Most Important Chapters - The Prince

6, 7, 15, 17, 18, 19, 25,

Ch6 In what modes can private citizens become princes? which is better/worse and why?

fortune (bad) - circumstances under such a rule are unstable and unsustainable.

virtue (good) - the more you rely on virtue, the stronger your rule will be as you have more power and control.

Big 4 Founders

Moses (Israel), Cyrus (Persia), Romulus (Rome), and Theseus (Athens)

What does NM say about the relationship between Moses and the other 3?

They were all one and the same because they were all armed prophets.

Main takeaway of chapter 6

Princes who acquire a state through their own ability/virtue have great difficulty in gaining power but find it very easy to maintain their rule afterwards.

Explain the archer metaphor.

Princes should aim higher than the paths of the past “great men” - even if they may not supersede these men - in order to know where they stand and be able to achieve the highest possible success in their plans. 

explain armed prophets vs. unarmed prophets and give examples.

the greatest foundings of principalities will always and only be accomplished by the armed prophet. the unarmed prophet is destined to lose. 

• if given the choice between arms and prophecy, choose arms.

ex. moses ordered the sons of levi to kill those who worshipped the false idol 

ex. brother savonarola - an unarmed prophet that became florence’s de facto ruler, but he had no arms to defend himself so when people came to doubt his rule he was eventually executed. 

What is Virtue to NM (vs the conventional definition)

Virtue is one’s ability to attain and maintain a state. it has nothing to do with the conventional definition that includes morality.

What is the primary difficulty when establishing a new principality as a new prince?

the incredulity of men when one establishes new orders: when one does this he makes enemies of those who benefitted from the old order and his lukewarm supporters.

What does NM propose about rhetoric, force, and the incredulity of men?

You can make people believe in your new order through force if rhetoric fails (which it always will because the populace is fickle and will eventually stop believing your new order out of their own will)

What is the relationship between fortune and virtue for NM?

Virtue is the skill and ability of the prince, while fortune should only provide the opportunity for a prince to establish power. A prince with great virtue can recognize and seize an opportunity that fortune presents.

takeaway for chapter 7

Princes who acquire a state through fortune or with the help of others gain power easily but have extreme difficulty maintaining it because they lack a solid foundation.

name the ancient and contempoprary examples of chapter 7

ancient:

1. darius gave cities to the greeks to rule over, they lost them

2. roman emperors elected by their soldiers

contemporary:

1. francsico sforza

2. cesare borgia

Who is Machiavelli's primary example of a prince who gained power by fortune? name how he failed and  succeeded.

Cesare Borgia. He was given his state by his father, Pope Alexander VI, but Machiavelli praises him for using incredible virtue to try and secure it

• failed due to his father’s sudden death and his own sickness. actually failed because he let julius ii be elected as pope

how is romagna an example of cruelty well used?

borgia instilled messer remirro de orco into romagna. his extremely cruelty lowered crimes and then executed him after crime lowered. he instileld orco to redirect the hate to him and then executed him in order to appease the masses. sets up a civil court with a president in order to give the illusion of “legality” (thus legitimizing himself)

What was Borgia’s actual downfall and what does that say about fortune accroding to NM?

Borgia’s actual downfall was allowing Julius ii (his father’s enemy) to be elected as pope. It’s a reassurance to the readers that fortune can always be controlled (even an individual so virtuous as cesare borgia didn’t succumb to fortune, but his own mistakes in the end).

What is the central argument to chapter 15 (and to the entire book)?

A prince must learn “how not to be good” and use this knowledge according to necessity. / a prince needs to learn how not to be good/moral in order to be good (virtuous). He needs to focus on the effectual truth of reality, not imaginary, idea states where rulers are perfectly virtuous (he can’t listen to the bible as living for anything else but yourself and your state will ruin you).