Latest / The Philosophy Insights Collection / 01 - The Prince - Machiavelli
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- This is an introduction by the translator W. K. Marriott. Niccolo Machiavelli was born at Florence on May the third, fourteen sixty nine. He was the second son of Bernardo di Niccolo Macchiavelli, a lawyer of some repute, and of Bartolommea di Stefano Nelli, his wife. Both parents were members of the old Florentine nobility. His life falls naturally into three periods, each of which singularly enough constitutes a distinct and important era in the history of Florence. His youth was concurrent with the greatness of Florence as an Italian power under the guidance of Lorenzo de Medici il Magnifico. The downfall of the Medici in Florence occurred in fourteen ninety four, in which year Machiavelli entered the public service. During his official career, Florence was free under the government of a republic, which wich lasted until fifteen twelve, when the Medici returned to power and Machiavelli lost his office. The Medici again ruled Florence from fifteen twelve until fifteen twenty seven one. They were once more driven out. This was the period of Machiavelli's literary activity and increasing influence, but he died within a few weeks of the expulsion of the Medici, on the twenty second of June fifteen twenty seven, in his fifty eighth year, without having regained office. Youth age one through twenty five, fourteen sixty nine through fourteen ninety four. Although there is little recorded of the youth of Machiavelli, the Florence of those days is so well known that the early environment of this representative citizen may be easily imagined. Florence has been described as a city with two opposite currents of life, one directed by the fervent and austere Savonarola, the other by the splendor loving Lorenzo Savonarola's influence upon the young Machiavelli must have been slight, for although at one time he wielded immense power over the fortunes of Florence, he only furnished Machiavelli with a subject of a gibe in the Prince, where he is cited as an example of an unarmed prophet who came to a bad end. Whereas the magnificence of the Medician rule during the life of Lorenzo appeared to have impressed Machiavelli strongly, for he frequently refers to it in his writings, and it is to Lorenzo's grandson that he dedicates the Prince. Machiavelli, in his History of Florence, gives us a picture of the young men among whom his youth was past. He writes, they were freer than their forefathers in dress and living, and spent more in other kinds of excesses, consuming their time and money in idleness, gaming, and women. Their chief aim was to appear well dressed and to speak with wit and acuteness, whilst he who could wound others the most cleverly was thought the wisest. In a letter to his son Guido, Machiabelle shows why youth should avail itself of its opportunities for study, and leads us to infer that his own youth had been so occupied. He writes, I have received your letter, which has given me the greatest pleasure, especially because you tell me you are quite restored in health, then which I could have no better news. For if God grant life to you and to me, I hope to make a good man of you. If you are willing to do your share. Then, writing of a new patron, he concludes, this will turn out well for you, but it is necessary for you to study, since then you have no longer the excuse of illness. Take pains to study letters and music, for you see what honor is done to me for the little skill I have. Therefore, my son, if you wish to please me and to bring success and honour to yourself, do write and study, because others will help you if you help yourself. Office age twenty five through forty three. Fourteen ninety four through fifteen twelve. The second period of Machiavelli's life was spent in the service of the Free Republic of Florence, which flourished as stated above, from the expulsion of the Medici in fourteen ninety four until their return in fifteen twelve. After serving four years in one of the public offices, he was appointed Chancellor and Secretary to the Second Chancery, the ten of Liberty and Peace. Here we are on firm ground when dealing with the events of Machiavelli's life, for during this time he took a leading part in the affairs of the Republic, and we have its decrees, records, and dispatches to guide us, as well as his own writings. A mere recapitulation of a few of his transactions with the statesmen and soldiers of his time gives fair indication of his activities and supplies the sources from which he drew the experience and characters which illustrate the prince. His first mission was in fourteen ninety nine to Catharine Cephorozza, my Lady of Forli of the Prince, from whose conduct and fate he drew the moral that it is far better to earn the confidence of the people than to rely on fortresses. This is a very noticeable principle in Machiavelli, and it has urged by him in many ways as a matter of vital importance to princes. In fifteen hundred he was sent to France to obtain terms from Louis the twelfth for continuing the war against Pisa. This king, it was who, in his conduct of affairs in Italy, committed the five capital errors in state craft summarized in the US Prince, and was consequently driven out. He also it was who made the disillusion of his marriage a condition of support to Pope Alexander the sixth, which leads Machiavelli to referred to those who urge that such promises should be kept to what he has written concerning the faith of princes. Marchiebelli's public life was largely occupied with events arising out of the ambitions of Pope Alexander the sixth and his son Caesare Borgia the Duke Valentino, and these characters fill a large space of the Prince. Marchiabelli never hesitates to cite the actions of the Duke for the benefit of usurpers who wish to keep the states they have seized. He can, indeed find no precepts to offer for so good a pattern of caeserri Borge's conduct insomuch that Cesare is acclaimed by some critics as the hero of the Prince. Yet in the Prince the Duke is, in point of fact, cited as the type of man who rises on the fortune of others and falls with them, who takes every course that might be expected from a prudent man, but the course which will save him, who is prepared for all eventualities. But the one which happens, and who, when all his abilities fail to carry him through, exclaims that it was not his fault, but an extraordinary and unforeseen fatality. On the death of Pious Third in fifteen o three, Machibelli was sent to Rome to watch the election of his successor, and there he saw caeserri Borgia cheated into allowing the choice of the college to fall on Giolano de Rovi, Julius the Second, who was one of the cardinals that had most reason to fear the Duke. Machiavelli, when commenting on this election, says that he who thinks new favors will cause great personages to forget old injuries to see himself Julius did not rest until he had ruined Caesare. It was to Julius the Second that Machiavelli was sent in fifteen o six, when that pontiff was commencing his exercise against Bologna, which was brought to a successful issue, as did many of his other adventures, owing chiefly to his impetuous character. It is in reference to Pope Julius that Marchiavelli moralizes on the resemblance between fortune and women and concludes that it is the bold, rather than the cautious man, that will win and hold them both. It is impossible to follow the varying fortunes of the Italian states, which in fifteen o seven were controlled by France, Spain and Germany, with results that have lasted to our day. We are concerned with those events, and with the three great actors in them, so far only as they impinge on the personality of Machiavelli. He had several meetings with Lewis, the twelfth of France, and his estimate of that monarch's character has already been alluded to. Machiavelli had painted Ferdinand of Aragon as the man who accomplished great things under the cloak of religion, but who in reality had no mercy, faith, humanity or integrity, and who, had he allowed himself to be influenced by such motives, would have been ruined. The Emperor Maximilian was one of the most interesting men of the age. The character has been drawn by many hands, but Machiavelli, who was an envoy at his court in fifteen o seven through fifteen o eight, reveals the secret of his many failures When he describes him as a secretive man without force of character, ignoring the human agencies necessary to carry his schemes into effect, and never insisting on the fulfillment of his wishes. The remaining years of Machiavelli's official career were filled with events rising out of the League of Cambre made in fifteen o eight between the three great European powers already mentioned and the Pope, with the object of crushing the Venetian Republic. This result was obtained in the Battle of Valia, when Venice lost in one day all that she had won in eight hundred years. Florence had a difficult part to play during these events, complicated as they were by the feud which broke out between the Pope and the French, because friendship with France had dictated the entire policy of the Republic. When in fifteen eleven Julius the second finally formed the Holy League against France and with the assistance of the Swiss, drove the French out of Italy, Florence lay at the mercy of the Pope and had to submit to his terms, one of which was that the Medici should be restored. The return of the Medici to Florence on the first of September fifteen twelve, and consequent fall of the Republic was the signal for the dismissal of Macchiavelli and his friends, and thus put an end to his public career. For as we have seen, he died without regaining office literature and death, age forty three through fifty eight fifteen twelve through fifteen twenty seven. On the return of the Medici, Machiavelli, who for a few weeks had vainly hoped to retain his office under the new masters of Florence, was dismissed by a decree dated seventh November fifteen twelve. Shortly after this he was accused of complicity in an abortive conspiracy against the Medici, Imprisoned and put to the question by torture. The new Medician, Pope Leo the Tenth, procured his release and he retired to his small property at San Casicano, near Florence, where he devoted himself to literature. In a letter to Francesco Vittori dated thirteenth December fifteen thirteen, he has left a very interesting description of his life at that period, which elucidates his methods and his motives. In the Writing of the Prince, after describing his daily occupations with his family and neighbors, he writes, the evening being come, I return home and go to my study. At the entrance, I pull off my peasant clothes covered with dust and dirt, and put on my noble court dress. Thus becomingly re clothed, I pass into the ancient courts of the men of old, where, being lovingly received by them, I am fed with that food which is mine alone. Where I do not hesitate to speak with them and to ask for the reason of their actions, and they, in their benignity answer me, And for four hours I feel no weariness. I forget every trouble, Poverty does not dismay, death does not terrify me. I am possessed entirely by those great men. And because Dante says, knowledge doth come of learning well retained unfruitful. Else, I have noted down what I have gained from their conversation, and have composed a small work on principalities, where I pour myself out as fully as I can in meditation on the subject, discussing what a principality is, what kinds there are, and how they can be acquired, how they can be kept, why they are lost? And if any of my fancies ever pleased you, This ought not to displease you. And to a prince, especially to a new one, it should be welcome. Therefore I dedicate it to his magnificence, Giuliano Filippo Casavecchio has seen it. He will be able to tell you what is in it, and of the discourses I have had with him. Nevertheless, I am still enriching and polishing it. The little Book suffered many vicissitudes before attaining the form in which it has reached us. Various mental influences were at work during its composition, Its title and patron were changed, and for some unknown reason, it was finally dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici. Although Machibelli discussed with Casovecchio whether it should be sent or presented in person to the patron, there is no evidence that Lorenzo ever received or even read it. He certainly never gave Machiavelli any employment. Although it was plagiarized during Machiavelli's lifetime, the Prince was never published by him, and its text is still disputable. Machiavelli concludes his letter to Vittore. Thus, and as to this little thing his book, when it has been read, it will be seen that during the fifteen years I have given to the study of state craft, I have neither slept nor idled, and men ought to desire to be served by wa one who has reaped experience at the expense of others, and of my loyalty. None could doubt, because having always kept faith, I could not learn how to break it. For he who has been faithful and honest as I have cannot change his nature. And my poverty is a witness to my honesty. Before Machiavelli had got the Prince off his hands, he commenced his discourse on the First Decade of Titus Livius, which should be read concurrently with the Prince. These and several minor works occupied him until the year fifteen eighteen, when he accepted a small commission to look after the affairs of some Florentine merchants in Genoa. In fifteen nineteen, the Medician rulers of Florence granted a few political concessions to her citizens, and Machiavelli, with others, was consulted upon a new constitution under which the Great Council was to be restored, but on one pretext or another, it was not prompt nugated. In fifteen twenty the Florentine merchants again had recourse to Machiabelli to settle their differences with Lucca. But this year was chiefly remarkable for his re entry into Florentine literary society, where he was much sought after, and also for the production of his Art of War. It was in the same year that he received a commission at the instance of Cardinal de Medici to write the History of Florence, a task which occupied him until fifteen twenty five. His return to popular favor may have determined the Medici to give him this employment. For an old writer observes that an able statesman out of work, like a huge whale, will endeavor to overturn the ship unless he has an empty cask to play with. When the History of Florence was finished, Machiabelle took it to Rome for presentation to his patron, Guilliano de Medici, who had in the meanwhile become pope under the title of Clement the seventh. It is somewhat remarkable that, as in fifteen thirteen, Machibelli had ridden the Prince for the instruction of the Medici after they had just regained power in Florence. So in fifteen twenty five he dedicated the history of Florence to the head of the family, when its ruin was now at hand. In that year, the Battle of Pavia destroyed the French rule in Italy and left Francis the First as a prisoner in the hands of his great rival Charles the fifth. This was followed by the Sack of Rome, upon the news of which the popular party in Florence threw off the yoake of the Medici, who were once more banished. Machibelli was absent from Florence at this time, but hastened his return, hoping to secure his former office of Secretary to the Ten of Liberty and Peace. Unhappily, he was taken ill soon after he reached Florence, where he died on the twenty second of June fifteen twenty seven. End of the introduction