Preview

Machiavelli the Art of War

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
73926 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Machiavelli the Art of War
Machiavelli_0523

09/15/2005 09:27 AM

THE ONLINE LIBRARY OF LIBERTY © Liberty Fund, Inc. 2005 http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/index.php NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, THE ART OF WAR (NEVILLE TRANS.) (1675)
URL of this E-Book: http://oll.libertyfund.org/EBooks/Machiavelli_0523.pdf URL of original HTML file: http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/HTML.php?recordID=0523

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Machiavelli was an Italian Renaissance political philosopher who wrote a famous piece of advice to The Prince on how to get and keep political power. ABOUT THE BOOK A translation by Neville, a leading English republican thinker of the 17th century, of one of the few major works of Machiavelli published in his lifetime. Machiavelli drew on his own experiences of the nearly constant warfare in which the Italian city states were involved, as well as his deep knowledge of Roman history. THE EDITION USED The Seven Books on the Art of War, by Niccolo Machiavelli, Citizen and Secretary of Florence, trans. Henry Neville (1675).

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION The text of this edition is in the public domain. FAIR USE STATEMENT This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.

http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/EBook.php?recordID=0523

Page 1 of 106

Machiavelli_0523

09/15/2005 09:27 AM

_______________________________________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE FIRST BOOK SECOND BOOK THIRD BOOK FOURTH BOOK FIFTH BOOK SIXTH BOOK SEVENTH BOOK

_______________________________________________________

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, THE ART OF WAR (NEVILLE TRANS.) (1675)

PREFACE BY NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI CITIZEN AND SECRETARY OF FLORENCE ON THE BOOKS ON THE ART OF WAR TO LORENZO DI FILIPPO STROZZI, A GENTLEMAN OF FLORENCE
Many, Lorenzo, have held and still hold the opinion, that
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    SAMHSA Case Studies
    • 68190 Words
    • 273 Pages

    SAMHSA Case Studies

    All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied…

    • 68190 Words
    • 273 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Assess the historical significance of Machiavelli's writing of 'The Prince" during the Renaissance period
    • 1337 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Assess the historical significance of Machiavelli's writing of 'The Prince" during the Renaissance period

    The Renaissance period was one of great achievement in the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture and literature. 'Machiavelli, a writer of literature emerged and came to favor in Florence during the rule of Savonarola in Italy.' In his work the Prince, a handbook for rulers, I will discuss its significance during this turbulent period in history. In doing this I will draw on some references from the Prince and explain their meaning and implications during the period of 1513 in Italy. This essay will then conclude with a summary and an evaluation of the historical significance of The Prince from an amoral and objective perspective during the Renaissance period.…

    • 1337 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Brunelleschi And Giotto Research Paper
    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Brunelleschi And Giotto Research Paper

    People who wanted fame and power in this new world of humanism and self-righteousness had to deserve it. No longer did a supreme authority, such as the pope, appoint officials and leaders. The authority rested in the hands of the person willing to take charge. This approach to gaining wealth and power can be described as Machivellian, named so by the influence of ideologist Niccolo Machiavelli. Machiavelli wrote one of the most influential political books of all time, called the Prince, which is considered the most lasting work on Italian Renaissance. In his novel, Machiavelli writes of " cruelty, well used or badly used," and warns the compassionate and humanistic prince "not to make bad use of this compassion".(Burke p.196) Machiavelli expanded on his belief in the Prince, that Italians should behave with ferocity when it comes to politics, and should back up that ferocity with a unified force. Machiavelli's principles have had a profound effect on the way Europe and the rest of the world have viewed politics over centuries, and truly show the Rennaissance's uncanny trait of promoting individualism and social Darwinism.<br><br>The Italian Renaissance has made a major impact on the rest of Europe, leaving an intellectual and artistic heritage that…

    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Machiavelli's Influence On The Prince
    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Machiavelli's Influence On The Prince

    Machiavelli was an author and an aspiring political figure who had a strong influence on several aspects of Europe’s government. Due to his critical writings in The Prince, many historians see Machiavelli as a cruel and diabolical political figure whose true intentions were to gain power for himself. However, after looking further into Machiavelli’s political past, one can see that Machiavelli is in fact an intelligent man who possesses a hidden motive to write his novel. In his work, he covered several topics that were used by future city-state leaders to help them become successful. Machiavelli proves to be an astute political mind who used his political experience to assess the actions of famous princes and to write The Prince as a noteworthy…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Prince and the Discourses on Livy Essay Example
    • 2153 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The Prince and the Discourses on Livy Essay Example

    Niccolo Machiavelli was at his time and continues to be now days one of the most influential and revolutionary authors known throughout the centuries. His writings, distinct from other renaissance authors of the epoch, make emphasis on his personal views and his opinions on the political matters taking place in Florence, Italy. Further discussed in the text are two of Machiavelli’s most renowned works, The Prince and the Discourses on Livy. Both books comprehend Machiavelli’s understandings of politics and explicit analysis on the various methods of governments with respect to principalities and republics.…

    • 2153 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Prince And Julius Caesar Context And Form
    • 1311 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Prince And Julius Caesar Context And Form

    The Prince reflects the context of Florence’s limited military and economic power in a fragmented Italy and threatened by surrounding states and country…

    • 1311 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Machiavelli The Prince Research Paper
    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Machiavelli The Prince Research Paper

    During Niccolỏ Machiavelli’s lifetime, Italy’s city-states were in turmoil, and he was extremely interested in the politics behind the chaos.1 Machiavelli advised principalities on the proper way to conduct themselves by using his study of human nature. His understanding of human greed, disloyalty, and predictability created a vision of politics that utilizes power for a prince to maintain stability. Machiavelli created power-politics, his vision of how to stabilize a principality, in The Prince.…

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Tennis Court Oath Of Humanism
    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tennis Court Oath Of Humanism

    Midterm Exam Mardin Shinoo Professor Michael W. Johnson Revolutions in History North Park University Chicago, Illinois October 2014 Tennis Court Oath was an agreement proposed by Jean-Joseph Mounier on June 20, 1789. As part of the third estate, they were locked out of the usual meting hall and suspected that the king wanted them to disband. They took an oath to never separate until there was a written constitution was established for France. Humanism was a Renaissance cultural movement from the 1400s to the mid 1600s.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Does Machiavelli Create A Satire In The Prince
    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Does Machiavelli Create A Satire In The Prince

    Although Machiavelli’s work has been criticized as a satire that justifies an absolutist way of ruling, it is truly an attempt to establish the foundation for the unification and stability of the Italian empire through an array of historical examples and systematic resolutions appropriate for the time it was implemented. The Prince, published in 1532 by Niccolo Machiavelli, has earned acclaim from many people, including critics who cannot help but see this piece of work as a form of totalitarianism that suggests how to subjugate the people of an empire. Although the book does possess some absolutistic ideas in its political theory that may seem extreme to the audience of the present, the propositions set forth by the author are appropriate for the time period for which he is writing. Since the middle ages was renowned for its lack of authority in the government, Machiavelli argues, in The Price, that during the Renaissance the goal was not to preserve morality but to initiate the reconstruction of an empire, particularly through the acquiring of principalities and warcraft, no matter what the cost. Machiavelli explained how these now principalities could be acquired by using history to study the success of the…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Machiavelli's as Humanist: Examples and the Lessons He Learns
    • 1929 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Machiavelli's as Humanist: Examples and the Lessons He Learns

    The most famous humanist of this time, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, was the youngest son of the Count of…

    • 1929 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did Renaissance Change Over Time
    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages

    How Did Renaissance Change Over Time

    Machiavelli wrote and studied the change in political beliefs in France and Italy. Machiavelli was a descendant from Florence like Dante but Machiavelli came from a different political climate. Florence had changed many times since Dante’s oligarchy succumbed to the power of rich Signori who gained control of the councils of government. The Signori passed laws that had the upper classes fight to take away power from the lower classes. Slowly the oligarchy became a monarchy with fake republics to be able to give the people a place to air their grievances.…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Compare and Contrast Machiavelli and Max Weber
    • 1933 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Compare and Contrast Machiavelli and Max Weber

    Niccolo Machiavelli, known as the founding father of modern Political Science, lived between 1469 and 1752 in Florence in what is known today as Italy. He is not only known for his work in politics and diplomacy, as he was also a well-versed historian. He employed the method of citing historic figures and events in his justification for the suggestions he made in his famous book: The Prince. In the book that was dedicated to Lorenzo Medici, Machiavelli raises many important aspects relating to the political environment, governance and ethics of an individual in possession of political power citing political actions that should and should not be taken, the state briefly and violence in governing which is studied by political philosophers today as there are many ancient concepts…

    • 1933 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Similarities Between Julius Caesar And The Prince
    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Similarities Between Julius Caesar And The Prince

    Machiavelli’s treatise responds to the instability and vulnerability of Florence as it faced infighting and external threats following the collapse of the republic where Machiavelli held a vanquished position. The Prince is written with a blunt direct style, free from the ‘unnecessary ornamentation’ in order to plainly represent in the same way he wishes the Medici to rule. As a result of the political context, Machiavelli’s work warns that if a Prince ‘tries to be good all the time’ he will ‘come to ruin among the great number who are not good.’ Machiavelli stresses the necessity of pragmatism as he opposes the laws of man incorporate “living with integrity” with the beast disregarding these principles by thinking “little about keeping faith”. Machiavelli also suggests the people are the foundations of a principality since a Prince ‘who builds his foundations on the people is a man able to command and of spirit, is not bewildered by adversaries, does not fail to make preparations.’ The collective listing of conditions exhibits the difficulty of maintaining stability. Thus, Machiavelli’s Prince is a Sisyphean character as he constantly toils to defend his principality and uphold rule whilst establishing foundations to be inevitably destroyed. The weak nature of power lies within the absence of expansion beyond the foundations which is also a discreet criticism of the futility of the elite ruling class at maintaining stability. Thus, the bleak and barren landscape depicted in Machiavelli’s The Prince is a symbolic representation of the instability within Renaissance Italy and the ineffectiveness of power in establishing enduring political…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Machiavelli The Prince Research Paper
    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Machiavelli The Prince Research Paper

    Niccolio Machiavelli (Born May 3rd, 1469 – 1527 Florence, Italy.) His writings have been the source of dispute amongst scholars due to the ambiguity of his analogy of the ‘Nature of Politics” and the implication of morality. The Prince, has been criticised due to it’s seemingly amoral political suggestiveness, however after further scrutiny of other works such as The Discourses, one can argue that it was Machiavelli’s intention to infact imply a positive political morality. Therefore the question needs to be posed. Is Machiavelli a political amoralist? To successfully answer this it is essential to analyse his version of political structure to establish a possible bias. It would also be beneficial to discuss and compare another philosopher’s account to the nature of politics, and in this instance I have chosen the works of Plato in particular The Republic, establishing a comparison to define whom has the more convincing argument and why?…

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Who Is Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince
    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Who Is Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince

    Niccolo Machiavelli was a Renaissance writer who published one of the most famous books of all time, The Prince. His book was a key component on how future leaders should gain and stay in control of their kingdom. Some advice…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More