Historical Significance of the Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli.

Niccolo Machiavelli's book on the perfect form for a ruler, The Prince, is an extremely significant text in the history of European literature. Written from 1531- 1532, it was the first work Machiavelli had finished, though it was not the first to be published . This edition was translated by George Bull, first published in 1961 by Penguin Classics, which includes an introduction by Anthony Grafton. In the book Machiavelli sets out to describe to whomever may be concerned the ideal characteristics and actions of the perfect ruler, from his viewpoint, of any area in size and any ruler in the world. In this essay I plan to review The Prince, detailing the points Machiavelli explores that he believes makes an ideal ruler, and in the end showing the historical significance the text holds.

Nicolo Machiavelli was born on May 3rd in fourteen sixty nine in Florence, Italy. He was a secretary to a governing body in Florence, which gave him the responsibility of planning diplomatic missions and the organisation of the citizen army. However, due to the resurfacing of the Medici family in Florence, Machiavelli was imprisoned and tortured at the behest of the Medici's, under the assumption he was conspiring against them. He was eventually released, but was not given a governmental position. The latter part of his life was therefore devoted to writing. His writing was to be found in a variety of topics and styles, ranging from political theoretical writings, poetry, prose works, plays, and also a history of Florence, written in many volumes. The first of these works that he finished was his most well known, The Prince. He would be remembered for this most of all despite the multitude of work that he expounded near the end of his life. He died in fifteen twenty seven, hounded by many who saw The Prince and his other works as immoral and dangerous.

In The Prince Machiavelli discusses the role that fortune can play in a ruler's life; Machiavelli reveals to us how he believes that fortune is not always an inevitability; he sees it as something that may be shaped depending on the individuals situation and also their own shrewdness. This is called virtu, or virtue, which entails that an effective leader can change the world around them to fulfil their own needs. The idea of fortune stemmed from the goddess Fortuna of ancient Rome and is also derived from Renaissance Italy. Machiavelli believes in fortune, but is not of the mindset that it completely encapsulates the actions of our everyday lives; unlike others, as he says, he does not believe that 'events are controlled by fortune and by God in such a way that the prudence of men cannot modify them, indeed, that men have no influence whatsoever' . That is, that a person's fortune is an insurmountable thing, and is not subject to being bent to one's own will. Therefore, because of this we should not be 'sweating over things, but that one should submit to the rulings of chance' and not worry about it as it is an inevitable thing. Instead, what Machiavelli believes is that fortune is not governing our lives entirely; it does not decide everything that we do. It is more like that the two are split; free will and fortune are the two forces which steer us through our lives. Fortune may govern us at times, but we ourselves are also able to take action and be responsible for our deeds; 'I believe that it is probably true that fortune is the arbiter of half the things we do, leaving the other half or so to be controlled by ourselves' .

Machiavelli goes on to give us two examples of fortune as real life elements, explaining it in this way so as to strengthen his argument. He first compares fortune as if it were 'one of those violent rivers'; while one may try to change what is inevitable, his attempts will be eventually revealed as fruitless; '...everybody flees before them, everybody yields to their impetus, yet there is no possibility of resistance' . This is Machiavelli explaining to us the unpredictability, affecting and violent nature of fortune. However, as he goes on to explain, one can be safeguarded from fortune with preparation and hindsight, a quality Machiavelli praises above all others. Hindsight will be a most helpful tool when it comes to swaying fortune, be it for a singular individual or an entire country; 'it does not follow that when they are flowing quietly one cannot take precautions, constructing dykes and embankments so... they would keep to one channel or their impetus be less wild and dangerous' . The second description is in relation to how one should relate to fortune, which will be discussed later; 'Fortune is a woman and if she is to be submissive it is necessary to beat and coerce her' . In this, Machiavelli means that a ruler should not be commanded by fortune entirely nor let it choose the outcomes of his life; therefore

...