The Prince(王子)

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The Prince

by Nicolo Machiavelli

Translated by W. K. Marriott

The Prince

Nicolo Machiavelli, born at Florence on 3rd May 1469. From 1494 to

1512 held an official post at Florence which included diplomatic missions

to various European courts. Imprisoned in Florence, 1512; later exiled and

returned to San Casciano. Died at Florence on 22nd June 1527.

The Prince

INTRODUCTION

Nicolo Machiavelli was born at Florence on 3rd May 1469. He was the

second son of Bernardo di Nicolo Machiavelli, 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 1494, in which year

Machiavelli entered the public service. During his official career Florence

was free under the government of a Republic, which lasted until 1512,

when the Medici returned to power, and Machiavelli lost his office. The

Medici again ruled Florence from 1512 until 1527, when 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 22nd June 1527, in his fifty-eighth year, without having

regained office.

YOUTH Aet. 1-25--1469-94

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 splendour- 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

Medicean rule during the life of Lorenzo appeared to have impressed

Machiavelli strongly, for he frequently recurs to it in his writings, and it is

The Prince

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 passed. 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, Machiavelli 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, than 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 continues: "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 honour 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 right and study, because others

will help you if you help yourself."

OFFICE Aet. 25-43--1494-1512

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 1494 until their return in 1512. 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 a fair indication of his activities,

and supplies the sources from which he drew the experiences and

characters which illustrate "The Prince."

The Prince

His first mission was in 1499 to Catherina Sforza, "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 is urged by him in

many ways as a matter of vital importance to princes.

In 1500 he was sent to France to obtain terms from Louis XII for

continuing the war against Pisa: this king it was who, in his conduct of

affairs in Italy, committed the five capital errors in statecraft summarized

in "The Prince," and was consequently driven out. He, also, it was who

made the dissolution of his marriage a condition of support to Pope

Alexander VI; which leads Machiavelli to refer those who urge that such

promises should be kept to what he has written concerning the faith of

princes.

Machiavelli's public life was largely occupied with events arising out

of the ambitions of Pope Alexander VI and his son, Cesare Borgia, the

Duke Valentino, and these characters fill a large space of "The Prince."

Machiavelli 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 so good as the pattern of Cesare Borgia'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 a type of

the 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 Pius III, in 1503, Machiavelli was sent to Rome to

watch the election of his successor, and there he saw Cesare Borgia

cheated into allowing the choice of the College to fall on Giuliano delle

Rovere (Julius II), 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 favours will cause great personages to forget old injuries

deceives himself. Julius did not rest until he had ruined Cesare.

The Prince

It was to Julius II that Machiavelli was sent in 1506, when that pontiff

was commencing his enterprise against Bologna; which he brought to a

successful issue, as he did many of his other adventures, owing chiefly to

his impetuous character. It is in reference to Pope Julius that Machiavelli

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 here the varying fortunes of the Italian states,

which in 1507 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 Louis XII of

France, and his estimate of that monarch's character has already been

alluded to. Machiavelli has 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, and

his character has been drawn by many hands; but Machiavelli, who was an

envoy at his court in 1507-8, 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 fulfilment of his wishes.

The remaining years of Machiavelli's official career were filled with

events arising out of the League of Cambrai, made in 1508 between the

three great European powers already mentioned and the pope, with the

object of crushing the Venetian Republic. This result was attained in the

battle of Vaila, 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 1511, Julius II 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

The Prince

submit to his terms, one of which was that the Medici should be restored.

The return of the Medici to Florence on 1st September 1512, and the

consequent fall of the Republic, was the signal for the dismissal of

Machiavelli 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 Aet. 43-58--1512-27

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 decree dated 7th November 1512. 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 Medicean people,

Leo X, procured his release, and he retired to his small property at San

Casciano, near Florence, where he devoted himself to literature. In a letter

to Francesco Vettori, dated 13th December 1513, he has left a very

interesting description of his life at this period, which elucidates his

methods and his motives in writing "The Prince." After describing his

daily occupations with his family and neighbours, 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, and 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, 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

The Prince

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

Machiavelli discussed with Casavecchio 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 Vettori 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 statecraft I have neither slept nor

idled; and men ought ever to desire to be served by 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 now 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 1518, when he accepted a small commission to look

after the affairs of some Florentine merchants at Genoa. In 1519 the

Medicean 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 promulgated.

In 1520 the Florentine merchants again had recourse to Machiavelli to

settle their difficulties 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

The Prince

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 1525.

His return to popular favour 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 endeavour to overturn the ship unless he has

an empty cask to play with."

When the "History of Florence" was finished, Machiavelli took it to

Rome for presentation to his patron, Giuliano de' Medici, who had in the

meanwhile become pope under the title of Clement VII. It is somewhat

remarkable that, as, in 1513, Machiavelli had written "The Prince" for the

instruction of the Medici after they had just regained power in Florence, so,

in 1525, 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 I a prisoner in the hands of his

great rival, Charles V. This was followed by the sack of Rome, upon the

news of which the popular party at Florence threw off the yoke of the

Medici, who were once more banished.

Machiavelli 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 22nd June 1527.

THE MAN AND HIS WORKS

No one can say where the bones of Machiavelli rest, but modern

Florence has decreed him a stately cenotaph in Santa Croce, by the side of

her most famous sons; recognizing that, whatever other nations may have

found in his works, Italy found in them the idea of her unity and the germs

of her renaissance among the nations of Europe. Whilst it is idle to protest

against the world-wide and evil signification of his name, it may be

pointed out that the harsh construction of his doctrine which this sinister

reputation implies was unknown to his own day, and that the researches of

recent times have enabled us to interpret him more reasonably. It is due to

these inquiries that the shape of an "unholy necromancer," which so long

haunted men's vision, has begun to fade.

The Prince

Machiavelli was undoubtedly a man of great observation, acuteness,

and industry; noting with appreciative eye whatever passed before him,

and with his supreme literary gift turning it to account in his enforced

retirement from affairs. He does not present himself, nor is he depicted by

his contemporaries, as a type of that rare combination, the successful

statesman and author, for he appears to have been only moderately

prosperous in his several embassies and political employments. He was

misled by Catherina Sforza, ignored by Louis XII, overawed by Cesare

Borgia; several of his embassies were quite barren of results; his attempts

to fortify Florence failed, and the soldiery that he raised astonished

everybody by their cowardice. In the conduct of his own affairs he was

timid and time-serving; he dared not appear by the side of Soderini, to

whom he owed so much, for fear of compromising himself; his connection

with the Medici was open to suspicion, and Giuliano appears to have

recognized his real forte when he set him to write the "History of

Florence," rather than employ him in the state. And it is on the literary side

of his character, and there alone, that we find no weakness and no failure.

Although the light of almost four centuries has been focused on "The

Prince," its problems are still debatable and interesting, because they are

the eternal problems between the ruled and their rulers. Such as they are,

its ethics are those of Machiavelli's contemporaries; yet they cannot be

said to be out of date so long as the governments of Europe rely on

material rather than on moral forces. Its historical incidents and

personages become interesting by reason of the uses which Machiavelli

makes of them to illustrate his theories of government and conduct.

Leaving out of consideration those maxims of state which still furnish

some European and eastern statesmen with principles of action, "The

Prince" is bestrewn with truths that can be proved at every turn. Men are

still the dupes of their simplicity and greed, as they were in the days of

Alexander VI. The cloak of religion still conceals the vices which

Machiavelli laid bare in the character of Ferdinand of Aragon. Men will

not look at things as they really are, but as they wish them to be--and are

ruined. In politics there are no perfectly safe courses; prudence consists in

choosing the least dangerous ones. Then --to pass to a higher plane--

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ThePrince1ThePrincebyNicoloMachiavelliTranslatedbyW.K.MarriottThePrince2NicoloMachiavelli,bornatFlorenceon3rdMay1469.From1494to1512heldanofficialpostatFlorencewhichincludeddiplomaticmissionstovariousEuropeancourts.ImprisonedinFlorence,1512;laterexiledandreturnedtoSanCasciano.DiedatFlorenceon22ndJune...

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