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Machiavelli's The Prince

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The term, “Machiavellian” has been coined by scholars to describe individuals that are cunning and unscrupulous in their methods to gain political power. In 1513, Machiavelli wrote the controversial novel, The Prince that supported the separation of politics from the morality advocated for leaders to have by the Catholic Church. Machiavelli wrote the novel while Italy was in political turmoil during sixteenth century as a guideline for princes in how to gain, rule, and keep states. Machiavelli’s writing still manages to be relevant in modern times through the advice he presents to a prince in how to confront challenges. In The Prince, Machiavelli discusses challenges a prince will face while ruling his state and his advice with how to deal with these challenges. According to Machiavelli, one challenge a prince will face is the moral conflict, which is choosing whether it is better to be loved or feared by the people. (Ch 17,79) In response to this, Machiavelli said it is better to be feared because in times of conflict, people are more likely to assist those who they fear as they are afraid of the consequences of not helping them while people tend to forget relationships forged …show more content…

Machiavelli emphasizes the importance of a prince having his own army by explaining the flaws of mercenary and auxiliaries. (Ch 12,13) For example, he discusses how mercenary armies have no morals, fight only for money, and history has shown them as the reason for Italy’s political turmoil. In addition, Machiavelli continuously doubts the leadership of mercenary commanders for being either useless or too ambitious. Similarly, Machiavelli doubts the effectiveness of auxiliaries for they are loyal to another ruler and not the prince. Machiavelli concludes his advice for building the perfect army by stating it must be composed entirely of the prince’s own people because they are the most loyal army to

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