A Book for the Ages

By: Olivier R.
Niccol di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a Renaissance thinker who
lived in Florence, Italy during the time of the Republic and Medici rule. He is well known
for his books The Prince, and The Discourses on Livy, and for the new idea of
Machiavellianism, which was the use of intellect and duplicity to gain political power or
other. This term originated from his writings in The Prince where he spoke of the use of
good acts and ruthless acts to gain power. Power meaning social and political.
Machiavellis idea that to be successful as a ruler, one must adapt to the changes within
the society and sometime use immoral means to achieve what one is trying to do is one
that I agree with because it is a concept that held true during his time, it still holds true
today, and it works; it would be important for students nowadays especially since
Machiavelli wrote this to help himself rise after the fall of the Florentine Republic.
Machiavelli wrote The Prince in order to help himself gain favor of the new
Medici ruler. The Medici ruler of the time after the overthrow of the Florentine Republic
was Lorenzo di Piero de Medici to whom Machiavelli had dedicated The Prince.
Machiavelli in 1512 was an advisor to the Florentine Court and wrote official government
papers, after the Medici came back to power Machiavelli was stripped of his position and
was imprisoned on the accusation of conspiracy against the Medici. After being released
he went into a forced retirement and that is from where he wrote The Prince. He hoped
that by writing it he might be able to win back the favor of the prince. He even spoke in
chapter twenty-two of how important it is to choose good and smart advisors and servants
wisely, maybe even implying himself. The author is clearly biased in this because he
wants to please Prince Lorenzo de Medici, but he does speak from experience. Almost
everything he wrote, he had inspiration for in real life. It is hard to tell if he agreed with
what was written but that does not mean he thought that they did not work, or else he
would not have written them.
Machiavellis thesis is that to be successful as a ruler, one must adapt to the
changes within the society and sometime use immoral means to achieve what one is
trying to do. In chapter twenty-five Machiavelli speaks of adapting to the times. He is
happy who adapts his mode of proceeding to the qualities of the times; and similarly, he
is unhappy whose procedure is in disaccord with the times. This means that for a prince
to be happy he must be able to keep up with what is going on, and this still holds true,
especially nowadays. With society today if you do not keep up with technology, then you
are forgotten as a leader. Now you see presidential candidates tweeting, and opening their
views up to new modern age ideas that were looked at in a different light. If you do not
keep up, then you fall behind, and that is the unhappy man Machiavelli speaks of the one
who falls behind and loses. He also has this aggressive side to the thesis. Earlier in the
book, in chapter sixteen Machiavelli asks the question whether it is better for the prince
to be loved or feared. It would be best to be both loved and feared, but, when necessity
forces a choice, it is better to be feared, because men love at their convenience but they
fear at the convenience of the prince. This shows the more ruthless routes that
Machiavelli says is better to take. To be feared by people shows an aggressive nature in a
ruler, though the point Machiavelli makes in this is interesting. The concept that people
can love or hate, like or dislike anyone at anytime of their own choosing, but someone

can force fear whenever they choose is very controversial. No matter what, in any
situation, it works. Many dictators, although overthrown, killed, or died at some point
hold large amounts of power for long periods of time using nothing but fear to control the
people. This shows how his ideas and thesis still hold up in todays society.
This book and its thesis would be important for students studying history. Not
only is it useful for them if they decide to enter into business or more specifically politics,
for which the book was originally directed, but if they look at and study the rule of past
and current leaders throughout the world. These concepts have been looked at and
worked by many famous leaders, whether they read Machiavelli or not, they resembled
many of the traits he spoke of. Even a notable historical writer by the name of Jared
Diamond found it a crucial read with concepts linking to the modern day world. In an
interview done by the New York Times, Jared Diamond was asked what was the one
book he would recommend to our president to read and he said that it would be The
Prince. It is important because the politics of Machiavellianism, although aggressive and
ruthless can be applied to all politics and other similar fields.
Adaption to new things in society and the use of immoral means is one of the best
ways to be a successful leader. These things that were talked about by Machiavelli are
mostly all ideas that I agree with. This not only has proved to still be relevant, but have
seen this in my own personal experiences to have worked, though on slightly smaller
scales. Almost everything that is in The Prince, I believe is important to me in some way
and I can apply those ideas to my lives. Although I feel that some things come at a cost
for example, immorality and ruthlessness, if it is needed it can be overlooked in some
cases. Machiavellis chapters on everything of importance to a prince can be of value to
me and I see little to no flaws in most of his logic and concepts.
Machiavellis political treatise book, The Prince, is a book on how to rise and be a
successful ruler. The ideas are relevant today and can be applied to all aspects of politics
and similar fields. Immorality comes into play in some situations but it is sometimes
necessary to achieve what is needed. This information is valuable to students studying
history, not only for personal use but also for the use of studying former rulers, current
rulers, and governmental rules. I as a student of history also find it important for my own
life and I agree with almost everything that Machiavelli speaks about. Machiavellis
thesis is that to be successful as a ruler, one must adapt to the changes within the society
and sometime use immoral means to achieve what one is trying to do. In his own words
Machiavelli tells all his readers that they must be ruthless and be able to walk on other
people and be feared. Although those are the main things that are looked at in
Machiavellianism, which is often looked at in a negative light, Machiavelli was a good
person who was just trying to help himself and others rise to become more because
although it is The Prince, it is meant for everyone to enjoy and learn something from it.