The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

1.

 Cesare Borgio would be a very successful businessman in today's society, especially if he were the head of an international company that used many different places to make and sell their product.  In Cesare's rule, he disposed of "such forces not appearing to him reliable," (Chapter 8) until he found a group of forces which he trusted fully.  With the entire world at his disposal, he would be very apt at finding the best countries and companies with which to work,  and therefore very successful at turning a profit from whatever he produces.

Ramiro d'Orco, though he met an untimely public death, was as a whole successful in the task he was assigned to complete.  Described as "a swift and cruel man," (Chapter 7), Ramiro would be the most successful in charge of a NGO.  When Duke Valentino promoted Ramiro, "he gave the fullest power" (Chapter 7) to him.  Though Ramiro was technically working for Valentino, he worked independently from him and "in a short time restored peace and unity with great success," (Chapter 7).  But, eventually Valentino became afraid of the power that Ramiro held, so he executed him, impressing his subjects with "the barbarity of this spectacle," (Chapter 7)

Oliverotto da Fermo, in modern business, would be not be successful unless in a organization such as the mafia.  In his rule, he used deceit and war to succeed, fighting with and murdering his own family in order to secure his position.  He considered it "a paltry thing to serve under others," (Chapter 8), so he used whatever means necessary to rise above his superiors.  Oliverotto put on a facade of kindness when he invited his uncle Giovanni Fogliani to visit, because "he entreated Giovanni to arrange that he should be received honorably by the Fermians, all of which would be not only to his honor but also to that of Giovanni himself who had brought him up," (Chapter 8).  By acting like Giovanni's coming was going to be a splendid family reunion, Oliverotto gained his trust and was able to arrange that "soldiers issued from secret places and slaughtered Giovanni and the rest," (Chapter 8) murdering the uncle that had raised him as a son.  For this clever underhandedness, Oliverotto would make a successful leader of the mafia, climbing through the ranks with his fellow assassins and committing parricide of the people thought to be his friends until he was on top, a very honorable place indeed.

2.

 Though a prince has many people who help him to be a successful ruler, above all, his people are a prince's greatest ally.  "A prince can never secure himself against a hostile people, because of their being too many, whilst from the nobles he can secure himself, as they are few in number," (Chapter 9).  If all of the people within a prince's principality disliked their ruler and decided to rebel together, they would be too much for the prince to overcome, and he would be trampled by their immeasurable force in their numbers. Also, "the prince is compelled to live always with the same people, but he can do well without the same nobles," (Chapter 9).  A prince has the power to appoint whatever nobles he so chooses, so if one displeases him he can dispose of him.  On the other hand, a power the prince does not have is to force the people that oppose him to leave the country.  Though he could exile a few, if many choose to join forces against the prince, they will defeat him merely because of their numbers.  But still considering this, "wise princes have taken every care not to drive the nobles to desperation, and to keep the people satisfied and contented," (Chapter 19) because it is always in anyone's best interest to have as many people on their side as is possible.  On a military side, "it is now more necessary to all princes...to satisfy the people rather than the soldiers, because the people are more powerful," (Chapter 19).  The people enjoy peace, and the soldiers enjoy the amount of money for them that comes from war, so these two groups of people are discordant with one another.  Even though soldiers have war experience and many weapons at their disposal, the people still outnumber them and are the ones that must live under the prince's rule.  And even with regards to this, "there never was a new prince who has disarmed his subjects," (Chapter 20).  In conclusion, though many different groups of people can be beneficial to a prince, his subjects will be the most help to him in the end, but even before this one must consider that because "a prince cannot help being hated by someone, they ought, in the first place, to avoid being hated by everyone," (Chapter 19).

3.

 In The Prince, Machiavelli illustrates the fact that a prince must have a good balance in between being too kind and being too mean, because both could lead to his demise.  He says that, "Liberality exercised in a way that does not bring you the reputation for it, injures you," (Chapter 16).  A prince must at least appear kind enough to gain a reputation of being kind, but not too kind to give away everything and trust too much, for that will very likely lead to his end.  Machiavelli also states that there are certain points in a prince's rule in which he should exercise generosity, and points in which he should not.  With regards to different princes in different positions, he says, "Either you are a prince in fact, or in a way to become one.  In the first case, liberality is dangerous, in the second it is very necessary to be considered liberal," (Chapter 16).  When a man is striving to become a prince, he must show the people care and compassion in order to gain their trust and support, but once in control, he must rule with an iron fist, because "we have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean; the rest have failed," (Chapter 16).  Though generosity is an important tool for a prince of a principality, Machiavelli has the general opinion that "it is much safer to be feared than loved," (Chapter 17) for a prince.

4.

 Though Machiavelli does say that a prince should have good qualities, there are also many things he says which are not in line with the Beatitudes and can be considered generally immoral.  One thing that Machiavelli says is that "on learning that nay one, on any consideration, has not told him the truth, he should let his anger be felt," (Chapter 23), but the Beatitudes instruct that one must be patient and kind, and even if someone did lie to said prince, the right thing to do would be to forgive them and not become enraged.  Machiavelli also says, with regards to being angry, that a prince should have "injuries which it is necessary for him to inflict, and to do them all at one stroke so as to not have to repeat them daily," (Chapter 8), but a prince should be able to be peaceful and not warlike so that he has no need to injure his people.  Whether or not a prince chooses to injure his people or not, Machiavelli believes that "their government is weaker and more insecure, because it rests entirely on the goodwill of those citizens," but in reality these governments will be the strongest in faith.  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God," (The Beatitudes) and be able to thrive more so than those who do not have goodwill.  Machiavelli is also wrong because he believes that "a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil," (Chapter 15) but ultimately those who are virtuous will be the ones who win in the end, "because great is [their] reward in heaven," (The Beatitudes). Even though Machiavelli believed that "some [princes] lived nobly and showed great qualities of soul, nevertheless they have lost their empire or have been killed by subjects who have conspired against them," (Chapter 19), he is wrong; these are the people that will always win in God's eyes.  But, no matter how a prince "may appear to him who sees and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and religious," (Chapter 18), in the end, God can always see your heart, and He is the one who decides whether said prince will enter the kingdom of heaven or not.

5.

 The Beatitudes create an idealistic world in which only good is done, but the world that Machiavelli writes about is a more realistic one, in which not everyone can be a peacemaker and be virtuous.  He states that "a blunder ought never be perpetrated to avoid war, because it is not to be avoided, but it is only deferred to your advantage," (Chapter 3).  Though "blessed are the peacemakers," (The Beatitudes), Machiavelli knows that the world is a discordant one in which people need some way to resolve their differences, so they turn to war.  He even goes further into this saying that "a prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline," (Chapter 14).  Even though peace would be ideal, the best way to be successful is to indeed have war and be as educated as one can be about it in order to save your people.  Also opposed to the Beatitudes, Machiavelli says that "not to lose again what they had acquired, they were compelled, in order to secure themselves, to murder him," (Chapter 12).  Though killing people is not pure in spirit, it is sometimes necessary to ensure that more good will come from a person dead than alive.  With regards to the second part of the Beatitudes, Machiavelli says that "benefits ought to be given little by little so that the flavour or them may last longer," (Chapter 8).  In the Beatitudes, the rewards for people's virtue are big and immediate, but these people should be rewarded gradually so that it means more to them.  Machiavelli's general belief is that "it will be found that something which looks like virtue, if followed, would be his ruin; whilst something else, which looks like vice, yet followed brings him security and prosperity," (Chapter 15).  The Beatitudes are very straightforward, but Machiavelli believes that they are often wrong, and that good things will more often come from bad rather than good, unlike what the Beatitudes say.  In so many words, "good works will do you harm," (Chapter 19).

Machiavelli, N. (1513). The prince. Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/machiavelli-prince.html