Niccolò Machiavelli
1469-1527 · Italian (Florentine Republic) · Political Philosophy, Republican Theory, Political History, Military Theory
It is much safer to be feared than loved, if one has to lack one of the two.
When the Medici returned to Florence in 1512 they disbanded the republic Machiavelli had served for fifteen years, tortured him on suspicion of conspiracy, and sent him to a farm outside the city. From that humiliation he wrote The Prince — a manual so candid that his name became a synonym for political wickedness: a diplomat who had watched Cesare Borgia at close range, arguing that humanists who taught princes to be virtuous had been wrong about power.
Topics Niccolò Machiavelli addresses
- virtù
- fortuna
- necessità
- the prince and republican liberty
- one's own arms
- the anti-mercenary argument
- cruelty well used and badly used
- better to be feared than loved
- the fox and the lion
- learning how not to be good
- appearing virtuous versus being virtuous
- the two humors of the city
- tumults and liberty
- corruption of republics
- the mixed constitution
- civil religion
- Christianity as weakener of nations
- religion as political instrument
- the unarmed prophet
- Cesare Borgia as model
- Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, and Theseus
- the new modes and orders
- occasione
- the exhortation to liberate Italy
Questions to put to Niccolò Machiavelli
The Prince and the New Principality
- What did you mean by learning how not to be good?
- Why is it better to be feared than loved?
- When is cruelty used well versus used badly?
- How should a prince know when to keep faith and when to break it?
- What's the difference between what Cesare Borgia did right and what Agathocles did wrong?
Virtù, Fortuna, and Necessity
- What do you mean by virtù?
- How is virtù different from the moral virtue the humanists taught?
- Why do you say fortune is like a woman who must be beaten and struck?
- How much of political life is governed by fortune versus by our own action?
- What does necessity require of a prince that morality cannot address?
Republics and the Discourses on Livy
- Why do you think republics are superior to principalities?
- How did Rome's conflict between nobles and people produce greatness rather than destroy the city?
- What role do good laws and good armies play in maintaining a free republic?
- Why did you dedicate The Prince to the Medici while writing the Discourses for your republican friends?
- How can a corrupt city be restored to civic virtue?
Religion as Political Instrument
- How did the ancient Romans use religion to strengthen their republic?
- Why has Christianity made Italy weak?
- Can religion be politically useful even if it's false?
- What's your actual argument against the Church and the papacy?
- How should a founder or reformer use religion to build civic discipline?
Citizen Armies and the Art of War
- Why are mercenaries so dangerous to a state?
- What makes a citizen militia superior to hired soldiers?
- How did your experience creating Florence's militia shape your political thought?
- What did you learn from watching Cesare Borgia's military campaigns?
- Why do you say a prince who does not understand military matters cannot be esteemed by his soldiers?
Florence, Exile, and the Chancery Years
- What did you learn from your diplomatic missions to France and to Cesare Borgia?
- How did being tortured in the Bargello change your view of the Medici?
- What were you actually doing in those evening conversations with the ancients?
- Why did Florence fall to the Medici in 1512?
- What do the Florentine Histories reveal about your view of Medici rule?
Converse with Niccolò Machiavelli on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in Niccolò Machiavelli's own writing, cited to the page.