The Prince
The only way it was possible to get ahead was to be part of the inner circle. It didn't really matter what the issue was or what sort of implications it carried. All that mattered was knowing the right person, having the right information, making the right introductions, and going to the right parties. The most valuable information was not necessarily something you knew about an enemy but something you knew about a friend. Staff and "advisors" were, in many ways, far more powerful than the aristocrat holding office. As much as it sounds like it, it was not late 20th century Washington, D.C. but early 16th century Italy. The tell all book is not "Primary Colors," "And the Horse He Rode In," or any other modern political tell-all but the most infamous political book of all time, "The Prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527). Machiavelli entered government service as a clerk and rose to prominence when the Florentine Republic was proclaimed in 1498. His duties included missions to the French king (1504, 1510-11), the Holy See (1506), and the German emperor (1507-8). In the course of his diplomatic missions within Italy he became acquainted with many of the Italian rulers and was able to study their political tactics, p
not unlike the close of the20th century in America. The Prince who is uninterested in war becomes contemptible, and this attitude on the part of others must be guarded against at all costs. In his most famous work, The Prince, he describes the method by which a prince can acquire and maintain political power. To a great degree, the world is not that difficult for the properly trained and aware "prince" to control. Despite his attempts to gain favor with the Medici rulers, he was never restored to his prominent government position. In the same chapter, Machiavelli goes on to tell the story what can happen to the princes who fails: "Francesco Sforza, a private citizen, learned the arts of war, and through their use became Duke of Milan. After his release he retired to his estate near Florence, where he wrote his most important works. His sons, who were not interested in war, lost Milan and became private citizens. articularly those of Cesare Borgia, who was at that time engaged in enlarging his holdings in central Italy. Without regard to its historic application, The Prince still remains a great work. It is an attempt to deal with the world as it is, and not as it should be. Correct knowledge of war can keep a Prince who has been born to rule in power, and may enable those who were not born princes to rise to that position" (Machiavelli). In his view, a prince should be concerned only with power and be bound only by rules that would lead to success in political actions. If one accepts his belief that man is essentially corrupt (which is not especially different from Church dogma), and if one believes that man will not be called upon to answer for his sins in the afterlife, leaving him free to pursue worldly goals, then The Prince presents an extremely logical world. This French invasion, although it produced no great political results, was highly important as a means by which Italian culture was spread throughout Europe.
Common topics in this essay:
Italy French,
Cesare Borgia,
Medici Florentine,
Duke Milan,
,
XIV Prince,
Florentine Republic,
Ludovico Sforza,
Niccolo Machiavelli,
VIII France,
20th century,
cesare borgia,
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