History Literature / ThePrince

[[PopculturalOsmosis Most people]] are familiar with Machiavelli as the man who said, "[[BeamMeUpScotty it is better to]] [[PopCulturalOsmosis be feared than loved]]". Over the years Machiavelli's name has become associated with [[DidYouActuallyBelieve dishonesty]], [[ChronicBackStabbingDisorder deceit]], and [[TheUnfettered ruthlessness]], so much that they even made his name an adjective most often used for unsavoury characters. However, Machiavelli repeats that while it is better for one to inspire fear, one must also remember not to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating inspire hatred]]. It is very common to mistakenly conflate, "Be pragmatic," with, "Be an asshole." Everything a leader says and does need not automatically be a duplicitous front. A leader is perfectly free to have ideals, and be kind, generous, and just with their subjects. The main point is that if achieving one's goals means the leader ''must'' commit unsavoury acts, then they must do it. Going down in flames with your ideals intact is a fine and noble thing to do, and some may say you have a moral obligation to do that, but that is ''not'' the point of this book. ''The Prince'' should be regarded as a guidebook to maintaining power for the good of the prince and [[WellIntentionedExtremist ultimately the state]], ''not'' how to [[KickTheDog kick puppies left and right.]]

[[PopculturalOsmosis Most people]] are familiar with Machiavelli as the man who said, "[[BeamMeUpScotty it is better to]] [[PopCulturalOsmosis be feared than loved]]". Over the years Machiavelli's name has become associated with [[DidYouActuallyBelieve dishonesty]], [[ChronicBackStabbingDisorder duplicity]], and [[TheUnfettered ruthlessness]], so much that they even made his name an adjective most often used for unsavoury characters. However, Machiavelli repeats that while it is better for one to inspire fear, one must also remember not to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating inspire hatred]]. Machiavelli's original message was to stress the importance of ''pragmatism'' in politics, one of the attributes of modern politics. ''The Prince'' should be regarded as a guidebook to maintaining power for the good of the prince and [[WellIntentionedExtremist ultimately the state]], ''not'' how to [[KickTheDog kick puppies]] [[ForTheEvulz left]] [[EvilOverlord and]] [[TheCaligula right]]. (Truth be told, if you need a book to ''tell'' you how to kick puppies left and right, you're probably not cut out to be the sort of nasty, tyrannical overlord Machiavelli predicts will be rewarded with his own head on a spike.)

-->--'''What he says right afterward, but what nobody seems to remember'''

Compare ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'', whose traditional author actually ''was'' that big a prick. See also ''Literature/DiscoursesOnLivy'', Machiavelli's other book, and HobbesWasRight. Also compare Kautilya's Arthashastra, which is a much more humane but ancient by many hundreds of years to the Prince

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Machiavelli blamed Italy's dominance by foreign powers on the fact that the Italian states all tended to rely on hired mercenaries in war; he devoted an entire chapter to why one should not rely on mercenaries, and put reminders in the other two chapters on warfare. And ''Discourses'' is rather critical of them as well. He pointed out that a soldier's purpose is to protect; a mercenary's is to ''damage'' at the least risk to themselves, which made them most dangerous to their allies and civilians, and least dangerous to the enemy. In battle they tended to get slaughtered, [[DirtyCoward in the unlikely event they turned up at all]]. Armies with more direct loyalty to their prince or their state tended to do much better.

Compare ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'', whose traditional author actually ''was'' that big a prick. See also ''Literature/DiscoursesOnLivy'', Machiavelli's other book, and HobbesWasRight. Also compare Kautilya's Arthashastra, which is a muh more humane but ancient by many hundreds of years to the Prince

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Machiavelli warns not to trust aristocrats and to avoid lavishness, as it would force the prince to raise taxes in order to support the court. And everyone knows that [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution higher taxes lead]] [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution to revolutions]].

Compare ''Literature/TheBookOfLordShang'', whose traditional author actually ''was'' that big a prick. See also ''Literature/DiscoursesOnLivy'', Machiavelli's other book, and HobbesWasRight.

* VetinariJobSecurity: Suggested as the best possible position to be in.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: By the common pop cultural idea of the book, you'd think it was a guide on being the biggest monster you could be.

* KingpinInHisGym: Keeping your body physically fit is just as important as keeping your mind sharp and your army strong. Hunting is Machiavelli's personal recommendation of physical activity.

* UnbuiltTrope: The advice it gives on conducting ThePurge above reads like a scathing [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of Literature/NineteenEightyFour ...except that it was written centuries prior.

** Hell, this is the whole book's point. There are plenty of examples where Machiavelli stresses the importance of pragmatism in politics.

** Hell, this is the whole book's point. There are plenty of examples where Machiavelli stresses the importance of pragmatism in politics.

* PoesLaw: It's still an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince#Interpretation_of_The_Prince_as_political_satire_or_as_deceit unresolved question]] whether Machivaelli was even being entirely serious. After all, it espouses a very different set of ideals from his regular work and is dedicated to the ruling family who arrested, tortured, and banished him... [[StrawmanHasAPoint but the advice he gives is very good and the arguments very persuasive nonetheless]].

* PoesLaw: It's still an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince#Interpretation_of_The_Prince_as_political_satire_or_as_deceit unresolved question]] whether Machivaelli was even being entirely serious. After all, it is dedicated to the ruling family who arrested, tortured, and banished him... [[StrawmanHasAPoint but the advice he gives is very good and the arguments very persuasive nonetheless]].

* PoesLaw: It's still an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince#Interpretation_of_The_Prince_as_political_satire_or_as_deceit unresolved question]] whether Machivaelli was even being entirely serious. After all, it is dedicated to the ruling family who arrested, tortured, and banished him.

* HiredGuns: The prince is advised to avoid these as often as possible, as they're [[OnlyInItForTheMoney difficult to control]].

[[PopculturalOsmosis Most people]] are familiar with Machiavelli as the man who said, "[[BeamMeUpScotty it is better to]] [[PopCulturalOsmosis be feared than loved]]". Over the years Machiavelli's name has become associated with [[DidYouActuallyBelieve dishonesty]], [[ChronicBackStabbingDisorder duplicity]], and [[TheUnfettered ruthlessness]], so much that they even [[{{Flanderization}} made his name an adjective most often used for unsavoury characters]]. However, Machiavelli repeats that while it is better for one to inspire fear, one must also remember not to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating inspire hatred]]. Machiavelli's original message was to stress the importance of ''pragmatism'' in politics, one of the attributes of modern politics. ''The Prince'' should be regarded as a guidebook to maintaining power for the good of the prince and [[WellIntentionedExtremist ultimately the state]], ''not'' how to [[KickTheDog kick puppies]] [[ForTheEvulz left]] [[EvilOverlord and]] [[TheCaligula right]]. (Truth be told, if you need a book to ''tell'' you how to kick puppies left and right, you're probably not cut out to be the sort of nasty, tyrannical overlord Machiavelli predicts will be rewarded with his own head on a spike.)

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade / {{Flanderization}}: By the common pop cultural idea of the book, you'd think it was a guide on being the biggest monster you could be.

Also, he wrote this book when Italy was in a very chaotic state: to ensure order the prince ''had'' to rule with an iron fist. Finally, one must remember that Machiavelli was attempting to ingratiate himself with the Medici, who had just taken over Florence (and promptly ignored his advice: they chose to be universally loved, and ended up massively in debt for it), and that most of his work was about supporting (smaller) republican regimes with an emphasis on freedom (although the means he recommended for operating and preserving them were rather, well, Machiavellian); more educated political theorists tend to regard him as something of a DeepCoverAgent for what eventually became modern liberal democracy. Though if so, that would ironically be a Machiavellian plan in itself. As later historians noted, Machiavelli wrote the book in vernacular and in plain language which means that it's a book that has had a wider audience than earlier works of political sciences.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: By the common pop cultural idea of the book, you'd think it was a guide on being the biggest monster you could be.

Written by Italian statesman Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli in 1513, ''The Prince'' (''Il Principe'') is the single most famous political treatise and the first entirely secular work of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance. At the time it was first published, ''The Prince'' was seen as extremely scandalous for its endorsement of ruthlessness and amorality. Nevertheless, it quickly became popular with politicians and remains highly influential in Western politics today. If there's any MagnificentBastard in ''anything'' set after the Renaissance, it's very probable he's taken cues from this book.[[note]]Although they aren't quite as likely to actually have an in depth knowledge of the book as much as a pop-culture impression. However, it should noted that many fascists during the 19th and 20th centuries were mostly inspired by this work, as many fascist dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini often kept a copy of this work, the later even wrote a thesis relating to this work.[[/note]]

--->''Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred.''

*** It's important to note that Renaissance thinkers like Machiavelli were very big fans of the [[AncientGreece Greeks]] and it's likely that he had heard the story of the Thirty Tyrants: a coterie of young aristocrats (some of them students of Creator/{{Socrates}}) who (with the support of 700 Spartan hoplites) took control of Athens after UsefulNotes/ThePeloponnesianWar. They proceded to execute all the leaders of the democratic tendency in Athens...and then all the ''potential'' leaders...and then all the ''suspected'' potential leaders. Naturally, [[GenocideBackfire the Athenians revolted]] and [[SelfFulfillingProphecy reinstated the democracy shortly thereafter]]. No doubt Machiavelli took note.

Also, he wrote this book when Italy was in a very chaotic state: to ensure order the prince ''had'' to rule with an iron fist. Finally, one must remember that Machiavelli was attempting to ingratiate himself with the Medici, who had just taken over Florence (and promptly ignored his advice: they chose to be universally loved, and ended up massively in debt for it), and that most of his work was about supporting (smaller) republican regimes with an emphasis on freedom (although the means he recommended for operating and preserving them were rather, well, Machiavellian); more educated political theorists tend to regard him as something of a DeepCoverAgent for what eventually became modern liberal democracy. Though if so, that would ironically be a Machiavellian plan in itself. As later historians noted, Machiavelli wrote the book in vernacular and in plain language which means that its a book that has had a wider audience than earlier works of political sciences.

*** It's important to note that Renaissance thinkers like Machiavelli were very big fans of the [[AncientGreece Greeks]] and it's likely that he had heard the story of the Thirty Tyrants: a coterie of young aristocrats (some of them students of Creator/{{Socrates}}) who (with the support of 700 Spartan hoplites) took control of Athens after UsefulNotes/ThePeloponnesianWar. They proceded to execute all the leaders of the democratic tendency in Athens...and then all the ''potential'' leaders...and then all the ''suspected'' potential leaders. Naturally, the Athenians revolted and reinstated the democracy shortly thereafter. No doubt Machiavelli took note.

* KansasCityShuffle: Just like Sun Tzu once said in his book ''Literature/TheArtOfWar'', deception is a very useful tool in both the military and the political game.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_prince_title_page.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Title page of a 1550 edition.]]