Tag: The Prince

The Portrayal of Religion in Italian Literature 

Throughout this semester, we have learned and read the works of several Italian writers and poets, including Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Niccolò Machiavelli. While one topic in these texts was women, it was apparent that religion was a runner-up in terms of significance and popularity. In fact, the majority of these writers followed the Christian, Catholic religions and discussed their points of view on the religion as a whole. 

Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell

Firstly, this can be viewed in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Dante states unequivocally that Christianity is the only genuine religion. Belief in Jesus’ divinity is required for admission to Paradiso (heaven), Purgatorio (purgatory), and, in most cases, Inferno (hell). Dante believes that non-belief is not excused by ignorance of Jesus’ presence. He considers Christianity to be not only the path to happiness but also a necessary component of his concept of what it is to be a virtuous, genuine person, which in turn is a strong opinion for one to have in today’s society since there are so many religions and ways of life. Dante’s devotion to orthodox Christianity and criticism of priests reflect his fears and concerns about the Church’s foundation. He was also very adamant about his beliefs of the separation of church and state. He describes his constant anger for church officials who abandon their religious duties in order to obtain wealth and power. For instance, in Canto 33, Archbishop Ruggieri is found in the second band of the ninth circle. Here Ugolino, an innocent man found guilty alongside his four sons by Ruggieri, is found chewing on Ruggieri’s head. Since the archbishop left them locked in a tower and starved them to death after Ugolino clearly put his trust in the archbishop, he was now condemned to Antenora, the traitor’s band of the ninth circle, with his head being chewed off by the man he betrayed forever. This is one of many stories portrayed in the Divine Comedy by Dante that clergymen are punished due to their wrongdoings in life. 

Illustrations of Laura and Petrarca

 Additionally, religion, though not the main factor in Il Canzoniere by Francesco Petrarca, is a vital factor in the development of the text. His poems, mainly inspired by his lover, Laura, show him on his path to reach happiness and glory. However, he realizes that only faith in Christianity is how he can achieve this glow and happiness. This leaves him in a constant war with himself regarding love and religion. In Canzoniere 264, Petrarca states “I go thinking, and so strong a pity for myself assails me in thought, that I’m forced sometimes to weep with other tears than once I did: for seeing my end nearer every day, I’ve asked God a thousand times for those wings with which our intellect can rise from this mortal prison to heaven.” (“Petrarch (1304–1374) – The Complete Canzoniere: 245-305”) This depicts Petrarca contemplating the cost of his devotion to Laura. He is in excruciating pain as a result of it. He considers his love for Laura to be a threat and distraction to his faith. 

Although Catholicism was prominent during this time, Boccaccio on the other hand made it clear that he did not approve of the Church’s activities and behavior, remarkably similar to Dante. Religion was seen to be practiced by foolish people in The Decameron. He saw that the church was a breeding ground for evil, and “marriage” was a meaningless transaction. The Decameron Web also describes that these texts were seen to be “a favorite topic of mockery” when it came to religion. His Day One, Story One in The Decameron regarded a man that made many sins, by the name of Messire Chappelet du Prat, but because he confessed all of his sins before he died, The Friar left thinking that this enormous sinner was a truly holy man. This man was declared a saint and was admired by Catholics. The main narrative was criticism of saint adoration and the Catholic Church’s organization and infrastructure, but not on Catholicism as a religion. 

Also similar to Dante, Machiavelli attempted to subjugate religion to the state and give the state a non-religious character by totally separating religion from politics. He considered politics to be a separate activity with its own set of rules and regulations. In The Prince, Machiavelli frequently argued that religion was fabricated and that it was utilized to impose oppressive laws, additionally believing that Christianity made people unproductive and weak. The Prince cannot be bound by moral or religious reasons and he exists beyond morality. He may achieve his goals by depending on faith. Religion has no power over politics, and the church has no authority over the state. As a result, he proposed separating religion, morality, and politics. In political concerns, the king has the last say, and all other centers must be subject to political authority. In Chapter 18, he instructs Lorenzo with astounding, if not reckless, honesty, “There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious.” Here he is stating that even if a Prince may act the opposite, he should always be perceived as religious amongst other things. Machiavelli understands that many individuals are prepared to accept all types of dishonesty as long as their country is wealthy, prosperous, and peaceful. The most problematic component of Machiavelli’s life was his views on religion, particularly Christianity because the worst aspect of the age in which he lived was the prevalent corruption and greed among the Italian authorities and church officials. 

Overall, religion is a common theme amongst these writers. Though many of them are known to be religious, they do not agree with Church. In other words, they disagreed with the Christian and Catholic infrastructure because of the constant corruption found and had no issue sharing their opinions on this. Many were in fact known as humanists of the Renaissance era. 

The Intersection of politics and writing in The Prince and The Divine Comedy

Politics and art are usually thought to be on two different planes, politics is the real world and art is an imaginary world created by the artist but that is completely wrong; Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Machiavelli’s The Prince prove that they both affect each other very much. Both Dante Alighieri and Niccolo Machiavelli tied their work to the politics of their hometown, Florence Italy but they did so in very different ways. 

The Divine Comedy was written by Dante in the 1300s while he was living in exile from Florence due to his allegiance with the white Guelf political party in Florence who were defeated by the black Guelfs. Throughout this exile and even while writing his poems, it is evident that he believes an emperor would be the best person to lead Florence. This was clear in Canto 34 when Dante the pilgrim, sees Satan in the Ninth circle of hell and described what he sees. Lucifer is described as having three heads with a sinner being held in each mouth. Two of the sinners, one in the right and another in the left, were two of the biggest betrayers of Julius Cesar, one of the greatest and most powerful emperors to ever walk the Earth who held power over all of the Roman Empire, including Dante’s native Florence. The inclusion of both Brutus and Cassius highlights how much Dante the author believes in the power of an emperor, so much so that instead of relegating Brutus and Cassius to just the Ninth circle of inferno, he makes them suffer the most in Satan’s mouth where he “with gnashing teeth he tore to bits a sinner, so that he brought much pain to three at once.”, which shows just how much their betrayal of Julius disgusted Dante the author. However, the third sinner that was the biggest traitor of them all, was Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus Christ. He is in Satan’s middle mouth, which shows just how deep his betrayal had been, even when compared to Brutus and Cassius.

Dante’s Satan

The decision to use that subtle detail highlights Dante’s most important political thought, the idea that any emperor as powerful as they may be, is still subordinate to God. Similarly, Dante believes that the only way to achieve peace is to have a political system where all politics is “seen as deriving from that of the Emperor, who in turn derives his political authority from God.”[1] This is why Judas is in the middle, although the betrayal of Julius Cesar was tragic, nothing and no one is more important or powerful than God and to betray God as Judas did is the biggest sin one can commit. This is where Dante differs from Machiavelli, Machiavelli’s writings display a somewhat secular way of ruling, he talks much more about human nature than God’s will and guidance when it comes to ruling.

Machiavelli’s The Prince was written over 200 years after The Divine Comedy was written but yet it still is still heavy in the author’s political opinion. It is much more logical and straightforward than The Divine Comedy, but it is just as, or even more opinionated in terms of politics than Dante’s writings. In The Prince, Machiavelli describes what he believes a good leader should do while ruling over his or her land and it acts as a guidebook for rulers. Machiavelli himself was exiled from Florence after the ruling family at the time, the Medicis, did not like his involvement in a movement to drive them out of the city. He in turn writes The Prince while in exile to Lorenzo De Medici, the current leader of Florence, as a way to get back on his family’s good graces; to put it simply, without politics The Prince wouldn’t exist at all. He writes about how he believes a prince should act towards his people, sometimes even stating that being evil in terms of politics is not an inherently bad thing, as well as tackling questions such as “is it better for a ruler to be feared or loved by his people?” He calls for a balance between being ruthless and being merciful as a leader and just generally gives secular and straightforward advice as compared to the poetry that was lined with allegories that Dante wrote 2 centuries prior and he uses “..his own experience as a foreign secretary in Florence.”[2] as a background for The Prince. However, Christian thought and biblical mentions can be seen throughout his writing, especially in Chapter 6, where he mentions Moses and his rise to power using force. Although he speaks about Moses in a more historical sense than a Christian sense, it is clear he still looks to the Bible as a basis for his ideas. He speaks about God in a more religious sense in the finishing chapter of The Prince chapter 34, where he speaks about God favoring the Lorenzo Medici which somewhat suggests that he agrees with Dante, that God should be placed above leaders(or that at least he’s willing to write that to get back to Florence.)

In today’s society, it is incredibly easy to divide the world into the arts and the “real world”, but both these writings from two different time periods show that there most art is a mix of both the artists’ real world experiences and opinions and their imagination.

A portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli

References:

[1] https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/discover-dante/doc/inferno/page/13

[2] https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Prince

Cruelty in The Prince

See the source image
by: R Solow. A picture of the fox and lion Machiavelli uses to describe when it’s necessary to be cruel.

In Machiavelli’s The Prince, he mentions countless themes and topics such as free will, cruelty, and virtue. Machiavelli believes that cruelty should be advised only in instances where it’s necessary. His views were more clearly shown in chapters 8 and 17. In chapter 8 he advises the prince against injuring his peasants on a regular basis, as this will make him loathed. Instead, he must only be cruel when it is absolutely essential to avert worse wrongdoing. In The Prince, it wasn’t a matter of whether cruelty was wrong or not it was a matter of whether it is used well or not. In Chapter 17 he mentions the instances where being cruel is necessary. In Chapter 17 he states, “You must know there are two ways of contesting, the one by the law, the other by force; the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the second. Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the beast and the man.” In this Machiavelli basically shows his view on cruelty, he believes that the amount and severity depend on the person and situation you are dealing with. In his metaphor when dealing with someone who is a snare you must act like a fox, and for those who are wolves, you must act like a lion. The more power the person has the more necessary cruelty is.  

Generosity in The Prince

Portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, specifically in Chapter 16, begins by examining generosity in a ruler. While Machiavelli believes that a prince’s reputation for generosity is “splendid,” he also believes that a ruler who is truly kind “will come to grief.” To gain a reputation for generosity, a prince must be “ostentatiously lavish” to draw the public’s attention. Any ruler who spends extravagantly “will soon squander all his resources” and be compelled to “not mind being called a miser” on his subjects. If a ruler imposes enormous financial demands on his subjects, his subjects will despise him and detest his bad judgment. As a result, a wise ruler “doesn’t mind being dubbed a miser.” His “parsimony” will be perceived as generosity eventually since it relieves the people of the burden of heavy taxation. 

Nonetheless, Machiavelli advises princes to keep up the image of giving while avoiding genuine generosity. People will eventually perceive a prince’s stinginess as a type of charity since it protects their own property while also ensuring the state’s wealth and effectiveness. 

Pericoli dell´Estremismo

Niccolò Macchiavelli, Santi di Tito

Penso che sbagliamo nel giudicare Machiavelli come l’estremista immorale che conosciamo. Dopo aver fatto parte della Seconda Signoria di Firenze come consigliere, ha solo approfondito la sua comprensione di come funziona la politica. Nella maggior parte dei casi, Machiavelli offre consigli realistici su come un leader dovrebbe agire e pensare. La crudezza dell’esempio nel confrontare Oliverotto da Fermo e Agatocle di Siracusa mostra una certa mancanza di empatia per la vita umana. In tutta onestà, in nessun punto Machiavelli invoca la violenza; si limita a presentare che è comunemente noto che il modo più efficace per conquistare uno stato passa attraverso la violenza necessaria. Gli esempi nel capitolo 8 mostrano il sorpasso attraverso l’inganno. Solo una cosa li separa l’uno dall’altro, l’uso corretto e l’uso scorretto della violenza. Oliverotto, come Agatocle, inganna i capi di stato e li uccide. Questa prima mossa è quella che Machiavelli chiama violenza necessaria. Oliverotto abusa della violenza perché continua i suoi atti violenti e alla fine viene ucciso da Cesare Borgia. D’altra parte, Agatocle governò con successo Siracusa molto tempo dopo aver comandato l’omicidio del senato siracusano perché si era astenuto dal commettere atti inutili. Oliverotto diventa così l’esito negativo se un principe usa misure estreme per troppo tempo o troppo spesso.

Morals in ‘The Prince’

A portrait of Machiavelli

“The Prince” is a text by Machiavelli, an Italian poet, philosopher and diplomat. This text has a common theme of morality amongst the chapters. It often discusses the role that the prince must take on, along with what he should and shouldn’t be doing. Machiavelli spoke a lot about the dichotomy between sticking to one’s morals and doing what helps them stay in power; he states that the prince should be doing things to his own accord, whether it’s good or bad.  For example, in Chapter  15, Machiavelli states that “it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.” He says this because he believes that the prince should take all precautions when it comes to gaining and maintaining any power. Machiavelli also discusses how the prince needs to have a balance between acting like a man and acting like a beast. He states that there are two methods for this, “the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts; but because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the second. Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the beast and the man”. In chapter 18, he explains that this is necessary because if men were good, then there would be no need to consider being bad, however,“because they are bad, and will not keep faith with you, you too are not bound to observe it with them”.

Fortune In The Prince

Raging River Photograph by Janet Kopper
One of the images that Machiavelli places in our heads as fortune; which is that fortune is like a raging river, representing bad fortune

Early in “The Prince”, we see that Machiavelli believes that personal ability is very important, determining how well they can rule. In chapter 5, he talks about those who have risen the ranks through their own ability, and those who haven’t, rising through fortune. “where there is a new prince, more or less difficulty is found in keeping them, accordingly as there is more or less ability in him who has acquired the state”. With those who have risen only through fortune, Machiavelli believes that they will have difficulty keeping that power. Machiavelli talks more about fortune later on, and more on why fortune shouldn’t be relied on too much.

In chapter 25, Machiavelli uses a river to describe fortune. He talks how fortune can be a raging river that floods the plains and sweeps away anything in its path, but “when the weather becomes fair… their force be neither so unrestrained nor so dangerous.”. Later in the chapter, he talks about the prince determining their actions based off their circumstances; and how if their actions are not suited for the situation, they will not succeed. If their fortune is like a “raging river” and do not react properly, they will not succeed, and may even end up losing their power. Machiavelli believes that fortune is the first half of what your actions are, and that the other half is your free will, or what can be seen as your own ability. The prince’s ability to react to their fortune will determine whether or not they will successful.

Virtue in “The Prince”

Pope Alexander the Sixth, who Machiavelli mentions in chapter 18 of “The Prince” as someone who “never did what he said”.

One of the core themes of Machiavelli’s “The Prince” is that of virtue. In particular, “The Prince” stresses how important it is for a leader to appear to be virtuous. This is exemplified in chapter 18 especially, as seen in the quote “Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them”. In this passage, Machiavelli focuses on the balance between a leader’s appearance and his actions. He believes that in order to secure his power, a leader must appear to have various virtuous qualities (some of these qualities include being “merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright”) to his subjects, but he also needs to be prepared to act the opposite way if the time calls for it. Machiavelli even uses Alexander the Sixth, who “did nothing else but deceive men, nor ever thought of doing otherwise”, as an example of someone who mastered the art of deceiving people with his image. 

To help the reader better understand this concept, Machiavelli uses a simile in the first paragraph, as seen in the quote “ A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion…Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves”. In this quote, Machiavelli likens a leader’s behavior to that of both a fox and a lion (which represent a balance of intelligence and violence), and when a leader must adjust his behavior according to the circumstances. This particular chapter of “The Prince” is interesting because Machiavelli takes a different approach to the concept virtue than most would expect; While most people believe that a leader should be purely good and only exhibit humane traits, such as being merciful, Machiavelli acknowledges that this is unrealistic if a leader wants to maintain his power. Instead, he presents his opinion that actually being virtuous and having good qualities isn’t as important as appearing to have them, and that a leader’s behavior should be able to “turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it”.

The Prince: Cynicism

A painting of Hannibal and his army on the wall of the Capitoline Museum, Rome.

A painting of Hannibal and his army on the wall of the Capitoline Museum, Rome. In The Prince, Machiavelli praises Hannibal and the cruel tactics that he used to keep his enormous army together.

In hopes of obtaining the good graces of Lorenzo Medici, Machiavelli constructed a treatise that advised rulers how to secure and maintain power. Rooted in Machiavelli’s ideas was a poor impression of humanity and justifications for the unvirtuous acts that leaders may take. In chapter 17, he famously writes that “it is much safer to be feared than loved” if you cannot be both because men are “ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, [and] covetous.” All of these descriptions stem from a belief that people are inherently evil and motivated by self-interest. Furthermore, he uses this to say that a good leader should be equipped to fall back on their honesty and act immorally if they must. Therefore, in his mind, it is a good thing to “appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, [and] upright,” while also being fully prepared to do the opposite at any given time.