Machiavelli
has created a ruthless guide on how to rule the country in his volume
"The Prince". The book is dedicated to Lorenzo De Medici, the ruler of
Florence. The author explains in simple language about the nature of
great men and the characters of the government. The first chapter gives
an outline of the book discussing various styles of ruling as a prince,
character traits that a ruler should have and the political situation
of Italy in the 16th century. The book is composed of 26 chapters which fall into four major sections.
In part one Machiavelli discusses the four types of principalities.
The first type is hereditary princedoms meaning they are inherited by
the ruler. There are also mixed principalities which are seized by
force, civic principalities which are acquired by various criminal
methods and finally ecclesiastical principalities influenced by the
church. Machiavelli outlines how to maintain a newly acquired territory
as these various types of principalities. The author details the characters of a prince for example paying close
consideration to the armed forces so that they help him keep his power.
There are four types of armies that are identified by the author
beginning with mercenaries who are the hired soldiers and tend to be
unreliable and dangerous. There are also auxiliaries which are the
soldiers lent by other rulers, native troops which are the soldiers in
their own country and lastly the mixed troops which will have soldiers
from native troops, auxiliaries and mercenaries. Machiavelli also takes a chapter to put forth the character and behavior
of a prince. In an ideal world a virtuous prince would do well.
Additionally Machiavelli considers it better to be economical than to be
generous, pitiless than amorous and sneaky rather than sincere.
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