The Prince: A Timeless 16th-Century Political Treatise with Enduring Relevance.
The Enduring Lessons of Power and Pragmatism
The Prince: Why does one of the most hated and loved books in history still cause debates?
Anyone interested in Renaissance literature must have seen these titles. The author of the book is considered to be satan himself.
Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat, author, and philosopher who lived during the Renaissance Age. Best known for his work, The Prince, he worked as a diplomat, travelling with other diplomats around the world.
He was not an outstandingly successful diplomat, as he was never in a position to negotiate with decisive authority. He had his own say about foreign policy and the statesmanship of a prince and wrote all of his observations and ideas in a book.
He gifted the book to The Magnificient Lorenzo de Medici, who ruled his state at that time. You might wonder why a king would take advice from a normal citizen. Machiavelli had an answer for that and a rhetorically well-constructed one at that:
Just as men who are sketching the landscape put themselves down in the plain to study the nature of the mountains and the highlands, and to study the low-lying land they put themselves high on the mountains, so, as to comprehend fully the nature of the people, one must be a prince, and to comprehend fully the nature of princes one must be an ordinary citizen.
The book covers topics such as:
- What are the types of principalities/territories conquered and how to hold it
- The relationship between the princes and the nobles of the state.
- How do you choose an army commander?
- Examples of kings who became one by committing crimes and how they held their territory successfully.
- Mercenaries and how they’re, almost all the time, a liability.
- Virtues
- How to avoid a conspirator's attack
- The need to avoid contempt and hate.
Victor Hugo may have summed up The Prince best in Les Miserables:
“Machiavelli is not an evil genius, nor a demon, nor a miserable and cowardly writer; he is nothing but the fact. And he is not only the Italian fact; he is the European fact, the fact of the sixteenth century.”
The hatred for the prince originated from the fact that the book fundamentally concludes that you cannot be a person full of virtues (at least in the way good virtues are described in the Bible) and be a good leader.
To be a leader, you need to have vile qualities, and it is considered kinder to be cruel than weak. The book successfully convinces the reader why the author is right, and his manipulative writing (which opposed a person’s interest in strongly upholding good values) scared the people. Hence, the ban.
Powerful quotes from The Prince:
“All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.”
“In politics, whether an action is evil or not can only be decided in the light of what it is meant to achieve and whether it successfully achieves it”
Support the weaker people, without increasing their strength.
Whoever is responsible for another’s becoming powerful ruins himself.
When men receive favors from someone they expected to do them ill, they are under a greater obligation to their benefactor.
Violence must be inflicted once and for all; people will then forget what it tastes like and so be less resentful. Whereas, benefits must be conferred gradually; and in that way, they will taste better.
It is far better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.
Men worry less about doing an injury to one who makes himself loved than to one who makes himself feared. The bond of love is one which men, wretched creatures that they are, break when it is to their advantage to do so; but fear is strengthened by a dread of punishment which is always effective.
So, a prince is forced to know how to act like a beast, he must learn from the fox and the lion; because the lion is defenseless against traps and the fox is defenseless against wolves. Therefore one must be a fox in order to recognize the traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves.
Deciever will always find someone to be deceived.
To those seeing and hearing him, one should appear as a man of compassion, a man of good faith, a man of integrity, a kind and a religious man, because everyone is in a position to watch, everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.
The first opinion that is formed of a ruler’s intelligence is based on the quality of the men he has around him.
A Prince must always seek advice. But he must do so when he wants to, not when others want him to; indeed, he must discourage everyone from tendering to advise about anything unless it is asked for.
Even though the contents of the book are widely practised by all the rulers, even today, we find it repelling when it is justified in theory.
There were two sections in the book that captured my interest:
Marcus Aurelius vs Severus.
While Niccolo Machiavelli was discussing how it all comes down to the type of land a prince is ruling more than the competence of the ruler, he enunciated the difference between two kings.
Marcus Aurelius was held during his life and after, in high esteem because he succeeded in the empire by hereditary right. He possessed many qualities that earned him great respect and all his life he succeeded in holding both of these in peace and he was never hated or scorned.
Severus was a new prince, but he was a man of such prowess that, he kept the soldiers friendly. Even though he oppressed the people, he reigned successfully to the end; this was because his skill was so impressive that the soldiers and the people were continuously left astonished and stupefied and the soldiers stayed respectful, content, and vigilant.
The kings lay on either side of the spectrum but built and ran a kingdom successfully. A new prince cannot imitate the actions of Marcus Aurelius, nor follow those of Severus. He should select from Severus the qualities necessary to establish the state and from Marcus Aurelius how to maintain the glory after being stabilized.
Some princes flourish one day and come to grief the next, without appearing to have changed in character or any other way. Thus a cautious man, when circumstance demands impulsiveness, is unequal to the task and so he fails.
The cruelty of Cesare Borgia
When Duke, Cesare Borgia won control of the Romagna and found that it had previously been ruled by weak kings, he decided therefore that it needed good government to pacify and make people obedient to the sovereign authority.
He placed Remirro de Orco, a cruel, efficient man, to whom he entrusted the fullest powers. In a short time, Remirro pacified and unified the people through brutal punishments, winning great credit for himself.
Then Cesare decided that there was no need for this excessive authority, which might grow intolerable. He was determined to show the people that the cruelties that had been inflicted were not his doing but prompted by the harsh nature of Remirro.
One fine morning, Remirro’s body was found cut into two pieces with a block of wood and a bloody knife displayed in the street. The brutality of this spectacle kept the people of the Romagna for a time appeased and stupefied.
This way Cesare Borgia earned the respect and fear of his citizen. Thereby justifying the quote “In politics, whether an action is evil or not can only be decided in the light of what it is meant to achieve and whether it successfully achieves it”.
In my personal opinion, I believe this book holds relevance not only for Princes but also for the general population. Certain aspects of the book pertain to all individuals, offering valuable insights into human behaviour and the dynamics of power. It is truly fascinating and, at the same time, unsettling to realize that such tendencies have persisted over an extended period of time among people in power. But we can learn, through this book, how to be on their good pages, climb the power ladder, and get ourselves closer to where we want to be.
