Trevor Motes
21 March 2013
Renaissance & Reformation
Rough Draft
Machiavelli Then and Now
Niccolo Machiavelli was born into a family of Florentine nobility on the third of May in 1469. This was during a time that Italy was divided into four rival city states. Despite being of Florentine nobility, there is little recording of his youth1. Machiavelli served as diplomat during the 14 years the Medici family was not in control of Florence2. Niccolo Machiavelli was a philosopher, statesmen and political theorist in the late 15th century and early 16th century3. His main contributions that echo throughout today are in political thought, deeming him the “father of modern Political theory.”Eventually the Medici would regain control of Florence. Their return, as well as Machiavelli’s attempt and failure to unite Italy, lead to Machiavelli’s torturing, imprisonment, and retirement4.
Machiavelli’s most popular work was his famous, short book the Prince. This political manual, along with his famous Discourses on Livy, were both works written during a dark time in his career when he devoted his life to studying Roman history. When Machiavelli started his public, vigorous learning in 1494, the Medici family lost their power after 60 years and was forced into exile3. With the French invasion in 1493, the cruel Cesare Borgia expanded his power throughout Italy. Machiavelli’s response in the Prince had one main underlying theme. Machiavelli wanted to educate Lorenzo Medici on how to not only unify Italy but to also maintain control. Through his work, Machiavelli hoped to create a good political resume and be on better terms with the powerful banking family. While creating these works Machiavelli was attempting to maintain his current position of Chancellor and Secretary to the Second Chancery, and the Ten of Liberty and peace. Despite his efforts, he was dismissed the seventh of November in 1514.
Historians today are arguing that The Prince is a satirical read. Garrett Mattingly of Columbia University wrote there are three ways that resolve conflict and contradiction by reading the Prince as satirical work instead of a political scientific manual. The first reason is the overall recipient of the book. Mattingly suggest that by only reading Machiavelli’s famous little book as satire, the reader can understand and accept Ceasare Borgia as the choice of the model “prince”. It is understood in history that Ceasare is the most infamous among all of the Borgia’s, who is known for his cruelty and ruthless behavior. The second reason for Mattingly declaring The Prince to be satire is the mockery Machiavelli made of Guiliano and his successors being the liberators Italy was waiting for. This mockery challenges the Medici family as a whole who in turn did nothing in punishing Machiavelli. Mattingly third reason is the elaborate bound copy that exclusively made for the Medici Prince was never created. Since the book was never created, Mattingly suggests that Machiavelli thought the undermining of the current principality was not even worth the extra expense.5
In chapter 17 of the Prince, Machiavelli states that Borgia was cruel, but it was through his cruelty that he, “…reconciled the Romagna, unified it, and restored peace and loyalty.”6 Don MacDonald, an alumni of Cornell University, argues that cruelty is a personality trait for a successful prince. One of the main underlying themes of The Prince is that as a ruler, it is better to be feared then loved. MacDonald claims that Machiavelli was hoping to restore an ancient Roman form of a republic. In order to do this, the ruler would have to use war instead of a treaty to unify Italy. Once Italy was unified, then could the peninsula grow out to become the power Rome once was. Secondly, MacDonald claims that there were no laws to protect Machiavelli in any of his writings so why deliberately write something so that you intentionally set one’s self to be tortured within an inch of life. By no means
