Machiavelli

I just finished reading The Prince by Machiavelli, written in 1513. It's on Penguin's list of great books (success #1!), and it has also been a staple of European political education. It's about how an absolute ruler can gain and maintain control over a state. I first heard about it in high school social studies class, I bought it years ago, and I finally got around to reading it this week.

One great quality is that The Prince itself (excluding the introduction and appendices) is only eighty five pages long! Other than that... I found it a little dull. A little irrelevant. You see, I've never lived under a monarchy, and medieval politics look much different than current situations. Machiavelli tries to be helpful by illustrating his points with real life examples, but unfortunately since they are all from hundreds of years ago, I have barely/never heard of these people. Also, it wasn't as sensationalistic and obviously offensive as I expected it to be.

Perhaps this book's value can be found in contrasting it with the other books of its day, and that it why it has remained popular. That doesn't really mean that it's still good, just that it's better than the others. And I guess Machiavelli does present some revolutionary ideas (although they seem less revolutionary five hundred years later). For instance, he writes that although the appearance of virtue is important, virtue itself will often cause one to lose power instead of gain it. Because power is the ultimate goal of the book, virtue is disregarded. In my opinion, virtue is important for its own sake, and probably more important than power. Yet, on the other hand, moderation is the key virtue, and in some contexts what seems like the kindest course of action is actually unkind and disastrous. Less virtue can be more virtuous in the long run?

Machiavelli lived in a republic with no absolute ruler, and he worked for the government. His other writings seem to suggest that there lie his political ideals. There are questions therefore about how he can advise an ruler on how to gain absolute power. As a result, some have suggested that The Prince should be considered satire. An interesting thought!