Machiavelli The Prince Essay

Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian statesman and political philosopher. He lived in Florence, Italy during the 1400’s. During that time period the country of Italy was divided into states which had their own leaders, but controlled by a king. Greatest leaders were needed during the time in order to develop the states and the country. Machiavelli’s theory was that man needs to be a perfect leader to control men, In his book The Prince, he throws light on the perfect leader and describes the means by which a leader may gain and maintain power and how understanding human nature is necessary for a prince. Machiavelli throws a light on the correct behavior of the prince. Machiavelli confesses that many has written on this subject, but he states
According to Machiavelli, if a prince develops a reputation for generosity, he will destroy the state. A quality of generosity requires a lot of wealth, which finishes all of the prince’s wealth. Eventually, the prince will be left with no other choice but to put heavy taxes on people in order to maintain his reputation and avoid him from becoming poor. (pg59) “a prince cannot use this virtue of liberality without damage to himself, if he is prudent he must not worry about the reputation of miser: because with time he will be considered even more liberal, when it is seen that because of his parsimony his income suffices him, that he can defend himself against whomever makes war on him, and that he can undertake enterprises without weighing down the people”. Ultimately, any prince who tries to change his reputation of generosity will be seen by people as a penny-pincher and develop a reputation of a miser. A prince who is a parsimonious, may be seen by people as a miser in he beginning, but at the end he will gain his reputation back because he will have enough money to protect himself from whomever makes war on him and complete his projects without heavily taxing the people. In the past, Pope Julius II, “the present king of France”, “the present king of Spain” all three of them believed in parsimony, which protected them from extraordinary expenses and accomplish many
But some historic figures (ancient writers) and experiences indicate that a prince, who is cunning, crafty, and able to trick others is likely to achieve the most success. (pg65)“A prince is constrained by necessity to know well how to use the beast, among [the beasts] he must choose the fox and the lion; because the lion does not defend itself from traps, the fox does not defend itself from the wolves. One therefore needs to be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to dismay the wolves”). The two ways of fighting are by law or by force. Beasts acquire force naturally and men acquire laws naturally. In order to become a successful, prince must learn how to become half beast and half man. When a prince uses a force, he acts like a beast. A prince must to acquire qualities of two kinds of beasts (fox and lion) and become a fox in order to recognize traps and a lion to dismay the wolves. While dealing with people, a prince must master a technique of breaking his promises whenever needed or when he is in a disadvantage because of that promise. In any given situation, promises are not something that a prince should be worry about or rely, because men by nature are deceiving and dishonest. A prince should be able to deceive anyone whenever they put him on a disadvantage. However, a prince must be careful about how to become a fox in this case. Pope Alexander was a leader who mastered the art of