“The Prince” Summary (Chapter XV-XVIII)

Niccolò Machiavelli believes that rulers can embrace bad values in return for a stable regime for the sake of the people and the state in “The Prince”. Machiavelli directly points out a prince should use evil as a tool to combat evil. He argues that it is impossible to uphold every virtue, so one should focus on pretending to own all values instead. He mentions past great leaders such as Cyrus, Caesar and Alexander to illustrate that a prince should avoid establish himself as someone that has great acceptance but rather someone reluctant, which prevent people from taking advantage of it. He compares general Hannibal, a cruel leader, to Scipio, who is merciful towards his fellows, to show that having a strong character like Hannibal’s is essential to become a respected and feared leader, as long as he is not hated but only feared, but Scipio’s softness would only lead to failure. He then deploys the metaphor of “a lion and a fox” to explain that a prince has to be flexible in manipulating his men’s both disciplined and wild side. In his stance, it is necessary to lie and sometimes disobey his own words in exchange for a greater purpose. His chapters are concluded by emphasizing the importance for a prince to appear to possess all the positive characters and should not be shy from being unpleasant to achieve a long and stable regime, ultimately this means a peaceful and strong period for the country and the people.

Machiavelli, N. (2017). The Prince. In M. Austin (Ed), Reading the world: Ideas that matter (3rd ed.) New York: W. W. Norton & Co. 405–413. (Original work published in 1513.)

Niccoló Machiavelli Portrait [https://www.newsweek.com/550-years-niccolo-machiavelli-was-born-how-check-how-machiavellian-you-are-1408155]