Niccolo Machiavelli, the author of a well known political essay, The Prince, was a
             republican in Italy when his country was divided into city-states. He wrote this essay in prison,
             and tried to inspire the ruler to defend his country and maintain his power. Confucius, one of the
             greatest Chinese philosophers, wrote The Sacred Books of Confucius. In his essay, he taught his
             students how to be a virtuous ruler and how to set up a good example to govern his people. They
             both had some different opinions about human itself , the character of a ruler, and the issue of the
             punishment of the disobedient. While Confucius believed a virtuous ruler should make a good
             example for his innocent people, and reform or educate them to be the greatest follower and to be
             loyal to himself, Machiavelli thought that since all humans are evil, Confucius¡¯s idea of setting up
             a good example for the people would not changed the basic character of human being instead an
             experienced ruler should be feared from everyone when he appeared to be faithful for them.
             In Confucius¡¯ essay, he showed his love for all humans kind. He believed human nature
             can be good, that human beings are born with no given, definable nature at all and are therefore
             infinitely malleable. He stated that ¡° the virtue of the prince is the wind, and that of the common
             people the grass. The grass bends in the direction of the wind ¡°(197). He compared human beings
             to the grass, who always follow their example or leader and go the same direction as he is. He
             viewed a human being as a natural creature whose nature could be explained causally in terms of
             impressions coming from the environment. By the meaning of the following, Confucius believed
             human nature also can be taught. It can be changed from evil to good, from dishonest to upright.
             When his student asked him ¡°what more shall be done for the people?¡± He replied ¡°enrich them!...