In The Prince, the Discourses, and in the Life of Castruccio Castracani, he describes " prophets ," as he calls them, like Moses, Romulus, Cyrus the Great, and Theseus ( he treats pagan and Christian patriarchs in the same way ) as the greatest of new princes, the glorious and brutal founders of the most novel innovations in politics, and men whom Machiavelli assures us have always used a large amount of armed force and murder against their own people.

Firstly, particularly in the Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli is unusual in the positive side he sometimes seems to describe in factionalism in republics.

Machiavelli said that The Prince would be about princedoms, mentioning that he has written about republics elsewhere ( possibly referring to the Discourses on Livy although this is debated ), but in fact he mixes discussion of republics into this in many places, effectively treating republics as a type of princedom also, and one with many strengths.

Niccolò Machiavelli, building on this opposition, conflates all rule by a single person ( whom he generally refers to as a " prince ") with " tyranny ," regardless of the legitimacy of that rule, in his Discourses on Livy.

# Niccolò Machiavelli – The Prince ; Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy

Further, it is not at all clear that Machiavelli himself was the apologist for immorality as whom he is often portrayed: the basic problem is the apparent contradiction between the monarchism of The Prince and the republicanism of the Discourses.

Italian Niccolò Machiavelli in The Discourses was the first modern political theorist to review the history and practices of the Romans in any depth.

# Niccolò Machiavelli – The Prince ; Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy

* The Discourses by Niccolò Machiavelli ( 1974 )

Guicciardini was critical of some of the ideas expressed by Machiavelli in his Discourses on Livy, " Guicciardini's principal objection to the theories which Machiavelli advanced in the Discourses was that Machiavelli put things ' too absolutely.

* Considerazioni intorno ai " Discorsi " del Machiavelli sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio (" Observations on Machiavelli's Discourses "; 1528, or possibly 1530 )

Niccolò Machiavelli agreed that Sparta was noteworthy for its long and static existence, but nevertheless asserted that, for virtù and glory, Rome was much preferable ( Discourses ).

Niccolò Machiavelli recounted it in his 1531 Discourses on Livy, and presents both a criticism of the Romans and Alba Longans ( that they would allow the fate of a war come down to single combat ) and also a commendation of the Romans ' willingness to pass a sentence of death upon one who had so recently saved the city.

Niccolò Machiavelli, author of The Prince and Discourses on Livy, served under him as second chancellor and as ambassador to Cesare Borgia, Rome and France.

Machiavelli dedicates the Discourses to two friends, Zanobi Buondelmonti and Cosimo Rucellai, both of whom appear in Machiavelli's Art of War.

The madman strategy can be related to Niccolò Machiavelli, who, in his Discourses on Livy ( book 3, chapter 2 ) discusses how it is at times " a very wise thing to simulate madness ".

In his overtly republican Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy, Machiavelli returned to Bruni's republican perspective on Tacitus.

* Machiavelli, The Discourses, English translation by Fr Leslie J. Walker, S. J.

Cicero also describes anacyclosis in his philosophical work De re publica, as well as Machiavelli in Book I, Chapter II in his Discourses on Livy.

Machiavelli attributes two episodes to Cesare Borgia that were at least partially executed by his father: the method by which the Romagna was pacified, which Machiavelli describes in chapter VII of The Prince, and the assassination of his captains on New Year's Eve of 1503 in Senigallia.

The Machiavelli family are believed to be descended from the old marquesses of Tuscany and to have produced thirteen Florentine Gonfalonieres of Justice, one of the offices of a group of nine citizens selected by drawing lots every two months, who formed the government, or Signoria.

Aside from that, Machiavelli believed that public and private morality had to be understood as two different things in order to rule well.

Machiavelli divides the subject of new states into two types, " mixed " cases and purely new states.

Machiavelli breaks this case into two basic types, depending upon which section of the populace supports the new prince.

The two activities Machiavelli recommends practicing to prepare for war are physical and mental.

Machiavelli compares two great military leaders: Hannibal and Scipio Africanus.

Regarding two warring states, Machiavelli asserts it is always wiser to choose a side, rather than to be neutral.

Drawing on Niccolò Machiavelli in The Prince, and trying to understand why there had been no Communist revolution in Western Europe, whilst there had been in Russia, Gramsci conceptualised this hegemony as a centaur, consisting of two halves.

" Machiavelli advised in The Prince " never to attempt to win by force what can be won by deception ," and Thomas Hobbes wrote in Leviathan: " In war, force and fraud are the two cardinal virtues.

The two books entitled La Tirannide and the Essays on Literature and Government are remarkable for elegance and vigour of style, but are too evidently imitations of the manner of Machiavelli.

Guicciardini was friends with Niccolò Machiavelli ; the two maintained a lively correspondence until the latter's death in 1527.

* Observations on Machiavelli's Discorsi, which bring into relief the views of Italy's two great theorists on statecraft in the 16th century, and show that Guicciardini regarded Machiavelli somewhat as an amiable visionary or political enthusiast ;

The piece used the literary device of a dialogue between two diabolical plotters in Hell, the historical characters of Machiavelli and Montesquieu.

Ritter describes two sorts of values as generated by two different types of polities: one traditionally Anglo-Saxon and the other continental, as personified by More and Machiavelli.

The piece used the literary device of a dialogue between two diabolical plotters in Hell, the historical characters of Machiavelli and Montesquieu, to cover up a direct, and illegal, attack on Napoleon's rule.

However, many later disapproved of his actions, including to an extent Machiavelli, who claimed " It cannot be called prowess to kill fellow-citizens, to betray friends, to be treacherous, pitiless, irreligious.

Furthermore, Machiavelli " was too thoughtful not to know what he was doing and too generous not to admit it to his reasonable friends ".

Strauss however sees this also as a sign of major innovation in Machiavelli, because classical materialists did not share the Socratic regard for political life, while Machiavelli clearly did.

There is no tragedy in Machiavelli because he has no sense of the sacredness of “ the common .” —

However, Machiavelli went far beyond other authors in his time, who in his opinion left things to fortune, and therefore to bad rulers, because of their Christian beliefs.

Allan Gilbert wrote: " In wishing new laws and yet seeing danger in them Machiavelli was not himself an innovator ," because this idea was traditional and could be found in Aristotle's writings.

According to Machiavelli, when a prince comes to power through luck or the blessings of powerful figures within the regime, he typically has an easy time gaining power but a hard time keeping it thereafter, because his power is dependent on his benefactors ' goodwill.

Machiavelli also warns against using auxiliary forces, troops borrowed from an ally, because if they win, the employer is under their favor and if they lose, he is ruined.

In addressing the question of whether it is better to be loved or feared, Machiavelli writes, “ The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other ; but because it is difficult to combine them, it is far safer to be feared than loved if you cannot be both .” As Machiavelli asserts, commitments made in peace are not always kept in adversity ; however, commitments made in fear are kept out of fear.

This chapter is possibly the most well-known of the work, and it is important because of the reasoning behind Machiavelli ’ s famous idea that it is better to be feared than loved – his justification is purely pragmatic ; as he notes, “ Men worry less about doing an injury to one who makes himself loved than to one who makes himself feared .” Fear is simply a means to an end, and that end is security for the prince.

This chapter shows a low opinion of flatterers ; Machiavelli notes that “ Men are so happily absorbed in their own affairs and indulge in such self-deception that it is difficult for them not to fall victim to this plague ; and some efforts to protect oneself from flatterers involve the risk of becoming despised .” Flatterers were seen as a great danger to a prince, because their flattery could cause him to avoid wise counsel in favor of rash action, but avoiding all advice, flattery or otherwise, was equally bad ; a middle road had to be taken.

In a well-known metaphor, Machiavelli writes that " it is better to be impetuous than cautious, because fortune is a woman ; and it is necessary, if one wants to hold her down, to beat her and strike her down.

According to Dietz the trap never succeeded because Lorenzo did not read the work and did not trust Machiavelli, a consistently staunch republican.

Machiavelli identifies a similar application to military strategy, advising in Book VI of The Art of War ( Dell ' arte della guerra ), that a Captain should endeavor with every art to divide the forces of the enemy, either by making him suspicious of his men in whom he trusted, or by giving him cause that he has to separate his forces, and, because of this, become weaker.

Niccolò Machiavelli believed that Sparta lasted a long time because " she did not permit strangers to establish themselves in the republic " and remarked that the Roman Republic took the opposite course of Sparta spelling her doom. It is to be noted, however, that the population of Sparta was in irreversible decline from the time of its victory in the Peloponnesian Wars, falling from 9, 000 Spartiates in 640 to 1, 000 after the battle of Leucra in 371, due to the refusal of miscegenation, selective infanticide and the desertion of patrician scions to more attractive foreign parts.

In his Mandragola Machiavelli, unlike the others, composed a comedy of character, creating personalities that seem living even now because he copied them from reality with a finely observant eye.

Ritter declares that Germany had to follow the realism of Machiavelli because of the security requirements of its geographic position.

Niccolò Machiavelli, at the beginning of the 16th century said: " We Italians are irreligious and corrupt above others ... because the church and her representatives have set us the worst example.