Chapter Summary Of Machiavelli's The Prince

In chapter one this short chapter lays the foundation for Machiavelli's book. All kinds of authority, he says, can be divided into two large categories the republics and the principalities. Principalities can be either hereditary passed down from father to son or they can be new states acquired through military force or political fortune. Machiavelli continues by admitting that hereditary principalities are much easier to govern than those that are newly developed since the prince who rules by inheritance simply has to follow in the paths of his ancestors. The Duke of Ferrara is an example of such a prince. Though he was attacked by outside forces on two separate occasions, the fact that he was a hereditary prince placed him on good standing
with the people of his city. Machiavelli argues a key point here in regards to a people’s desire for change: “And in the antiquity and continuity of the government,” he writes, “people forget not only the reasons for innovations but their very existence, because every new change provides a footing to build on another.” Chapter three I think is the real start of Machiavelli's actual discourse. He first discusses the difficulty which rises when new princes try to rule. Having no natural followers among the people, the prince is forced to make certain concerns to the group of citizens he hopes to win over. Though sometimes these people will remain loyal to the prince, usually he is unable "to satisfy them in the way they expected." Even a prince with much military might will find it hard to protected friendships among his conquered people. Machiavelli mentions Louis XII as an example of such a prince. Next, Machiavelli tells the difference between the types of newly held territories. If the prince speaks the same language and has the same customs as his conquered people, this is better, Machiavelli argues, than a prince who speaks a foreign language and encourages foreign traditions. Here, the "better" prince is he who can maintain order and retain his territory. He uses France as an example for this point. However Brittany, Burgundy, Gascony, and Normandy are all different in some respects, they remain united under one king because they are all of similar language and culture. Here, all a ruler has to do is "extinguish" the former prince and retain laws and taxation rates. Soon Machiavelli turns to the reign of alien princes, who must expend "good fortune and great energy" if they want to maintain control. According to Machiavelli, the most important way for this kind of prince to preserve order is to take up residence in the city. This is key for two reasons: first, because he can immediately put down any rebellions that occur and second, because he doesn't have to depend on on provincial officials to oversee his kingdom. Yet there's a better way to rule a foreign territory, Machiavelli maintains. According to Machiavelli, colonies are cheap yet highly effective. Though the colony will have to displace a minority of natives in order to reside in the territory, this minority will remain "poor and scattered," and unable to cause much civil unrest. Next, Machiavelli turns to a dialogue of potential threats to power. He states that the prince must remain powerful and always be wary of powerful outsiders who might try to unseat him. One such example is the Romans, who eventually grew to takeover Greece with the help of the Aetolians, a minority group that brought in the Romans because they hated the ruling Greeks. This is always the case when a "powerful foreigner" enters the country, says Machiavelli: the natives who hate the ruling prince will naturally gravitate toward the foreign challenger. Here, the Romans are the model. Though they conquered expansive territory, they always were conscious of appeasing the majority of natives while keeping down any potential challengers.
Machiavelli likens this strategy to the medicine that the prince must take to prevent the sickness of rebellion that will eventually infect his people if not cured early: "In the beginning of the malady it is easy to cure but difficult to detect, but in the course of time, not having been either detected or treated in the beginning, it becomes easy to detect but difficult to cure." Finally, Machiavelli turns his focus to France. He mentions both Louis XII and Charles VIII but asserts the Louis is the better example of an effective prince. When Louis began advancing into Italy, many groups reached out to him in order to gain his favor. His mistake, was coming to the aid of Alexander and thus surrendering too much of his power over to the Church. Another error was his decision to divide Naples with the King of Spain. Here, Machiavelli criticizes Louis for conquering lands that couldn't be kept. The teacher explains, "The wish to acquire is in truth very natural and common, and men always do so when they can, but when they cannot do so, yet wish to do so by any means, then there is folly and blame." Machiavelli goes on to discuss Louis' mistakes: "Louis made these five errors: he destroyed the minor powers, he increased the strength of one of the greater powers in Italy, he brought in a foreign power, and he did not settle in the
country, he did not send colonies." He ends the chapter by highlighting Louis' embrace of the Church and of Spain, as beginnings of his own destruction. Next in chapter four, Machiavelli explains why Alexander the Great was able to preserve such a strong empire. According to Machiavelli, this is because the Turkish empire Alexander conquered was composed of one lord with servants to carry out his wishes. Thus, when this lord was defeated in battle by Alexander, it was very easy for the Macedonian to take the place of the king. Here, Machiavelli separates this type of government from the one seen in France, in which a king rules through nobles or barons as he calls it. In this system there is no unity among the rulers, which makes it especially difficult for a conquering prince to keep order in his new territory.