1. NiccolÒ machiavelli: The Prince
Franco Manai
School of Cultures, Languages and linguistics: Italian
2015

2. So great a name has no adequate praise

3. Il principe (1532)
April 1513: Machiavelli falls into disgrace with the Medici
July—December 1513: writes De principatibus, basically the main part of The Prince
1515—1516: writes the dedication to Piero de’ Medici and the final chapter (with a passionate tone which is different from the tone of the rest of the work)

4. Titus Livius (59 B.C. to c.A.D. 17)

5. Discourses on Livy 1531
The Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio—a commentary in three books on the first ten books of the history of Rome by the Roman Titus Livius
Book 1: constitution and legislation of the state
Book 2: foreign policies and territorial enlargement
Book 3: includes questions of how to keep a state stable, military questions, transformations of the state over time until their decadence

6. Discorsi, cont’d
The Discorsi lay the foundations of Machiavelli’s thought
The Discorsi recognize the superiority of a republic over a principality
Machiavelli was discussing possible alternatives to ruling a corrupted city, at which point he began to write The Prince
The Prince focused on a current political situation

7. The genre and the work
 Machiavelli introduced new characteristics into the genre of treatise writing
Medieval tradition of the speculum principis (the mirror of the prince) or manual of virtue for governors
In the 15th century the trend of the republican city-states to become Seignoral states contributed to the success of the Specula
Many works focused on the ethics of the principalities and the character of the prince
Examples:
De Regis et boni principis officio (The Tasks of the King and the Good Prince) by Diomede Carafa (ca )
De vero principe (The True Prince) by Battista Platina (ca 1481)
De principe liber (The book of the Prince) by Giovanni Pontano (ca. 1503)

8. MEMORANDA
Tradition of the Memoranda sent by private citizens to their Signore
When the Medici returned to power (1512) many eminent citizens wrote Memoranda on how to run the city, including Francesco e Paolo Vettori, Goro Gheri, Lodovico Alamanni, Niccolò Guicciardini
The Prince was not “a book for the occasion”

9. The Prince is strictly linked to the Discourses on Livy and constitutes a systematic study on one of the forms of government that might be adopted for the purposes of creating a state
The state-form was considered objectively and coldly in its internal functioning
Different from the specula which catalogued the ideal virtues that should be held by the governors of ideal governments
(Chapter 15 “for many have pictured republics and principalities which in fact have never been known or seen.”)

10. Machiavelli’s way of thinking
Dilemmatic logic: he reduced a complex reality into a schematic contraposition between two extremes and alternative elements where there is no space for a “middle way”
Deductive? Does it start from a specific political phenomena in order to arrive at conclusions that have a general value?
Inductive? Does it start from a general rule and arrive at the specific phenomena? YES
Machiavelli aims to establish general rules of political behaviour, rules that are valid under any circumstances

11. Structure of The Prince
The organization of the material is not novel:
Dedication “ad Magnificum Laurentium Medicem”, Lorenzo de’ Medici, general captain of the Florentines since May 1515
Body of the treatise: 26 chapters, each with a title in Latin
Chapters 1—10: typology of principalities
How to maintain stable power in different situations

12. Basis of his discourse
Through a clear disjunctive procedure he clarifies the political categories of his discourse
Two forms of state: republics and principalities
Principalities can be inherited or acquired
The new principalities could be “all new… or they are as adjunct members to the hereditary state of the prince who acquired them”
they could be used either for freedom or for servitude
they could be acquired “either with other people’s arms or with one’s own, either with Fortune or with Virtue”

13. Main topic: New Principalities
Chapter 2 briefly discusses the hereditary principalities
Chapter 3 “But the difficulties occur in a new principality”
Chooses a field of inquiry that is adequate for the laws of political life to emerge in their original purity: the new principality, free from hereditary links and past experiences, is ideal for scientific study

14. Annexed provinces
Chapters 3—5: provinces annexed to an already formed and organized state (the adjunct members)
Key to all Machiavellian interpretation: power is not just violence
understanding the weight of the organized fronts
decision
organization of military apparata
when necessary, use of extreme remedies (medicine forti)

15. exempla Exempla justify and reinforce the arguments
Louis XII, Ludovico il Moro, Etoli and Achei, Greeks, Romans are stimuli for the formulation of universal laws of political action
Laws are valid at any time because the state is a product of nature

16. Chapters 6-9: all-new principalities
Principalities founded on the initiative of strong personalities
Focus on the analysis of the prince
his ability to act
his astuteness
his “virtue”
Chapter 6: princes who gain power through virtue and through the use of their own armies
Chapter 7: princes who gain power through fortune and with the help of others
Chapter 6: Theseus, Moses, Syrus, Romulus are virtuous and astute men, but a person’s virtue is not always enough

17. Fortune-Opportunity-Virtue
Success needs favourable circumstances:
Fortune offers an opportunity
Men’s virtue takes the opportunity
Moses’ opportunity: the enslavement of the Israelites by the Egyptians
Romulus’ opportunity: he was banished from Alba Longa and saved by the she-wolf
Syrus’ opportunity: the Persians’ discontent with the government of the Medes
Theseus’ opportunity: the dispersion of the Athenians

18. Chapter 7: Valentino and the use of Power
Throughout history armed prophets have always prevailed
Imbalance: the capacity to use merciless power (i.e., the personal value, the virtue of the prince) is the most important of the three elements
Cesare Borgia, the Duke Valentino, is the best example of one who gained power by fortune and by means of someone else’s army

19. Cesare Borgia by Meloni

20. Alessandro VI

21. Rodrigo Borja, Alessandro VI Pope (1492-1503)
The fortune by which Cesare Borgia acquired his state was his father’s papacy

22. Valentino: Virtue assisted by Fortune
Valentino made the most of this favourable circumstance by virtue of his own faultless actions
He either destroyed or cajoled his enemies
He understood that without an army at your command you cannot keep a state
He started to consolidate his domains to ensure that he would be able to maintain power even when his father was no longer able to provide protection and help

23. Valentino’s failure
Cesare failed because, when his father died, he found he had not done enough to prevent the election of Julius II Della Rovere, his enemy
Raffaello (ca )

24. Political Success=Follow the rules
Valentino made an error of virtue: he did not look far enough ahead into the future
Political rules can guarantee success but only if they are followed
If you do not observe them, you are doomed to failure—this even happened to a figure as exceptional as Cesare Borgia.

25. Chapters 8-26
Alciati Emblematum liber Emblema CXXII In Occasionem 1531

26. Chapter 8: Principalities obtained through cruelty and violence
Agatocle, tyrant of Syracuse, and Oliverotto da Fermo, a man of arms in the service of Valentino, are condemned on the basis of their specific political mistakes
Crimes and cruelties should be judged on the degree to which they are successful in achieving the desired end and the extent to which they were suitable under the circumstances
Extreme means must sometimes be used
The prince’s shrewdness, astuteness, foresight are measured by his recognition that an opportunity has arisen and his ability to take advantage of it

27. Recourse solely to violence will leave the prince isolated
Chapter 9: Princes who acquire principalities with the acquiescence of the citizens
Recourse solely to violence will leave the prince isolated
The prince must avoid violence by pursuing a politics of alliances
The new prince must find reliable social bases for his hegemony and manage the different factions

28. Chapter 9 cont’d
Union between the prince and the people against the magnates
Not as an homage to democratic ideals; rather, it recognises that such a union would guarantee stability for the prince and prosperity for the people
Theory of the state and its government
Analysis of the figure of the prince
Inquiry into the functioning of personal power

29. Chapters 12-24 : The army and the ethics of the prince
Chapter 10: Capacity of a state to fight an external enemy
Chapter 11: Papal state as a particular principality
These chapters do not add anything new to the theory of the treatise
 Chapters 12—14: the state’s internal affairs
Chapters 15—26: examination of the personal characteristics required of a new prince

30. Second part chapters 12-26
The government is in the hands of the prince and depends therefore on his virtue
The laws that rule political life are an abstract code unless they are put into practice by a man who knows how to do it
The greatest issue in internal affairs is the the prince: his value, his qualities
The treatment of this topic is strictly linked to the previous subject matter

31. Chapter 12: use of force between states
Military level: armament is not simply a technical matter
Good law and a good army must go together:
military issue is a political issue.
The army should be the main concern of the new prince
Different kinds of army
Personal army
Mercenaries
Auxiliary
Mixed
A mercenary army is no good: a paid captain, if he is inept, is of no use to the prince; if he is capable, he is a potential enemy because he will use his arms to oppose his signore

32. Chapters 13-15
Chapter 13: condemns also the auxiliary army, formed by occasional allies.
Chapter 14: the prince should have his own army made up of his own citizens, and the prince must be the commander in chief. Power should not be divided or delegated.
Chapter 15: personality of the prince as the most vital factor in politics.
Critique of the specula principis by opposing to the idealised conception of politics his scrupulous research into the real truth.
Not a catalogue of the virtues of imaginary peace-loving kings
Rules of behaviour for real-life princes who want to maintain power, not in some idealised republic, but in real-life states

33. Chapters 16-19: Specula’s ethics upside down
The new prince should be more parsimonious than generous (chapter 16)
Cruelty committed at an appropriate time is more useful to the prince than unwarlike meekness (chapter 17)
The prince should appear faithful, humane, pious, with integrity, but be none of them
He should behave with the audacity of a lion and the cunning of a fox (chapter 18)
He should be decisive and resolute and avoid being the object of hatred and loathing (chapter 19)

34. Chapters 20-24: rules to be observed and examples of lost states
Chapters 20-23: fortresses, esteem for one’s subjects, choice of ministers, how to behave with flatterers and advisors
Elements of a normative code that has to be scrupulously observed by the new prince
Chapter 24: causes by which Italian princes have lost their states
Princes did not set up their state in an organised, rule-bound manner
They ruled by improvisation

35. Chapter 25: Fortune
Fortune dominates the world; imposes great changes at whim; antagonist of human virtue
Virtue must fight Fortune
A balance is very difficult to find
If Fortune is “is the arbiter of one-half of our actions” what autonomy is left to the prince who wants to impose his project of domination on the world?
This dilemma cannot be resolved if put in these rational terms

36. Chapter 25 cont’d Machiavelli breaks with his own logic
Substitutes the opposition between virtue and fortune with an emphasis on the prince’s will
The prince then should not accept Fortune, but oppose it with all his might so as to overcome it because:
“…fortune is a woman, and if you wish to keep her under it is necessary to beat and ill-use her; and it is seen that she allows herself to be mastered by the adventurous rather than by those who go to work more coldly. She is, therefore, always, woman-like, a lover of young men, because they are less cautious, more violent, and with more audacity command her.”

37. Chapater 26: Final Exhortation
Conclusion of the treatise
The Medicis should take control of the whole of Italy to free it from the barbarians
Italy is without a leader, without order, and it needs a redeemer whose virtue can shine through the darkness of the times
Probably written a few years after the rest of the work
It is not a proposal for a careful, precise, political project but rather an appeal for moral regeneration
Glosses over all of the difficulties previously stated that need to be surmounted in order to create a stable state
High emotional tension
Call for a man of special virtue

38. Ending: Italia mia by Petrarch
Virtu contro al Furore
Prendera l'arme, e fia il combatter corto:
Che l'antico valore
Negli italici cuor non è ancor morto.
Virtue against fury shall advance the fight,
And it i' th' combat soon shall put to flight:
For the old Roman valour is not dead,
Nor in th' Italians' brests extinguished.
(Edward Dacre, 1640)