Politics without illusions
Follow effectual truth, appearances and fortune through the central chapters of The Prince and test how far its advice reaches.
An original introduction. This guide accompanies the work; it is neither the complete text nor a translation.
Situating the text
Drafted in 1513 at Sant’Andrea in Percussina, after his dismissal and imprisonment, as Machiavelli reported in a letter to Francesco Vettori. Dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici, it circulated in manuscript and was printed only in 1532, five years after his death. A short treatise in 26 chapters on how principalities are acquired, held and lost. Machiavelli classifies kinds of states, praises rulers who rely on their own arms and asks which qualities actually preserve power, before closing with an appeal to free Italy from foreign armies.
Following the arguments
Effectual truth : Chapter 15 sets aside imagined republics and principalities to examine how people actually live and what actions actually produce. Lion and fox : Chapter 18 argues that a ruler must combine force and cunning, and need not keep his word when doing so works against him and the reasons for the promise have lapsed. Fortune : Chapter 25 grants fortune perhaps half of human affairs and asks how foresight and bold action can contain its floods.
Continuing the reading
Read the dedication with chapters 15 to 18 and 25 to 26, then ask whether the final appeal changes how the harsher advice should be understood. Drafted in 1513 at Sant’Andrea in Percussina, after his dismissal and imprisonment, as Machiavelli reported in a letter to Francesco Vettori. Dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici, it circulated in manuscript and was printed only in 1532, five years after his death.
The Prince judges actions by their effects on the state; that standard is demanding and does not make every cruelty useful.
Your turn to think.
- Which examples does Machiavelli use to show the gap between how people live and how they ought to live?
- Does the appeal of chapter 26 change how you read the advice of chapters 15 to 18?
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