Comprehinsive Look at the Prince

Governing countries and states properly has been a difficult task from the beginning of time. In every country there will be people to who are unhappy and will disagree with your rule, causing your system to fail. So, century after century, people have tried new ways to make their politics suffice everyone’s needs. However, the art of politics is a complicated and challenging issue that will always be needed to be dealt with. There have been many ways in which people have preached their ideas on politics, but none were better than those of Niccolo Machiavelli. Born in 1469, Niccolo was adamant in creating a master plan for seizing and controlling power. He voiced these themes on what it takes to be a prince of a state in his magnificent book, The Prince. In his book many themes were expressed in order to fulfill the role of a prince. These themes ranged from human nature to military force and most importantly virtue. Machavelli believed that the state is the highest achievement of man and one should love the state more than his own soul. Being the perfect prince is clearly a difficult task, but if done correctly, it can be very rewarding. Machiavelli also believed that human nature does not change. In general Machiavelli thought people were ungrateful, selfish, and insincere people, who only care about themselves. Therefore the government must take account for man’s true nature and use his qualities for its purposes. Machiavelli also explained that a ruler who intends to be successful must be prepared to do bad things when necessary. He must sometimes caress, sometimes hurt, sometimes forgive, and sometimes punish. This requirement must override all moral judgments, and when making the decision, the ruler must act without hesitation. Hesitation would project “false wisdom”. Another, and probably the most important concept of political success is the idea of virtue. Virtue means strength, intelligence, and courage, the necessary qualities of any human being. Machiavelli felt that the quality of virtue was found in some of the world’s most important leaders; Moses, Cyrus, and Romulus to name a few. Governments ruled by an individual depends upon this leaders virtue. Without it, the political success will crumble. Aside from virtue there is fortune or fate as we sometimes put it. Although Machiavelli feels that the quality of virtue is necessary for a states success, chance or luck also has an affect. He feels that in life no matter how much intelligence and strength you have, there is a part of life in which you have little or no control over. Virtue being a powerful quality, Machiavelli saw its potential to build a defense against fortune. However, fortune is inconsistent and variable so, you must treat it like a woman. Machiavelli states, and I quote, “fortune is woman, and it is necessary, if you wish to master her, to conquer her by force”. His point is that when you encounter fortune, you must approach it aggressively. Machiavelli said that the ruler must be able to imitate both the lion and the fox. He is saying that the qualities of a ruler must show the bravery and strength of a lion, but also, the slyness of the fox. These characteristics are imperative for a new ruler especially. That way he can get the respect from the people right away. An example of one ruler who showed both the qualities of a lion and a fox was Septimus Serverus, a Roman emperor from 193-211 A.D. Another quality of a ruler should be that he is both loved and feared. In actuality, it is almost impossible to be both those, so it is better to be feared. Love can lose effectiveness because of human nature.