Simon Clark's Reviews > The Prince
The Prince
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'We can say that cruelty is used well... when it is employed once for all, and one's safety depends on it, and then it is not persisted in but as far as possible turned to the good of one's subjects.'
The Prince is unlike anything I've read before. In many ways it feels like a truly evil book. Stalin, for example, kept an annotated copy of it. It reads as the blueprint for tyrants, despots, and politicians around the world - a guide to how the world of the powerful and the powerless truly works. But, sadly, it does work. It is not evil insofar as it is clearly correct in its observations. Which raised several questions in the process of reading it about how I live my life.
The book falls into a category known as 'Mirrors for Princes', being books designed to educate the children of powerful men how to rule. The Prince in particular is written as a letter from Machiavelli to Lorenzo de Medici in 26 sections. Each section contains a few nuggets of information, supported by evidence from contemporary politics or from the ancient world. While some of the language and style (reviewing the translation by George Bull) is definitely archaic, in many ways it feels very modern. To begin with these sections focus on defining, conquering, and subjugating principalities, with practical advice for princes on how to make, and hold on to, territorial gains. Later however the text shifts, and focuses more on the nature of being a ruler and how to play the political game. The jist of the book can be summarised as 'effective truth is more important than any ideals, and power and survival justify any means, even if they are immoral'.
As such after getting over frankly rather tiresome advice on whether or not to live in a newly-conquered territory or to govern from abroad, or the benefits of mercenaries versus a civilian army, the book takes a decidedly evil turn. Machiavelli praises men who do terrible, violent, underhanded deeds in the name of retaining power, and worst of all as a reader you can't help but see the logic to it all. These are the unspoken rules of how men like Tywin Lannister and Walter White in fiction stay at the top of the pyramid, and how men like Stalin and Saddam Hussein ruled with an iron fist. To see the rules of the game laid bare in front of you is a disconcerting experience, and makes you ask yourself: why do I not do this? While not a totally satisfying answer, perhaps I (erroneously?) value abstract ideals more than survival.
I have read discussion that The Prince may have been written as a satire (from the preface: 'to comprehend fully the nature of the people, one must be a prince, and to comprehend fully the nature of princes one must be an ordinary citizen') but to me this book is a comprehensive primer on how to rule and be feared. It is dangerous, fascinating, and demands to be read.
The Prince is unlike anything I've read before. In many ways it feels like a truly evil book. Stalin, for example, kept an annotated copy of it. It reads as the blueprint for tyrants, despots, and politicians around the world - a guide to how the world of the powerful and the powerless truly works. But, sadly, it does work. It is not evil insofar as it is clearly correct in its observations. Which raised several questions in the process of reading it about how I live my life.
The book falls into a category known as 'Mirrors for Princes', being books designed to educate the children of powerful men how to rule. The Prince in particular is written as a letter from Machiavelli to Lorenzo de Medici in 26 sections. Each section contains a few nuggets of information, supported by evidence from contemporary politics or from the ancient world. While some of the language and style (reviewing the translation by George Bull) is definitely archaic, in many ways it feels very modern. To begin with these sections focus on defining, conquering, and subjugating principalities, with practical advice for princes on how to make, and hold on to, territorial gains. Later however the text shifts, and focuses more on the nature of being a ruler and how to play the political game. The jist of the book can be summarised as 'effective truth is more important than any ideals, and power and survival justify any means, even if they are immoral'.
As such after getting over frankly rather tiresome advice on whether or not to live in a newly-conquered territory or to govern from abroad, or the benefits of mercenaries versus a civilian army, the book takes a decidedly evil turn. Machiavelli praises men who do terrible, violent, underhanded deeds in the name of retaining power, and worst of all as a reader you can't help but see the logic to it all. These are the unspoken rules of how men like Tywin Lannister and Walter White in fiction stay at the top of the pyramid, and how men like Stalin and Saddam Hussein ruled with an iron fist. To see the rules of the game laid bare in front of you is a disconcerting experience, and makes you ask yourself: why do I not do this? While not a totally satisfying answer, perhaps I (erroneously?) value abstract ideals more than survival.
I have read discussion that The Prince may have been written as a satire (from the preface: 'to comprehend fully the nature of the people, one must be a prince, and to comprehend fully the nature of princes one must be an ordinary citizen') but to me this book is a comprehensive primer on how to rule and be feared. It is dangerous, fascinating, and demands to be read.
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Reading Progress
October 2, 2017
–
Started Reading
October 2, 2017
– Shelved
January 26, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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Jul 29, 2019 08:00PM
"For the vulgar crowd is always taken by appearances" Machiavelli
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