РефератыИностранный языкMaMachiavelli Essay Research Paper Niccolo Machiavelli was

Machiavelli Essay Research Paper Niccolo Machiavelli was

Machiavelli Essay, Research Paper


Niccolo Machiavelli was not one, but three men: a political theorist, a military


theorist, and a famous writer. Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence in 1469.


The Machiavelli family was one of the most prominent politically in the city,


having 15 Gonfaloniere among his ancestors.1 Niccolo?s father, Bernardo


Machiavelli was a legal consultant in the city, prominent participant in


humanist scholarship of the day, and close associate of the city?s First


Chancellor. Niccolo received the very top quality humanist education available.


We first hear of him playing an active role in the affairs of his native city in


1498, when the position for head of second chancery, came open. He was only


twenty-nine years old at the time, and didn?t have any previous experience.


However, his nomination was confirmed and he was appointed second chancellor of


the Florentine Republic.2 Machiavelli?s official position involved him in very


important duties. The first and second chanceries both handled official


correspondence dealing with Florence?s domestic, foreign, and military


affairs. As head of the second chancier, Machiavelli was also soon assigned the


further job of secretary to the Ten of War, the committee responsible for the


Florence?s diplomatic relations.3 In addition to his routine office duties, he


also traveled abroad to act as spokesman for the Ten. During the next fourteen


years, Machiavelli was sent on numerous diplomatic missions to France,


Switzerland, and Germany. In June 1500, Machiavelli was in France at the court


of Louis XII, negotiating for assistance in regaining Pisa, which had asserted


its independence form Florence and tried to establish an independent


city-state.4 There in France, Machiavelli saw first-hand the weak leadership of


the king. He also learned about the French Parliament and its difficulties in


resolving power struggles between the hereditary nobles and the common people.


The Medici reentered the city of Florence in 1512, after eighteen years. Within


weeks the free republic of Florence was swept away, and in came oligarchy, and


the Medici family assumed absolute power. In November 1512, Machiavelli was


dismissed from his government post and forbidden to leave Florentine territory


for a year.5 In February 1513, he was falsely accused of taking part in an


unsuccessful conspiracy against the Medici and was imprisoned.6 Early in the


same year, Cardinal Giovanni de? Medici was elected as pope as Leo X. The


election greatly strengthened the new regime in Florence. Along with


celebrations, they freed many political prisoners, including Machiavelli. As


soon as he was released, he tried to get his job back. With no response from the


Medici, he withdrew to his farm at Sant? Andrea. There Machiavelli began


writing ?The Prince?-describes the means by which a leader may gain and


maintain power. Machiavelli hoped that ?The Prince? would bring him to the


attention of the Medici. He wanted them to see that he was still their loyal


subject, and to impassive that he was a man worth employing.7 The year 1512 is


generally considered to have been the turning point of his life. Machiavelli,


throughout his whole life was involved in politics and writing.. He was a born


writer even when he was not trying. After he was dismissed from office, was when


he used his writing as means to get his job back. The Medici didn?t agree with


the book, and the public was outraged. The public thought he was cruel and


heartless for having such evil thoughts. Machiavelli never won the trust of the


Medici, and never got his job back. From 1513 to the time of his death in 15278,


he wrote numerous of political works including: The Prince, 1513; The Discourses


on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy, 1513-1518; The Discourse on the War with


Pisa, 1498; Report on the Fortif

ications of Florence, 1526; The Life of


Castruccio Castracani, 1520; The Art of War, 1517-1520, etc. In addition, he


wrote several literary works: Mandragola, a play; Clizia, an adaptation from


Plautus; Belfagor, a novel.9 The Medici was kicked out of Florence a few years


later.10 Machiavelli ran to take office, but his reputation with The Prince made


people think that his political views were like the Medici and was not elected.


Machiavelli continued to write and died peacefully in his home in 1527.11 Even


after his death he was criticized for his corrupt ruling. Machiavelli?s


purpose was to describe the realities of political life-not to set up a school


for tyrants. It was believed that rulers like Napoleon I and Adolf Hitler used


The Prince as a kind of textbook to guide them in the pursuit of power.12 If


Machiavelli?s exposition applies to the nineteenth–or twentieth-century


figures like Napoleon and Hitler, that is much more of an indication of how well


he understood the political dimensions of the human nature than it is evidence


that such figures learned their methods from him. Machiavelli believes that


military training is the source of human virtue because it forces the individual


to sacrifice for society.13 Ethics comes from the sacrifice of individual


interests to the state. Involuntary recruiting is the main form of education for


a people who want to be free and the best remedy for a people already corrupted


by indolence of peace.14 He thinks of educators as army leaders, not learned


academics.15 The youth of a country should become used to hardship and work, and


get used to fighting and not fear death. Idleness leads to indolence and


corruption. Frederick of Prussia wrote Refutation of Machiavelli?s Prince, or


Anti-Machiavel between 1739 and 174016. Frederick of Prussia attacks The Prince,


chapter by chapter. He completely missed Machiavelli?s point, while trying to


reconcile his own pessimistic and militaristic tendencies. ? My intention in


this work is to satisfy myself and to express my true convictions freely. If the


reader is sufficiently depraved not to like the truth or contradictions, he can


throw away this book. No one, assuredly, is forcing him to read it.?17


Frederick of Prussia criticizes Machiavelli all the way through the book, making


smart remarks ever so often. He states, ?Machiavelli is only striving by this


maxim to inspire princes with a secret jealousy for their generals and


allies.?18 He also says that Machiavelli only wrote for ?petty princes?19.


Was Hitler and Napoleon petty? He says that Machiavelli ?exaggerates so much


that he wants his prince to be nothing but a solider.?20 ? Throughout


Machiavelli?s writings, one can see that he was a very intelligent man. He was


first to see the connection between foreign and internal affairs, between armed


forces and the constitution. Yet, he is one of the most misunderstood and


distorted of philosophers. While Machiavell?s political career was much more


broad than of other political theorists, it was not in such an honorable


position as to achieve for him the fame he sought. His books, however, far


exceed in value the purpose for which they were created, and have earned for him


even more renown as a monumental political theorists than he could have possibly


dreamed.


Bibliography


1. Butterfield, Herbert. The Statecraft of Machiavelli. New York, Collier


Books. 1967,c1962. pp126. 2.. Fredrick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786. Anti-Machiavel.


Ohio University press, c1981. pp164. 3. Gilbert, Felix. Machiavelli and


Guicciardini. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, c1965. pp.349.


4. Jensen, De Lamar. Machiavelli: Cynic, Patriot, or Political Scientist?.


Boston, Heath, c1960. pp108. 5. Who2: Niccolo Machiavelli: Profile.


http://www.who2.com/niccolomachiavelli.html


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