Another difference that I noticed in reading and comparing Machiavelli and Hobbes was seeing how they believe how a ruler or sovereign should act. Machiavelli in his book The Prince explains “It is better to be feared then loved” (Machiavelli 2006). He also shares how as a ruler, you should avoid hatred. Hatred gets one more power than just being loved, but people will not obey you if one is hated by all. So Machiavelli achieves this in a sneaky way. Machiavelli does think that a ruler can be wicked, and worthy of scorn, and as an example he talks about Agathocles. Agathocles seized power through violence. By contrast Hobbes “believes that a ruler can do anything without being unjust to his subjects, since he considers that every man has
