Throughout history, many people have created theorise on government and how to rule. From the Republicanism of Plato to the Absolutism of Hobbes, countless theories abound about how to effectively govern. But none of these have come close to influence of a former Florentine official. Niccolo Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469 in Florence, Italy. He was the son of a legal official, and received an education which included the Greek and Roman classics (1). When he was 29 he acquired a job as secretary of the Second Chancery of Florence, the current republican government in that city (4). Over the next fourteen years, he would come face to face with political figures from all over Europe. After the Medici family, with the support of the Roman
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Because of Piero de' Medici’s blunder with the French, the Medici were removed from power in Florence. In its place a theocratic republic under the control of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola (5). It was in this republic that Machiavelli was employed, and he helped establish a civilian militia in Florence. But said militia was defeated when the Spanish, under Charles I, took control of the city and returned the city to Medici rule. Machiavelli was exiled and in an attempt to gain favor with the Medici family, he penned The …show more content…
He came to the conclusion that there is no cost too great to maintain order and that because humankind is inherently bad, “a prince, therefore, who desires to maintain himself must learn not always to be good, but to be so or not as necessity may require” (Machiavelli 76). And in these two points lies the central tenants of Machiavelli’s philosophy. Machiavelli also believed that the prince “should have no other thought or object so much at heart... as the art of war and the organization and discipline of his army” (Machiavelli 73). Machiavelli also discusses how a prince should conduct themselves morally such as in regard to whether it is better to be feared or loved:
It will naturally be answered that it would be desirable to be both the one and the other; but as it is difficult to be both at the same time, it is much more safe to be feared than to be loved, when you have to choose between the two (Machiavelli
Because of Piero de' Medici’s blunder with the French, the Medici were removed from power in Florence. In its place a theocratic republic under the control of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola (5). It was in this republic that Machiavelli was employed, and he helped establish a civilian militia in Florence. But said militia was defeated when the Spanish, under Charles I, took control of the city and returned the city to Medici rule. Machiavelli was exiled and in an attempt to gain favor with the Medici family, he penned The …show more content…
He came to the conclusion that there is no cost too great to maintain order and that because humankind is inherently bad, “a prince, therefore, who desires to maintain himself must learn not always to be good, but to be so or not as necessity may require” (Machiavelli 76). And in these two points lies the central tenants of Machiavelli’s philosophy. Machiavelli also believed that the prince “should have no other thought or object so much at heart... as the art of war and the organization and discipline of his army” (Machiavelli 73). Machiavelli also discusses how a prince should conduct themselves morally such as in regard to whether it is better to be feared or loved:
It will naturally be answered that it would be desirable to be both the one and the other; but as it is difficult to be both at the same time, it is much more safe to be feared than to be loved, when you have to choose between the two (Machiavelli