Machiavelli the Pragmatic

“The chief foundations of all states, whether new, old, or mixed, are good laws and good arms. And as there cannot be good laws where there are not good arms, and where there are good arms there must be good laws…” (Machiavelli. The Prince. Pg. 72).

Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince during the rising of the Reformation. He was an Italian man who wrote to Prince Lorenzo the Magnificent. Niccolo had two purposes in writing the book: (1) to regain favor from the Prince, that he might no longer be banished from Florence; (2) to encourage Prince Lorenzo to deliver Italy from foreign invaders.

I knew going into it that The Prince is forcefully blunt. Machiavelli is crystal clear in his writing, so much so that the reader is never left wondering what he meant to say. I laughed out loud when I read Machiavelli’s explanation that if a conqueror is to be cruel, it’s best to be cruel in the beginning and not make it a regular occurrence: “Whence it is to be noted, that in taking a state the conqueror must arrange to commit all his cruelties at once, so as not to have to recur to them every day, and so as to be able, by not making fresh changes, to reassure people and win them over by benefiting them. Whoever acts otherwise, either through timidity or bad counsel, is always obliged to stand with knife in hand, and can never depend on his subjects, because they, owing to continually fresh injuries, are unable to depend upon him. For injuries should be done all together, so that being less tasted, they will give less offence. Benefits should be granted little by little, so that they may be better enjoyed. And above all, a prince must live with his subjects in such a way that no accident of good or evil fortune can deflect him from his course; for necessity arising in adverse times, you are not in time with severity, and the good that you do does not profit, as it is judged to be forced upon you, and you will derive no benefit whatever from it” (Pg. 62).

I should say that Machiavelli wrote for the one ruling. This book is not sympathetic towards the masses. He is pragmatic in an ultimate sense and offers the many choices faced by a government’s leaders. Here, Machiavelli writes that it is not necessary for a prince to have moral qualities but only to seem to have them: “It is not, therefore, necessary for a prince to have all the above-named qualities [merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious], but it is very necessary to seem to have them. I would even be bold to say that to possess them and always to observe them is dangerous, but to appear to possess them is useful. Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities. And it must be understood that prince, and especially a new prince, cannot observe all those things which are considered good in men, being often obliged, in order to maintain the state, to act against faith, against charity, against humanity, and against religion. And, therefore, he must have a mind disposed to adapt itself according to the wind, and as the variations of fortune dictate, and, as I said before, not deviate from what is good, if possible, but be able to do evil if constrained” (Pg. 91).

Soooo, be moral when it is convenient and popular, but feel free to betray morality when it is to your advantage? Ahhh, Machiavelli =)

It is interesting that Niccolo recognized that it is now more important to satisfy the people rather than soldiers. Prior to the 16th century, a leader’s greatest concern was keeping his soldiers happy. That drastically changed during the Reformation and Renaissance.

Listen to what The Prince has to say about citizens who’ve experienced liberty: “But when cities or provinces have been accustomed to live under a prince, and the family of that prince is extinguished, being on the one hand used to obey, and on the other not have their old prince, they cannot unite in choosing one from among themselves, and they do not know how to live in freedom, so that they are slower to take arms, and a prince can win them over with greater facility and establish himself securely. But in republics there is greater life, greater hatred, and more desire for vengeance; they do not and cannot cast aside the memory of their ancient liberty, so that the surest way is either to lay them waste or reside in them” (Pg. 47).

I must admit that I am impressed with the amount of wisdom and understanding Machiavelli had, even though I disagree with him in not just a few things =).

One final quote, and that’s all the time I will spend on Machiavelli: “Therefore a wise prince will seek means by which his subjects will always and in every possible condition of things have need of his government, and then they will always be faithful to him” (Pg. 66). In this statement is the most basic truth of human government: governments exist because people believe they need them and can benefit under their rule.

The Count