;one cruel, another merciful; one a breaker ofhis word, another trustworthy; one effeminateand pusillanimous, another fierce and high-spirited; one humane, another haughty; onelascivious, another chaste; one frank, anotherastute; one hard, another easy; one serious, another frivolous; one religious, another an unbe-liever, and so on. I know that everyone willadmit that it would be highly praiseworthy ina prince to possess all the above-named quali-ties that are reputed good, bur as they cannotall be possessed or observed, human conditionsnot permitting of it , it is necessary that he


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should be prudent enough to avoid the scandalof those vices which would lose him the state,and guard himself if possible against thosewhich will not lose it [for] him, but if not ableto, he can indulge them with less scruple. Andyet he must nOt mind incurring the scandal ofthose vices, without which it would be difficult to save the state, for if one considers well,it will be found that some things which seemvirtues would, if followed, lead to one's ruin,and some others which appear vices result inone's greater security and wellbeing. . . .. . . I say that every prince must desire to beconsidered merciful and not cruel. He must,however, take care not to misuse this mercifulness. Cesare Borgia was considered cruel, buthis cruelty had btought order to the Romagna,1 united it, and reduced it to peace andfealty. If this is considered well, it will be seenthat he was really much more merciful than theFlorentine people, who, to avoid the name ofcruelty, allowed Pistoia2 to be destroyed. Aprince, therefore, must not mind incurring thecharge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping hissubjects united and faithful; for, with a veryfew examples, he will be more merciful thanthose who, from excess of tenderness, allow disorders to arise, from whence spring bloodshedand rapine; for these as a rule injure the wholecommunity, while the executions cahied outby the prince injure only individuals. . . .

Machiavelli's rigorous investigation of politics led him to view human nature from thestandpOint of its limitations and imperfections. The astute prince, he said, recognizes

lCesare Borgia (c. 1476-1507) was the bastard son ofRodrigo Borgia, then a Spanish cardinal and later PopeAlexander VI 0492-1503). With his father's aid he at tempted to carve out for himself an independent duchy innorth-central Italy, with Romagna as its heart. Throughcruelty, violence, and treachery, he succeeded at first inhis ambition, but ultimately his principality collapsed.Romagna was eventually incorporated into the Papal Stateunder Pope Julius II 0503-1513).2Pistoia, a small Italian city in Tuscany, came under thecontrol of Florence in the fourteenth century.

Chapter 9 The Renaissance 303that human beings are by nature selfish,cowardly, and dishonest, and regulates hispolitical strategy accordingly.;

From this arises the question whether it isbetter to be loved more than feared, or fearedmore than loved. The reply is, that one oughtto be both feared and loved, but as it is difficultfor the two to go together, it is much safer to befeared than loved, if one of the two has to bewanting. For it may be said of men in generalthat they are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers,anxious to avoid danger, and covetous of gain;as long as you benefit them, they are entirelyyours; they offer you their blood, their goods,their life, and their children, as I have beforesaid, when the necessity is remote; bu t when itapproaches, they revolt. And the prince whohas relied solely on their words, without making other preparations, is ruined; for thefriendship which is gained by putchase and not'through grandeur and nobility of spirit isbought bu t not secured, and at a pinch is not tobe expended in your service. And men have lessscruple in offending one who makes himselfloved than on who makes himself feared; for

. love is held by a chain of obligation which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose; but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.

Still, a prince should make himself feared insuch a way that if he does not gain love, he atany rate avoids hatred; for fear and the absenceof hatred may well go together, and will be always attained by one who abstains from interfering with the property of his citizens andsubjects or with their women. And when he isobliged to take the life of anyone, let him doso when there is a proper justification andmanifest reason for it; but above all he mustabstain from taking the property of others, formen forget more easily the death of their fatherthan the loss of their patrimony. Then also pretexts for seizing property are never wanting,and one who begins to live by rapine will always find some reason for taking the goods ofothers, whereas causes for taking life are rarerand more fleeting.


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304 Part Thm Early Modem EuropeBut when the prince is with his army and

has a large number of soldiers under his control, then it is extremely necessary that heshould not mind being thought cruel; for without this reputation he could not keep an armyunited or disposed to any duty. Among thenoteworthy actions of Hanniba13 is numberedthis, that although he had an enormous army,composed of men of all nations and fighting inforeign countries, there never arose any dissension either among them or against the prince,either in good fortune or in bad. This could notbe due to anything but his inhuman cruelty,which together with his infinite other virtues,made him always venerated and terrible in thesight of his soldiers, and without it his othervirtues would not have sufficed to produce thateffect. Thoughtless writers admire on the onehand his actions, and on the other blame theprincipal cause of them. . . .

Again in marked contrast to the teachings ofChristian (and ancient) moralists, Machi-avelli said that the successful prince willuse any means to achieve and sustain polit-ical power. If the end is desirable, all meansare justified.

How laudable it is for a prince to keep goodfaith and live with integrity, and not with astuteness, everyone knows. Still the experienceof our t i ~ e s shows those princes to have donegreat things who have had little regard forgood faith, and have been able by astuteness toconfuse men's brains, and who have ultimatelyovercome those who have made loyalty theirfoundation.

You must know, then, that there are twomethods of fighting, the one by law, the otherby force: the first method is that of men, thesecond of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse ro the

-'Hannibal (247-182 B.C.) was a brilliant Carthaginiangeneral whose military victories almost destroyed Romanpower. He was finally defeated at the battle of Zama in202 B.C. by the Roman general Scipio Africanus.

second. I t is therefore necessary for a prince toknow well how to use both the beast and theman ....

A prince being thus obliged to know wellhow to act as a beast must imitate the foxand the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a foxto recognise traps, and a lion to frightenwolves. Those that wish to be only lions do notunderstand this. Therefore, a prudent rulerought not to keep faith when by so doing itwould be against his interest, and when thereasons which made him bind himself nolonger exist. If men were all good, this preceptwould not be a good one; but as they are bad,and would not observe their faith with you, soyou are not bound to keep faith with them.Nor have legitimate grounds ever failed aprince who wished to show (plausible] excusefor the non-fulfilment of his promise. Of thisone could furnish an infinite number of modern examples, and show how many times peacehas been broken, and how many promisesrendered worthless, by the faithlessness ofprinces, and those that have been best able toimitate the fox have succeeded best. But it isnecessary to be able to disguise this characterwell, and to be a great feigner and dissembler;and men are so simple and so ready to obeypresent necessities, that one who deceives willalways find those who allow themselves to bedeceived. . . .

. . . Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to beso; bu t you must have the mind so disposedthat when it is needful to be otherwise youmay be able to change to the opposite qualities. And it must be understood that a prince,and especially a new prince, cannot observeall those things which are considered goodin men, being often obliged, in order tomaintain the state, to act against faith, againstcharity, against humanity, and against religion. And, therefore, he must have a minddisposed to adapt itself according to thewind, and as the variations of fortune dictate,and, as I said before, not deviate from what is


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good, if possible, but be able co do evil if con- .straine.d.

A prince must take great care that nothinggoes out of his mouth which is not full of theabove-named five qualities, and, co see and hearhim, he should seem co be all mercy, faith, integrity, humanity, and religion. And nothing ismOre necessary than co seem co have this lastquality, for men in general judge more by theeyes than by the hands, for every one can see,but very few have to feel. Everybody sees whatyou appear to be, few feel what you are, andthose few will not dare to oppose themselves tothe !l1any, who have the majesty of the state todefend them; and in the actions of men, and es-

Chapter 9 The Rmaissance 305pecially of princes, from which there is no appeal, ;h e end justifies the means. Let a princetherefore aim at conquering and maintainingthe state, and the means will always be judgedhonourable and praised by every one, for thevulgar is al:ways taken by appearances and theissue of the event; and the world consists only ofthe vulgar, and the few who are not vulgar areisolated when the many have a rallying point inthe prince. A certain prince ofrhe present time,whom it is well not to name, never does anything but preach peace and good faith, but he isreally a great enemy to both, and "either ofthem, had he observed them, would have losthim state or repuation on many occasions.

machiavelli's the prince: an excerpt

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