Niccolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince'

Nathan Miller
AP European History Period 5
Summer Reading Essay
The Prince In 1513, Niccolò Machiavelli described his ideal prince to the ruler of the Florentine Republic, Lorenzo de' Mecini. In his writings, Machiavelli sought to draw Mecini a very in-depth picture of, to his political wisdom, the perfect ruler: a prince who is very prestigious and wise, tactful in battle, and forceful and harsh upon his subjects. However, should the Graduate at Graduation traits of being Committed to Doing Justice and Loving be applied to Machiavelli's ideal prince, his ideas would indeed be different. Machiavelli's new prince would fulfill his duties not only as outlined by the original writings, but with loving and just spins on them. In turn, these two
The first of these two Grad at Grad traits, Committed to Doing Justice, can be applied to the ideal prince in multiple aspects. These include keeping his people protected and his state's laws enforced, both of which are noticeably important, as Machiavelli says, "The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws" (Machiavelli 110-111). For example, as the prince becomes more committed to justice, he believes in having a stronger military force so that he can defend his territory from invaders. As such, the prince would become more vigilant in keeping his people safe. To do so, he would rally the best possible army of his own troops, as opposed to mercenaries, auxiliaries, or a mix of the two, as defined by Machiavelli: "Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious, and without discipline, unfaithful..." (Machiavelli 111). This
Firstly, the concept of making the ideal prince more loving can mean that the prince not only loves his people, but is also loved in return. The ideal prince can be enhanced by adding the trait of loving in that he will be more vigilant in keeping and concerned with the well-being of his people. Machiavelli gives an example of what an ideal prince ought to do in order to not only be loving towards his people, but to also have his people in a content and "loving" relationship with their prince: "It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. And when neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways." (Machiavelli 160-161). In this regard, a loving prince would give his people freedom from personal intrusion and would protect their honor. In doing so, he would gain the love of his people and maintain a stable and amiable condition as their prince. Not only would a more loving (and in turn, non-hated) prince be more favored by his people and well-liked, but he would also be safer from conspiracy, as stated by Machiavelli: "But concerning his subjects, when affairs outside are disturbed he has only to fear that they will