Prince VIII (Redux)
More examples of cruelty well used
Chapter 10 contains a lesson for the conqueror. Again, we find no Italian examples in the chapter, which may indicate that it bears upon Italy most of all.
Machiavelli discusses how it is that one who invades a country with fortresses will act: he will burn and ruin the countryside upon arrival, which will only bind the people to the prince that much more – they’ll have nothing left to lose. The defender would seem to have nothing to worry about.
But if you are the conqueror, what is the takeaway? Burn everything slowly. Burn the houses and farms one at a time at random. Make the people watch as the property of their neighbors is destroyed while they worry that theirs will be next. Those with stuff to lose will pressure the prince to do something about the threat, after all he is supposed to keep their persons and property safe from threats foreign and domestic.
Notice every lesson in political life cuts both ways. When you tell someone what to do, you are also implicitly telling the others what they can do to counter it.
Machiavelli also makes explicit that men are obligated more by the benefits they give than they are by those they receive – which is something all women are aware of. Think of how women get men to be more committed to them, they have them give them things and do things for them. Part of this is the understanding of quid pro quo. But another part is that we are influenced by the hopes for the future, as we invest ourselves into it, we spend more time trying to make the hopes reality. The lesson is to let people do things for you as they become invested in you and thus more attached to you. They are literally invested in your success.
Chapter 11 is another chapter which falls outside the scope of the original design of the book as set down in the first chapter. Here we find out that Cesare Borgia was the instrument of the Pope, that the Pope has an army, and that everything that was said to be done by Cesare was in fact done by the Pope.
At this point we should note the first eleven chapters of The Prince provide Machiavelli’s static political science. Contained in these chapters are general rules that do not really vary depending upon particular political circumstances. The remainder of the book shows the dynamic relationships between political forces.
Chapters 12, 13, and 14 are about soldiers. Consider the following, if Machiavelli understands himself to be a prince, or at least a kind of prince, one that influences through his writing and rules through thoughts, then his soldiers are those who have read, understood, and accepted what he has written. Are you one of Machiavelli’s soldiers? If not, why not?
We learn that there are two components to every good regime: good laws and good arms; that where there are good arms, there are good laws; and that there cannot be good laws where there are not good arms. As a result, he will simply speak of good arms. Does this make sense to you? Think about it: one needs food and shelter for the good life, one cannot have the good life without food and shelter, therefore I will speak of food and shelter.
o We moderns tend to focus on the condition of good laws and not the good laws themselves—“It’s the economy, stupid.” Machiavelli would highlight that the focus on good laws does nothing to provide the good state needed to have them. In the end, for Machiavelli, good laws are reduced to those that keep order.