NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527)

Introduction

* In the wake of 14th century, Italy experienced greater changes in its social, cultural, economic
and political milieu. It was the time when the spirit of renaissance impelled men to re-examine
things from new ideas based on scientific reasoning rather than of scholastic dogmas.
* Such changes not only laid the strong foundation of intellectual and spiritual churning of
ideas in Italy but also gradually spread to the rest of Europe by the late fifteen century that
liberated the human spirit from the shackles of old beliefs and value system of life. Thus, it can
be seen as a departure from medieval Christian values that gave importance to asceticism,
humility and worthlessness of men on earth.
* It was during this period that Machiavelli produced some of the greatest works of human
history and laid the foundation of realism in political science.
Niccolo Machiavelli – His Life
* Niccolo Machiavelli was the son of a Florence lawyer Bernardo and Bartolomea de Nerli,
from the neighbourhood of Santa Trinita. His family was prominent in Florence.
* As a leading administrator in the new Florentine republic, Machiavelli's first appearance in
the unstable political scene was in 1498 after defeating the ruling regime. In the period from
19 June 1498 until 7 November 1512, Machiavelli was elected to serve in the chancery of the
Florentine republic. Machiavelli played an important role in both local politics and diplomatic
missions as a diplomat in foreign countries.
* In 1513, Machiavelli was mistakenly accused of plotting against the Medici. He was arrested
and tormented for several weeks. After this occurrence, although pardoned, he was obliged to
retire from public life and that is what offered him the suitable climate and the occasion to
devote himself to literary pursuits.
* Machiavelli political books became widely famous in 1564. They were considered dangerous
and put on the Church index of officially forbidden books. The misrepresentation and
misunderstanding of his works depicted them as almost diabolical works. The clergy were the
most violent attackers of his writings. The first great edition of Machiavelli's works was issued
in 1782.
His Major Works
* Machiavelli produced two classics of political thought. A small pamphlet called The Prince
was Machiavelli's first writing while he was spending his enforced retirement.
* The Discourses on the Ten Books of Titus Livy was Machiavelli's another major contribution
to political philosophy. It was an explanation of the precepts of republican rule edited as a
formula of a series of comments on the works of the well-known historian of the Roman
Republic. Unlike The Prince, The Discourses took a long period of time to be written
completely.

1
* Machiavelli's other important contributions was a military treatise under the title The Art of
War. Unlike The Prince and The Discourses, it was the only book that was published during
Machiavelli's life time. The Art of War was divided into a preface and seven books which
arranged as series of dialogues.
Factors Influencing Machiavelli
* Machiavelli since his early life has been influenced by number of factors which can be seen
in his philosophy some of the factors which influenced the thinking and philosophy of
Machiavelli.
(1) Conditions in Italy
* At the time of Machiavelli, the Italian peninsula was divided into a number of small but
independent states which were constantly at war.
* These states possessed different forms of governments; while some were republics the other
were ruled by despotic rulers.
* No doubt by the beginning of the sixteenth century some sort of consolidation of these states
had been achieved but still they were divided into five groups viz. kingdom of Naples. Territory
of Roman Catholic Church, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Venice and the Republic of
Florence.
* Apart from the internal dissension amongst these states there was a serious threat to their
existence due to presence of strong states like France and Spain on the borders. Machiavelli
ardently desired to unity these warring states and makes them sufficiently strong so that they
could deal with the foreign power effectively.
(2) Impact of Republic
* The Renaissance Movement which stood for the revival of ancient values and culture also
exercised profound influence on Machiavelli because this movement was strongest in Florence.
*This movement not only revived that was ancient and had been forgotten during the medieval
period, but also created a consciousness of life, a new sense of liberty, and new values of life.
* Man became the centre of all study and God was relegated to the background. This was a sort
of revolt against the authority of the Church.
(3) Emergence of strong Monarchies
* The emergence of strong monarchs who had concentrated the entire political power in their
own hands, which earlier rested with the feudatories and corporations, also left a deep impact
on Machiavelli.
* Though the concentration, of absolute powers in the hands of the rulers meant a death knell
of the medieval representation institutions, Machiavelli saw in it as the only remedy for the
unification of Italy.

2
(4) Writings of Aristotle
* Apart from these contemporary influences, Machiavelli was also influenced by the writings
of Aristotle. He learnt the idea of separation of ethics and politics from Aristotle.
* The other important things which he borrowed from Aristotle were the idea that the state was
the highest organization of human beings. The three-fold division of the states as Monarchy,
Aristocracy and Democracy, and the famous historical method.
(5) Renaissance
* Laski (1936) rightly observes that “the whole of the Renaissance is in Machiavelli. There is
its lust for power; its admiration for success, its carelessness of means, its rejection of medieval
bonds, its frank paganism, its conviction of national unity makes for national strength. Neither
his cynicism nor his praise of craftiness is sufficient to conceal the idealist in him”.
* To comprehend the full importance of Machiavelli’s writings and their context, it is important
to understand the series of cultural, economic, social and political changes that began in the
fourteenth century called the Renaissance.
* Its immediate impact was in Italy, which gradually spread to the rest of Europe by the late
fifteenth century. The Renaissance signified a rebirth of the human spirit in the attainment of
liberty, self- confidence and optimism.
* The Renaissance captured the Greek ideal of the essential goodness of the individual, the
beauty and glory of the earth, the joy of existence, the insignificance of the supernatural and
the importance of the present, as compared to an irrecoverable past and an uncertain future.
* At the centre of the Renaissance was the emergence of the new human, an ambitious restless
individual, motivated by his self- interest, seeking glory and asceticism, were seen as the true
ends of human existence and education. Self-fulfilment was no longer viewed as being
achievement by repressing natural facilities and emotion.
* Alongside the development of the modern individual was the beginning of the modern state.
The prince had to take charge of everything – preservation of public buildings and churches,
maintenance of the municipal police, police, drainage of the marshes, ensuring the supply of
corn, levying taxes and convincing the people of their necessity, supporting the sick and
destitute, lending support to distinguished intellectuals and scholars on whose verdict rested
his fame for the years to come. More than anybody else, it was Machiavelli who could
understand the dynamics of this modern state and the modern individual.
* Equally important were the end of the clerical monopoly and the replacement of papal
supremacy by secular, sovereign, independent states, each with its own national culture identity
and language. The nation state came into existence and its success was determined not by
religious or chivalric, but by political criteria. Explorations and voyages led to geographical
discoveries, altering the perceptions regarding the world.
* New geographical discoveries opened up new vistas of trade and religion. This led to growth
in commerce and economic development as the basis of modern capitalism. Cities and urban

3
centres emerged. Rational methods of book keeping and accounting and complex banking
operations mushroomed, eroding the taboo on monkey making, entrepreneurship and the profit
motive.
* Education, Science and humanism ended clerical monopoly, relegating religion to the private
space. The invention of printing, the establishment of libraries and universities increased and
spread literacy, and revived an interest in Latin classics.
* In Europe, it was Italy that experienced the onslaughts of these new commercial,
entrepreneurial, and economic forces. All this reflected in the political and societal organization
in Italy. Politically, Italy was divided into a number of small principalities and five large states:
Milan, Venice, Florence, the papal domain and Naples.
* Though cultural vibrant and creative, Italy remained politically divided weak, and a prey to
the imperial ambitions of the French, German and Spanish. Most of the Italian states were ruled
by an oligarchy or an individual tyrant. All of them were unable or unwilling to unite the entire
peninsula. The Florentine Republic reflected serve factional conflicts and institutional
breakdown.
* Italians could not reconcile to the fact that an age of heightened cultural creativity and
scientific discoveries coincided with loss of political liberty, leading to foreign domination. It
produced some great minds and intellects of that period, like Alexander Botticelli (1444-1510),
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Buonarroti Michelangelo (1475-1564) and Santi Raphael
(1483-1520). Its galaxy of artists made Renaissance Italy comparable to Athens of the fifth
century BC.
* However, while Athens flourished politically, with a vibrant participatory democracy, in Italy
there was a political vacuum. The old, feudal order had begun to collapse and disintegrate, but
the new age, marked by the emergence of the territorial nation state as a sovereign legal political
entity was still in its embryonic form.

4
 Machiavelli and Statecraft
* The Prince was the first of Machiavelli's major writings from his period of enforced
retirement during which he stayed in his farmhouse in Sant’ Adrea in Percussina, a few miles
south of Florence. Machiavelli wrote this treatise with the aim of convincing "the dedicatee
(Lorenzo de Medici) of the book that he knew well the art of the state, even if he had served
the republic.", and his knowledge of this art was "better than the Humanist rhetoricians and the
contemporary practitioneers."
> The Prince is undoubtedly a distinguished landmark in the history of political philosophy.
> Machiavelli never based any political discussion on Christian or biblical ground. Depending
on historical examples, The Prince was a political treatise that offered advices disregarding all
moral and ethical values. It was the first book to divorce statecraft from the ethics and that is
why it could be seen as unique.
> In The Prince, Machiavelli did not tell what typical prince or principality was, but he
illustrated by examples the successful princes in getting and maintaining power. All of his
examples were driven from his personal observations written during his occupation as a
diplomat for Florence and his deep reading of ancient history.
> Although The Prince was a short book, it was the most remembered of Machiavelli's writings.
The unscrupulous methods Machiavelli used to suggest his prince was the direct cause that
made his name synonym to a nefarious political conspiracy bringing the term "Machiavellian"
to be used widely as a disdainful term.
> "Such a ruler's first duty, Machiavelli argued, was to do anything it took to secure and
maintain power, even if that meant overriding customary moral convention." It means all the
means could be used for the aim of founding and preserving the power. The worst and the
treasonable deeds of the governor were justified. The aims of the prince should be consented
in spite of the use of immoral means for the sake of achieving these aims and that is what
represents the main theme of this political treatise.
> The Prince consisted of twenty-six chapters in addition to the dedication. It was originally
written to be presented to Giuliano de Medici, who may well esteem this treatise. After
Giuliano's death, Machiavelli changed the dedication to Lorenzo de Medici, who almost did
not read it.
> In all the 26 chapters of his book, Machiavelli talked about various elements of statecraft.
* Machiavelli mentioned that the states were of two types, republics and principalities. Then
he explained that the principalities were either hereditary or new.
* Machiavelli stated that the hereditary state could be governed easily than the new one because
of two reasons.
> The first was that the people in the hereditary emirate were familiar with their prince and his
family, the good prince needed no more than track the paces of the preceding princes.

5
> The second was that the people loved their prince and his family unless he committed fatal
mistakes that hurt them.
* Machiavelli concentrated on the ways used by the Romans to govern the acquired territories.
Machiavelli supported the princes who wished to acquire more provinces describing this wish
as an ordinary thing.
> The princes who were able to achieve this task should not be blamed. Those who were not
able to do so and constantly tried even if they badly affected their emirates should be
condemned. He advised the prince not to avoid the necessary war.
> Machiavelli inferred an important rule which, according to him, rarely failed. He believed
that anyone who helped another to be powerful came to destroy himself “because that power
has been brought about by either through cunning or by force; and both of these two qualities
are suspect to the one who has become powerful.”
* Machiavelli defined two ways to govern all types of states. The first was to be governed by
the prince with the assistance of his servants who used to help as ministers to rule the
principalities. The second was that the kingdom could be governed by the prince and barons
who occupied this status as a result of "the antiquity of their bloodline." In such cases, the
barons had to have their own dominations and subjects.
* Machiavelli explained how to rule the occupied states which were habitual to manage their
affairs according to their own laws. He limited three ways.
> The first was to destroy the old state and to found a new one.
> The second was that the victor had to live in the occupied state.
> The third was to let the state to go on according to its own laws under the condition of paying
tax yearly. The victor had to leave a group of his followers in order to keep his authority and to
explain to the people the importance of their need for the victor to protect and support them. It
was insured to keep the state.
> But the strongest way to govern the occupied state was to destroy this state completely.
* Machiavelli maintained that reforming an existing order represented the most serious and
difficult things that they could do for the reason that the people were naturally against the
change. He emphasized that such a task needed consideration of the greatest example of virtue
in history. Machiavelli wanted to say that having qualities of virtue was a key element if a
prince wished to keep his state.
* The states which were acquired merely through fortune and the assistance of the others were
the hardest to take hold of. In such emirates, the prince stood fragile, he might easily come to
the power, but he would face difficulties later.
* Machiavelli defined two ways by which an ordinary man could be a prince.
> The first was to become a prince through wickedness and committing crimes.

6
> The second was that "a private citizen becomes prince of his native city through the favour
of his fellow citizens.
> There was no doubt that the prince who committed criminal acts as a means to gain power
was perfidious, and without ethics and religion. His crimes could facilitate the task to "acquire
power, but not glory." The prince, in such cases, should exchange the cruelty that he used in
the first sense into useful achievement in order to go on in living in his country without
conspiracies.
* The civil principality was the state that its prince came to the head position through the favour
of the fellow citizens, but not through murders. Machiavelli added that a man who hoped to
reach state had to gain either the favour of the common citizens or that of the nobility.
> The prince who came to power through the nobility, on the one hand, would face big
difficulties because the noble men would always be competitor to the prince and would not
leave him to manage the principality according to his point of view.
> On the other hand, the prince who came through the common people would face simple
difficulties and would find all the citizens obeying his orders and that is what represented the
best environment to achieve justice.
> Nobles could be divided into two types. The nobles who supported the prince "should be
honoured and loved." Those who did not support the prince were either coward, the prince
"should make use of them." Or ambitious, the prince should be aware and "fear them as if they
were declared enemies," they would try to find the occasion to remove him.
> Machiavelli advised the prince, who came to power by the favour of the nobility, to gain the
friendship of his people in order to make his task of managing principality, easier. In such
situation the people would love and support the prince stronger than them if he came to the
principality through their favour.
* A prince, according to Machiavelli, would be able to protect his emirate as a result of his
efforts to mobilize enough army for the task of repulsing enemies.
> Through strong defence, the Prince would be able to control everything during distress.
> The Prince had to be clever in creating patriotic feelings among his people as a method to
make them patient and to activate them to go on in protecting the city.
* The religious emirates were acquired through bravery or fortune. These principalities were
not in need to be guarded because "they are protected by higher causes of the Almighty”. Their
average of life expectancy was ten years.
* The chapters XII, XIII, and XIV could be clubbed together under the title “The Military
Affairs.’’
> He assigned three chapters to discuss military affairs arguing that any state would be baseless
without strong laws and strong army. In these chapters, Machiavelli dealt with the types of
armies and the procedures that the state needed in order to be able to defend itself and to attack
its enemies.
7
> The Prince had to assemble a formidable army or fortify his city because it would be difficult
to be attacked.
> Machiavelli discussed the use of the mercenaries If a Prince used mercenary armies to help
him to govern his state, he would not be stable or secure. Mercenaries, according to
Machiavelli, were of great ambition to find their own greatness and less faithful to the Prince
who employed them.
> Machiavelli resisted the use of auxiliary soldiers borrowed from allies. He justified his point
of view saying that the auxiliary forces represented a danger larger than that of the mercenaries
because they were united under the command of a leader who might not hesitate to turn against
the employer.
> The preparation for war should be the main concern of the Prince. Machiavelli believed that
ignoring this art would be the direct reason that might cause the loss of the principality.
> Machiavelli advised the prince to hunt frequently for the aim of keeping fitness of his body
and studying the landscape surrounding his principality and that is what represented the best
way to learn how to protect his state.
> For mind drilling, Machiavelli advised the Prince to read histories to examine the reasons for
victories in war and the conduct of the excellent men.
* Machiavelli preferred the evil to good for the sake of maintaining power.
> Machiavelli justified the bad acts of the prince by the wickedness of the governed, the people.
> He advised the prince how not to be good. A man who wanted to be good at all times would
come to ruin among those who were bad.
> The Prince should be wise enough to know how to avoid those vices that would be the direct
cause of taking the state away from him.
* Machiavelli stood strongly against bounty unless it was used as an auxiliary factor to support
the Prince who was on his way to gain principality.
> The open-handed Prince either spent his wealth and that of his people The prince should take
care in order to avoid the crisis.
> The Prince should not to worry to be generous. Machiavelli maintained that the great
achievements were effected by those who were considered as stingy.
* The Prince had to be aware in using mercy in order not to affect his situation badly. For the
task of preserving his state, the Prince should not fear the accusation of being cruel.
> The mercy would lead to dangerous disorder that would cause different types of crimes. The
cruelty of the Prince in such cases subjected a few persons to punishment.
> Machiavelli argued that it was better for the Prince to be feared than to be loved. But the
prince had to avoid hatred.
*According to Machiavelli, the princes who had effected great achievements were those who
broke their covenants and who were able to manipulate men's mind.

8
> He concluded that there were two ways of fighting, either according to the laws or by force.
The first was suitable to man and the second to wild animals. In many cases, the first was not
enough and that is why a prince should know the nature of the wild animal and the man.
> The prince should be like a fox and a lion. He should be strong and discerning at the same
time in order to be able to frighten his enemies.
> Machiavelli added that a wise prince should not keep his pact obligatory when such pact
harms the advantage of the principality and when the reasons that caused the pact were
changed.
> Machiavelli supposed that all the men were vicious, and none respect their word. As a result,
the Prince needn’t be sincere in dealing with them.
> Machiavelli advised the prince not to obtain all good qualities, but it was very important for
him to represent having them. The prince should always take care of not committing mistake
to show that he was not filled with good qualities.
* Machiavelli stressed that in all cases the prince should work to avoid hatred.
> People hate the prince who used to usurp their properties and women.
> Sometimes, it was impossible to avoid the hatred of some members of the people, in such
case the Prince should avoid the hatred of the most powerful group.
> He should assign the negative duties to someone else and keep the pleasant tasks for himself.
> The Prince should rule his subjects in such a way that his decisions are respected and should
be impossible to change. This will maintain his fame and will not be cheated.
> The Prince should consider two types of fear. The first was internal – represented by his
people and the second was external - represented by foreign forces.
> The Prince could protect himself against the second fear by establishing a strong army and
by affiliations. In regard to the first fear, the most powerful remedy a prince had against plots
was to avoid hatred.
> Machiavelli concentrated on the parliament as an authority that could limit the aspiration of
nobles and satisfy the ordinary people by protecting their advantages.
> Sometimes, good acts breed hatred and that is why the prince, who wanted to preserve his
emirate, should not be good.
* As a method to keep their principalities secure, the princes used different plans. Some of them
divided the conquered lands. Others disarmed their people. Some planted aversion among their
people. Some built fortresses and others destroyed them.
> When the Prince acquired a new state, he should not arm the citizen, but those who supported
him and the Prince should work to weaken them gradually with time.
> A new Prince would be in need to acquire fame more than that of hereditary principality. The
reputation could be acquired by getting over difficulties imposed on him such as having the
occasion to face enemies and defeat them in the battlefield.
> According to Machiavelli, it would be always easy for the prince to gain the credit of those
men who were enemies at the beginning of the state. Such men would be in need to be
9
supported for the sake of maintaining their position. They will aspire to serve the Prince
faithfully as a method to remove the bad opinion against them and that is why the Prince could
get benefit from them.
> A Prince who had recently acquired a new province with the help of some of its citizens had
to put in his consideration the reasons that pushed them to help him. If it was not for the sake
of admiring him, but as a result of their hatred to the old prince, it would be better to keep them
as allies only because he could not get their satisfaction.
> Machiavelli supported the idea of building fortresses describing it as an old method used
since ancient times. The Prince who feared his people more than the foreigners should build
fortresses. During distress time, fortresses would not save the prince whose people hated him.
* The Prince could establish great esteem and be well respected by achieving the following:
> Showing himself as an extraordinary prince by effecting great deeds.
> Showing himself as an extraordinary prince in managing the internal affairs.
> The Prince should be a true friend or a true enemy. He should declare himself as an ally of
one prince against the other.
> The Prince should appear as a man who loved virtues by venerating virtuous men and those
of talents. He had to encourage his people to improve and develop their profession.
* Any observer could be able to evaluate the prince's insight by looking at his ministers and the
men around him and that is why it was not an easy task for the prince to define his ministers.
> When his retinue was skilful and faithful, the observer could always consider the Prince as a
wise man for his ability to recognize them and to keep them loyal and vice versa.
> Machiavelli limited three levels of intelligence; "one understands on its own; the second
discerns what others understand; and the third neither understands by itself nor through others."
The first level was excellent, the second was very good, and the third was incompetent.
> On the one hand, the prince had to observe his minister always. If he sought his own
advantage more than that of the prince, he was a bad minister and untrusted.
> On the other hand, the prince should appreciate the effort of his minister, honour him, and
make him rich.
* It is a fact that the courts of princes were filled with flatterers. The best way the Prince had
to follow in order to protect himself was by electing wise men to be his retinue and giving only
them the allowances to tell him the truth in the cases he asked about.
> The Prince should ask them about everything and listen to whatever they speak, and then he
should study the matter according to his point of view.
> It is very important for the prince to look for advice, but according to the rule that when the
Prince wanted, and not when the others wanted. He should not listen to anyone who tried to
give him advice without his asking.
* Many Italian princes, such as the King of Naples, the Duke of Milan, lost their states as a
result of their failure in managing the military affairs of the states. Another reason was that
some of princes could not avoid hatred of their people which represented a grave problem, or
10
they had no ability to protect themselves from nobles. It was better for those who lost their
states not to blame fortune, but rather themselves.
* Machiavelli, to a specific extent, agreed with the idea that the affairs of this world were
governed by God and fortune. He compared fortune to a destructive river which one could
avoid its danger by establishing dams and bridges. Machiavelli believed that fortune was
changeable while men behaved obstinately.
Advice to the Prince About Statecraft
*Machiavelli’s “The Prince” is in the form of advice given to a ruler on the state craft. Some
significant aspects of the advice to the ruler are as follows:
1. He assumed that state is highest form of human association. A ruler must remember that
whatever brings success and power is virtuous even cunningness, shrewdness is justified.
2. Machiavelli states that the state is superior to all associations in the human society. It is
sovereign and is autonomous, moral and religious considerations cannot bind the prince. He is
above and outside the morality.
3. Machiavelli advised the prince he should imitate the qualities of fox and lion. The imitation
of the fox (cunningness, foresight) will enable him to visualize his goal and means to achieve
it. The imitation of the lion will give him necessary strength and force to achieve that goal.
4. He said morality is not necessary for the ruler. He is creator of law and morality hence Prince
is above the both. A ruler has primary duty of preserving the state. For this purpose, he may
use instruments of lie, conspiracy, killings and massacre etc. Thus, Machiavelli prescribes
double standard of morality.
5. A superior power is essential for bringing the society into order. The government with
absolute power control the excessive desires and control the behaviour of the people.
6. He recommended constant military preparedness for the preservation of the state. Prince
should organize a strong army to meet any internal and external threat to his power. Strong and
regular army was must for a state for its own defence.
7. According to Machiavelli rational analysis of politics must begin with an account of human
nature. Human nature is selfish, power hungry, quarrelsome and guided by materialistic
considerations. Only fear of punishment is a powerful bond and it never fails.
8. Prince should try to win popularity, goodwill and affection of his people. He should keep his
subjects materially content by not taxing them. The prince should not interfere in age old
customs and traditions of his people because by nature people are conservative.
9. Powerful government and internal unity were essential for any state. Prince must choose
wise men in his council and should give them full liberty to speak the truth to him.
10. Prince must be free from emotions. He should exploit emotions of his people for the purpose
of the state.

11
11. In “The Prince” Machiavelli advocated absolutism and an effective government. This
advocacy of absolutism was due to the fact that he had witnessed anarchy, lawlessness,
corruption and misrule that prevailed in Italy of his times.

12
 POWER
* Machiavelli distinguishes between two basic types of principalities, i.e., the hereditary and
newly acquired.
> He gets over with the hereditary principality by observing that it is very easy to govern,
because respect for the prince and his family is rooted in the people.
> He focuses more attention to the new/newly acquired principality. It is because its ruler has
a more difficult task since he faces the hope of the people that they will better themselves
(which is difficult to achieve); moreover, due to the reorganization of power, he always hurts
someone—so it is very hard to please everybody and keep the power.
* Machiavelli deals with possibilities of obtaining the throne and distinguishes four basic ways:
(a) Good luck—it may mean that the new ruler came to power very easily, but it will be harder
for him to retain power. For one thing, he is not accustomed to deal with difficult situations,
and for another, he has minimal confidence of the people;
(b) Merit—according to Machiavelli, the best way to gain the throne is to obtain it by merit.
The path to power is indeed laborious, but a lot of problems are already solved on the way to
the throne, so the new ruler does not have such difficulty maintaining authority and order;
(c) Crime—he considers obtaining power through a crime wrong for the very reason that the
subjects would probably not acknowledge the sovereign and would do everything to get rid of
him;
(d) The will of the co-citizens is the last way to come to power. In this context, Machiavelli
primarily warns against capriciousness of public opinion—therefore, the new ruler must
beware of any unpopular steps that could change this opinion.
* Machiavelli based his recommendations on the assumption that the sovereign will rule over
the people. He says that if he wants to govern well, to keep the power, to be respected, to be
feared and loved at the same time, he must take into account the real human nature, what the
people he will govern are like.
* Machiavelli sees human nature as treacherous and human beings as disloyal and dishonest.
Human nature is actually hunger, desire, and passion after satisfying personal egoism, profit,
wealth, and power.
* In order to keep the power, the sovereign must continue to think that human nature is
primarily rottenness, people are naturally evil. Machiavelli said that if this principle was
ignored by the ruler, he is pre-destined to failure and destruction.
* In the Chapter 16 of The Prince, Machiavelli is concerned with the question whether it is
better to be a feared, or a popular ruler. Both properties cannot reconcile. In this issue, the
sovereign must proceed from the nature of the society. People are ungrateful, hypocritical,
cowardly and greedy.

13
* Lawmakers need to take into account that money is able to corrupt even very good people,
so it is necessary to restrain the citizen’s whims from the very beginning. Therefore, the
sovereign has to choose respect instead of popularity, because he cannot rely on the society.
However, being a respected ruler does not mean to raise fear that leads to hate, which results
in upheavals, riots and turbulent times both for the society and the sovereign.
* It is therefore necessary for him to be constantly alert and ready to use force to push through
his laws as soon as people lose faith in him.
* Machiavelli says that the government can only be successful, if the ruler does not rely on his
subjects’ promises and trusts solely himself. People often pretend and conceal something; the
ruler would be lost if he relied on their promises.
* In order to be able to deal with the human nature of his subjects, he may not have all the
qualities that are considered virtuous, but he must pretend that he has these characteristics, that
it is his nature.
* According to Machiavelli, the main goal of the ruler is to maintain a functioning state. In
order to achieve this, he often has to act contrary to his nature and resort to behaviour that is
against all the God’s and human commandments.
> A successful ruler must be strong and also act in contradiction with the concept of what is
considered proper. If he wants to act virtuously in every case, among so many people who are
bad and evil, he is necessarily doomed to failure.
> In extreme cases, if a political situation requires so, the ruler has to use violence, subterfuge,
deceit, and murder if necessary to maintain the state.
> While the qualities that the people perceive as good can cause the sovereign, together with
his government and citizens to fail, the qualities and actions that are considered bad, can, on
the contrary, help him to achieve security and prosperity.
*Therefore, evil must be carried out quickly and efficiently, it must be in minority and it should
be repeated the least frequently as possible. Then it will be accepted with divine and human
support. The sovereign consistently has to show kindness so that the people were constantly
aware that he acts for the public good.
* Machiavelli sees a willingness to exercise power as a central element of good princely
government. He gives precedence to energy, assertiveness, boldness, tenacity, courage, and
determination over these virtues as qualities of a proper man, ruler, and warrior.

14
 VICE AND VIRTUE
* Machiavelli’s legacy has been incorrectly interpreted and associated with the religious wars
of the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe. Following this key of interpretation, Machiavelli
appears to be the victim of a time when the fire of religious intolerance consumed all the works
of thought and reclaimed certainties based on faith.
* The interpreters considered Machiavelli to be in complete contradiction with the Greeks’
classical way of thinking. Machiavelli claimed that actions are considered to be right or wrong
according to their consequences and not according to the personal character or intentions of the
person involved in that specific action.
The Second Reason Ethics
* Machiavelli had developed a specific type of ethics, the second reason ethics and more than
that, he transformed this second reason ethics in political ethics.
* According to Machiavelli, men are not good or bad, but longing for security and personal
achievement that can be gained only by the union of them all.
* In Discourses, Machiavelli tried reawaken his contemporaries’ passion for the ancient virtues
and to redefine politics as the art of ruling a good state. This was Machiavelli’s intention when
he designed prince’s portrait. His greatest desire was to design a state where the civic spirit
would be at its utmost. The possibility of creating a good state depended only on the citizens’
and the prince’s capacity to use all the necessary means to achieve that goal.
* Machiavelli explains that a good society may be enforced by the virtù of the leader but it
necessitates the sharing of civic virtues by the people. Institutions are necessary as educators
of civic virtues and to sustain the pursuit of the ideal of the good society when those virtues are
no longer alive within the spirit of the leader and within the people. The aim of Machiavelli’s
politics is not theoretical knowledge, but action, a practical knowledge, a probabilistic
knowledge, an accurate deliberation regarding what is good and useful.
Virtù and Concept of Good State
* If a prince wants to maintain his position, he has to learn how not to be good. But a prince’s
purpose to be bad is that to maintain his state or to reform a corrupt state. The goal of achieving
the common good comes from the highest authority, God.
* Machiavelli does not plead for tyranny because he has the following motivation: one single
ruler is more susceptible to be corrupted by power and wealth. The corruption of the state is
the result of the rulers’ and peoples’ corruption. In Machiavelli’s words, corruption does not
have the modern meaning, but is the disappearance of civic virtues.
* Machiavelli thinks there is a distinct connection between great majority of virtuous citizens
and the proper functioning of a state. If people are devoted to the common good, then the state
will be a strong one. If people are corrupted and many of them lose their sense of civic values,
then the state will be facing disorder and disturbances.

15
* The future of the republic depends on the vitality of the political life and the sharing of civic
virtues among citizens. For Machiavelli, there are three important elements in the development
of a society: virtù of the leader, civic virtues shared by the citizens and the capacity to face
corruption.
* Machiavelli’s advice continues to be of actuality. He always aims for the essence, wishing
leaders to play for the highest stake: promoting and protecting the common good. He believes
that if the advice he gives is systematically followed, the possibility of crises is reduced and
drastic measures won’t be necessary.
* Machiavelli’s rules are based on an accurate knowledge of the human nature. Machiavelli’s
world is populated by people who are more inclined to do bad than good things. The goal of
every man who is in charge with the state’s rule is maintaining the power, the security of the
state by gaining people’s approval. This is the moral rule to which all other conduct reasons
submit.
* Machiavelli says that the art of governing demands prudence in decisions, actions and
alliances. A clever prince does not look only for present disorders but also for future ones and,
using all his skills, he tries to successfully prevent them.
* Savio or sagio seems to be the equivalent for the Greek phronesis (practical reason) the
condition without which the virtue of prudence cannot be acquired\attained. And the statesman
who has savio/phronesis will be able to develop and to cultivate the ethical, practical virtue of
prudence.
* The concept of virtù seems to be inspired by the Greek concept of phronesis. A ruler is
suitable for his job when he is capable of varying his conduct from good to evil and back again
as fortune and circumstances dictate.
* The Machiavellian concept of prudence can be described as the power of reason to predict
the effect, always choosing the lesser of two evils as the right solution. Machiavelli considers
virtue as a means of achieving other goals. The common good is the reason which will also
motivate the use of cruelty by the prince.
* The Machiavellian prince can tell lies, and is even recommended to do so, when state reasons
claim it. A prince should not be corrupt but he has to know every means he has at his disposal
in order to achieve the state’s common welfare. The prince should not be without virtues, on a
contrary, they are necessary; but when the welfare of the state imposes another type of conduct,
it is imperious for him to use all the necessary means in order to accomplish the higher task at
hand.
* The virtuous prince will embed the same character upon his subjects, even if the latter were
not gifted with these qualities. Leaders should personify the virtues they expect from others
(or, at least, be perceived as virtuous).
* If the prince wants the state to be strong, its citizens should be involved in public life and,
moreover, the prince must take into account the citizens’ opinions.

16
* Machiavelli considers that a good state is the one in which citizens are actively involved from
a political point or view and understand that the only way of having an authentic state is that
to put the common good above all personal interests. In other words, the functioning of a good
and strong state involves the practice of civic virtues (ethical, practical virtues) both by officials
and simple citizens.
> The corrupt state is the state in which citizens put their own interest in front of the common
one and such a state cannot last. The real political man cannot rule in a despotic or unjust
manner. If they want to live in a fair and strong state, the ruler and the citizens have to practice
the same virtues.
* According to Machiavelli’s opinion, if the prince wants to achieve the virtues of honour and
glory he has to be as virtuous as possible. Machiavelli’s ethics is directly linked to the concept
of reason. The prince has to find the most suitable means to accomplish his goals and this thing
does not exclude moral rectitude.
* Machiavelli’s innovation is having virtù freed in action from Christian ethics. If the Christian
ethics speaks about the virtues of charity and humility, Machiavelli imposes the civic virtues
of honour and glory. He is the one who created this concept of civic virtue. The civic virtues
involve practical reason, the condition without which they cannot be achieved, but they do not
represent a way of living as a final end, being a means to accomplish the second reason ethics,
the only type of ethics which can produce common good.

17
 RELIGION AND MORALITY
* Machiavelli uses religious anecdotes, language, and metaphor to articulate the specifics of
his political philosophy in The Prince. The relationship that Machiavelli creates between
religion and politics in the work is therefore complex and fascinating, and the places at which
they converge offer little surface-level consistency. This inconsistency may appear to suggest
that Machiavelli is advocating for a complete separation between religion and politics.
* Rather, Machiavelli has his own unique conception of religion that merges with his political
philosophy. Machiavelli conceives of a practical religion that can be used to maintain authority
through spectacle and ritual, instil good virtues in the citizens of a state, and allow for the
existence of the will of God and the freedom of men to work in tandem to create history
together.
* Religion in The Prince has a contradictory nature. Machiavelli discusses it both implicitly
and explicitly.
> There is an appeal to biblical language without ever having to explicitly mention its
inspiration in the prose. This is exemplified in the final chapter of The Prince, where
Machiavelli calls for the “redemption” of Italy.
> In the Prince, Machiavelli is asking for a new hero, in the wake of the failure of a heroic
predecessor, to answer the God-given call and redeem Italy from the barbarians that have
overtaken her.
> Congruently to this, Machiavelli adopts an almost scornful attitude towards religious
institutions throughout The Prince. In chapter three, he says that France has allowed the Church
to grow too vast in scope and influence, which implies a belief in a separation between religious
and political spheres.
> If not complete separation, Machiavelli believes that the marriage between religion and
politics must be done in a particular way that is distinct from that of France.
* The reason Machiavelli has such seemingly contradictory and incompatible opinions
regarding religion in the political sphere is that he is discussing religion in two distinct forms.
> One form of religion is taken on in Machiavelli's contemporary society: fifteenth century
Italy and its surrounding nations. This is the religion that he often critiques, and this is the
religion he references in chapter three of The Prince.
> The second, and more interesting, form of religion that Machiavelli conceives of is that which
he advocates the adoption of in his contemporary political sphere. This form will be addressed
as political or practical religion, for its emphasis on its usefulness and practicality in the
political sphere.
* While Machiavelli recognizes the distinction between the two, he does not obviously
advocate for the implementation of ritual in the exact same manner as cruelty. However, there
is precedent for his belief in the manipulation of ritual as means to control the population
through spectacle, which holds similarity to his use of cruelty.

18
* Prophecy is a tool, like cruelty, that can be used to varying degrees of success.
* Machiavelli believes that extravagance and spectacle can stupify and control citizens in more
ways than one. Machiavelli believes it paramount that a Prince be able to bend Fortuna to their
will. Ritual is but another tool the Prince may use to ensure a strong and continuous hold over
Fortuna.
> Ritual can be used and its extravagance can contribute to its effectiveness, just as in
demonstrations of cruelty. The ruler’s ability to manipulate religion is a key aspect to
Machiavelli's political religion.
* To Machiavelli, practical religion must be, as cruelty is, used sparingly and only for the
security and maintenance of a ruler's position of political power or only insofar as it produces
a favourable outcome for the masses at large.
* Thus far, his conception of religion has remained almost exclusively applicable to human
affairs, very notably leaving God out of direct discussion, even when advocating for the
manipulation of prophecy.
* Machiavelli's God to be one that “acts in history.” Machiavelli's God acts directly in military
and political victories and defeats. This contextualises Machiavelli's aversion to the presence
of the Christian faith in politics as an aversion to the Christian faith as it is used by the rulers
of Florence, and Italy as a whole, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
* In this conception of religion, to use prophecy or ritual as a tool would be seen as sinful and
unjust, as the power of God should not be manipulated through worldly means. Additionally,
to use ritual as a means to bend Fortuna to one's own will, as Machiavelli advocates for, would
be to dismiss the divine providence of God, whose will is absolute.
> This is directly opposed to practical religion, which employs a method through which the
masses could be manipulated to the will of the ruler. Machiavelli’s God is but another tool to
be used to varying degrees of success by a ruler, and His defining trait is this very applicability.
* In chapter twenty-five of the Prince, Machiavelli discusses and accounts for the co-existence
of Fortuna and human free will.
> The question here is whether Machiavelli believes that Fortuna is something controlled by
God. Due to his elaborations on this thought later on in The Prince, it can be understood that
Machiavelli, at least in part, conceived of Fortuna to be controlled by God.
> Machiavelli establishes that Fortuna (controlled at least in some part by God) accounts for
half of the actions of men. The other half, he conceives of as opportunities that free men can
seize and use to the best of their ability: it is up to the user of Fortuna to exercise their free will
in the correct way in order to take the most advantage of an opportunity.
* In The Prince, Machiavelli makes clear that the opinion of the people is, in part, based upon
the perceived religiosity of the ruler. In order to maintain authority in the minds of the people,
the prince must appear to be religious to them. Thus, the virtue instilled within the people is an
obedience to the ruler, who is assumed virtuous due to their perceived religiosity.

19
* The religion of antiquity led people to hold liberty dear to their hearts, establishing a
connection between virtue and goodness of character with religiosity.
> He believes that contemporary religion has led people away from good virtue, specifically
the loss of the “liberty-loving past.” There is a solution to this: if the ruler of Italy were to
implement political religion, the citizens would be instilled with good values, exemplified by
the love of liberty that Machiavelli laments the loss of so intensely.
> A love for liberty and an appreciation for the perceived religiosity of the ruler creates a unified
populace, and a people who hold values that align with one another creates a more cohesive
state, and a cohesive state is one that is easier to manipulate.
> This offers security in the rulership and dominion of the ruler, and by extension security in
the state itself.

20
 POLITICAL ETHICS
* Dominant and at the heart of Machiavelli’s work is the use of the term virtue to connote any
quality that enables one to acquire and keep power. Strength, valour, talent shrewdness are all
classified as virtue.
* Machiavelli viewed politics not as a natural phenomenon but as a man-made craft, with
planning and organization first, and then made tentative theories and recommendations for
statecraft and diplomacy.
* Machiavelli thought that politics – when viewed from within the confines of Christianity is
by nature always immoral. Hence, he does not separate politics and morality, but politics and
Christian morality.
* Political ethics = end justifies the means.
* “The Prince” is a self-conscious alternative to the moral teachings of Christian and classical
thought. Machiavelli was the first theorist to decisively divorce politics from ethics, and hence
to give a certain sovereignty to the study of politics.
* The main dichotomy that passes through “The Prince”, is the opposition between what
Machiavelli calls virtù and fortuna in Italian, that is, virtue and fortune in English.
> The prince’s supreme quality should be ingenuity, or efficacy. He should be efficacious.
Another good word for it is foresight. The most virtuous prince is the one who can predict or
anticipate fortuitous occurrences within his state.
> The great antagonist of virtù is fortuna, which is translated as temporal instability - the
instability and eventuality of temporal events. In fact, love, as opposed to fear, falls under the
caption of fortune according to Machiavelli because love is not stable. Therefore, according to
him, it is obviously better for a prince to be feared rather than loved, since fear is a constant
emotion, which will remain true to itself no matter how much circumstances may shift.
* For Machiavelli, civil and military capabilities are virtually the same and good laws cannot
be without the military.
* He considers it necessary for a prince desiring to hold his own to discern how to do evil. Evil
should be part and parcel of “the prince”. His conception of human nature was that man was
naturally greedy, self-seeking and wicked. considerations. For him “the prince” or ruler is
above the moral standard, hence, he is at liberty to employ unethical means to achieve his
political goals.
* Machiavelli holds that “the prince” should not bother himself about morality and religion but
because man is pretentiously moral and religious, “the prince” could exploit this quality in man
to his own advantage. Morality and religion makes one susceptible to deceit.
* Machiavelli claims that the practise of force is necessary since it infuses fear and makes
apparent to the populace the kind of authority invested in “the prince” thereby bringing them
into submission. But “the prince” should act in such a manner that “when the act accuses him
the result will excuse him”. It is the end that justifies the means. Machiavelli’s prince is
21
supposed to be the perfect embodiment of shrewdness and self-control. “The prince” is advised
to make his virtues and vices appear good.
* Machiavelli’s ‘political ethics’ is considered immoral due to the following reasons.
> Firstly, Machiavelli’s notion of virtue is one that underscores the accumulations of unethical
cruel attitude.
> He was not interested in the polarity ‘good’ or ‘evil’, but in winning and losing, strength and
weakness, success and failure.
> Moreover, Machiavelli looks down on the religious and society virtues which are cherished
and valued by people.
> Moreover, Machiavelli advocates for a kind of tyranny leadership which degrades and looks
down on human dignity. He promotes and argues for the kind of leadership whereby a single
person rules and usurps power and exercises absolute control over his fellow men.
> He says that a ruler must be able to exploit both the man and the beast in himself to the full.
> Machiavelli’s essay “The Prince” falls short of the moral canon because he puts forward an
evil person for emulation.
> Machiavelli’s political theories miss the moral standard because his ideas condone and
encourage evil to persist in society.
> Also, Machiavelli’s political ideology is unethical since his politics portrays a leader who
must be over ambitious. What is at stake is survival. So whatever one does to win power or
succeed is not considered but rather the selfish ambition of the leader is what matters. This
leads to the undermining of justice and friendship in such a community.
> He considers the “Prince” to be above the rule of law.
> Finally, Machiavellian political ideas make use of man as an instrument to an end. This means
that his ideas see man as a means to an end.

22
 MACHIAVELLI AND REPUBLICANISM
* According to Machiavelli, the governments were divided into two types - republics and
principalities.
* In the Discourses, Machiavelli has explained the structure and benefits of a republic. He
prefers a Republican form of government due to the following reasons:
1. The people, as a whole, were wiser than the prince.
2. They were, in general, no more vacillating than a prince.
3. The adjustment of the people in the choice of the rulers was in general sound and often
unimpeachable. This could not be the case in monarchies.
4. The princedom could better establish and found a state; the republic alone could maintain it.
5. The republics kept faith better than princes.
6. The republics were better suited to changing conditions and circumstances of the monarchies
* In the republic, every man could be a prince and could improve and support his virtue for
protecting the personal freedom, properties, and honour. "In a monarchy, Machiavelli said, only
one man is free; in a republic, all are free." Men in the republic helped each other knowing that
the collective effort was always better than that of anyone alone. Republics would be more
settled than the monarchies, more able to protect themselves, and more prosperous in
expanding their regions during wars.
* Machiavelli's essential allegation, according to Quentin Skinner, was that if the people
wanted to keep their government away from being under the control of tyrannical individuals
or groups, they had to build a system that the government remained in the grip of all people.
* There are three Romes in Machiavelli’s work: contemporary Christian Rome that is under
the control of the Papacy; the historical pagan Rome of antiquity; and the Rome of
Machiavelli’s imagination. It is this third Rome that is important for Machiavelli, for it provides
him with an ideal and abstraction construction by which to liberate men from the tyranny of
the Christian religion.
* Greatness (grandezza) is based upon the establishment of republican liberty, and greatness in
turn, is crucial to the maintenance of republican liberty and republican constitutions.
> Both are mutually reinforcing and necessary. But in greatness lies the seeds of the destruction
of republican liberty itself.
> Using the history of Rome as the basis of his analysis, Machiavelli argues that the greatness
of Rome was established through the establishment of republican institutions to safeguard the
liberty of ‘the people’.
> With greatness came territorial expansion, and in order to maintain this expansionary
dynamic, the Romans armed the plebs and allowed foreigners to be citizens. The unintended
result of this was an increase in social unrest and ‘tumults’ in the republic.
> Prolonged social discord laid the foundations for the destruction of republican liberty.

23
> He asserted that although greatness leads to the overthrow of republican liberty, the
alternative, mere preservation of republican liberty, also spells certain doom at the hands of
foreign conquerors. Thus, a republic must choose between greatness or mere preservation.
* At the domestic level, Machiavelli was prepared to accept the inevitability of class conflicts,
and he was prepared to recognize their role in maintaining the internal vitality of the republic
insofar as they were channelled through republican institutions and did not degenerate into
private violence and factional struggles.
* Machiavelli argues that publicly oriented class conflict is crucial to the maintenance of the
very republican institutions that protect republican liberty. At the same time, the natural
ambitions of men, and the need to placate the interests of the competing classes within civil
society requires the republic to channel that conflict and direct it outward in a vigorous and
virtuous foreign policy of territorial expansion.
* At the level of international relations, Machiavelli discusses three forms of territorial
expansion.
> The first is what he calls a league of several republics together, in which none is greater in
rank or authority that the others.
> The second mode of expansion is through the subjugation of other peoples.
> The third mode of expansion is through the creation of an unequal league of states or
republics. This form of expansionist strategy represents the best mode of territorial expansion.
* The creation of an unequal league of states is the most effective and prudent form of
maintaining the liberty of the republic for a number of reasons.
> First, it allows the inherent class conflicts within the republic to be channelled outward
through foreign ventures and conquests.
> Secondly, it prevents a republic from overtaxing by engaging in costly projects of overt
military domination of other societies.
>And lastly, because it is an unequal league of state – the head of which would be Florence - it
allows the republic to maintain a hegemonic position in the hierarchy of states.
* Machiavelli’s Republicanism was a ‘new way’ of political thinking which actually meant
breaking away from Christian political thought, as well as from the ancient Greek ideal of the
unity of politics and ethics in the polis.
> Furthermore, his ‘new way’ also suggested utilizing ancient Roman republican thought and
experience for the sake of establishing a republic in Florence and Italy.
* The practical orientation and intention of his thinking anticipated the political thought of the
New Age and modernity, in which citizens/individuals – instead of God – would be considered
the real creators of their political and social lives. He believed that politics create society and
(political) order, that individuals are neither good nor bad, rather that they can be modelled by
good laws and state institutions, that different humours as well as their conflicts might

24
contribute to the enactment of good laws, and that successful historical experiences should be
imitated.
* Republicanism in the traditional sense (the heredity of Aristotle, Cicero, Italian cities of the
Renaissance) denotes a theoretical and practical orientation towards a mixed government, as
well as devotion to a well-ordered political body of the city-state, to the public good, civic
virtue and self-government as a sign of liberty.
* Republicanism in the modern sense means the intrusion of certain republican institutions and
features into the liberal-democratic order. Modern republicanism itself has been part of
constitutional democracy and the modern liberal-political order.
* Machiavelli followed the mood and content of the republican thought that had been born in
Italian cities from the closing of the 12th until the 15th century. He describes how, at the
beginning of this period, a distinctive system of republican government had come to be well
established in most major cities of the region (the Regnum Italicum).
> At that time, chief magistrates called podesta were elected for a period of 6 or 12 months,
and executive councils – including the podesta itself – enjoyed a status no higher than that of
public servants of the commune, which elected them.
> Florence had a unique role at the start of the 15th century in giving rise to the development
of ideas more appropriate for urban life: the ideology of self-governing republicanism.
* In The Discourses, Machiavelli actually presented his defence of republican values in
traditional terms. Machiavelli’s inspiration stemmed from pre-humanist treaties on city
government, model speeches designed for praising the glory and honour of incoming podesta,
and praising the greatness, peace and equality of citizens before the law (legal equality), all of
which linked liberty with elective forms of government in the practice of communes.
* In his book The Discourses, Machiavelli fully endorsed the idea that the highest ends for
which any city can strive are civic glory and greatness (a free state internally and externally).
> He praised the practice of cities being founded by their own citizens, and regarded cities
established by princes as not having free beginnings and, hence, as not being able to attain
greatness.
> He also recommended traditional beliefs in the importance of the common good (the
behaviour of each citizen in accordance with virtue and public-spiritedness), as well as civic
greatness (as opposed to corrupt behaviour in which factions or individuals give priority to
their own personal ambitions and factional allegiances).
> Only a republic could ensure the promotion of common good.
* Machiavelli connects liberty with greatness, and states that it is only possible to live ‘in a free
state’ when it is under a self-governing republic, and that only the republic can achieve
greatness. His constitutional proposals are linked with the experience of the Roman republic,
as he notes that the Romans’ free manner of living began when they first elected two consuls
in place of a king. A self-governing republic can be preserved only if its citizens cultivate civic

25
virtue and public-spiritedness, which are the capacities that enable one willingly to serve the
common good (expressed as courage and prudence).
* Individual liberty in Machiavelli’s republican thought had nothing to do with individual
rights, but rather with the duties of the individual to uphold the institutions of a free state. In
regard to the mechanisms needed to coerce self-interested individuals, he recommends laws.
* He also discusses cultivating civic virtue, for which religion and a citizens’ army can also be
an instrument.
* Machiavelli believed that different necessary factions existed in each political body, e.g. that
each body politic consists of different humours (people and the nobles). He believed that the
quality of political order can be measured only by the quality of the institutional regulation of
the interrelations of the humours themselves and that the ‘regimes are the ‘‘effects’’ of the
conflicts between political humours’.
* Machiavelli also believed the constitutional/legal balancing of different humours/
classes/social groups (i.e. satisfying the interests of all social strata/estates/factions; for
instance, the poor and the rich) to be the main purpose of a well-ordered body politic In this
respect, he regarded republican Rome as being the best governmental form and was of the
opinion that its sharing authority among the royal estate, aristocracy and the populace ‘made
[it] a perfect commonwealth.
* According to Machiavelli, creating good laws was possible only in a free republic, due to the
fact that the laws in this system are created by all mutually conflicting social groups and can
be accepted by every group; tumults have been solved in the republic on the common benefit
of all social strata. Only a free republic can manage to overcome the particular interests of each
and all estates and represent a common interest.
* To Machiavelli republican regimes were preferable, as they succeeded in establishing a
balance among the existent humours and their internal conflicts; accordingly, they possessed
‘positive effects’ and represented a healthy and acceptable body politic.
* According to him, social groups in a republic are better capable of resolving their differences
through the mediums of its constitution and laws. They are capable of self-government and do
not need the mediation of a prince. In a republic, there is a share in the division of power
between groups, and while group conflict does remain, it does not degenerate into a struggle in
which one group seeks the total elimination of the other.

26