In chapter VIII, Machiavelli believed that the necessity of being cruel is really important for the princes or leaders. He does not hesitate to support the necessity of cruelty and crime in founding power; however the cruelty has to be limited; otherwise the princes will be hated. Machiavelli argued that cruel acts must be committed only as necessary, but all at once and then ceased, so that the populace will forget them. “Hence it should be noted that in talking hold of a state, he who seize it should review all the offenses necessary for him to commit, and do them all at a stroke, so as not to have to renew them everyday and, by not reviewing them, to secure men and gain them to himself with benefits” (Prince, 38). What does Machiavelli mean on entering into evil? Machiavelli believed that as a prince or leader, that person has to know how to do either good by mercy and force by cruelty when it is necessary.
Machiavelli believed that there are two kinds of combat that the prince should know how to use it properly. They are laws and force. Machiavelli refers laws to the humankind, which is mercy, and force to the beast, which is cruelty. Being a prince has to know how to use either laws or force at the certain time (Prince, 69). For instance, in chapter XVIII, Machiavelli used two animals, the fox and the lion, in order to strengthen his idea of using force as necessity. The fox is used as a symbol for wisdom and cunning. As a fox, it is able to recognize traps. Thus, a prince must be able to outmaneuver his enemies; however, since a fox can’t drive away the wolves, it is not enough for a prince to have just only fox. He must also be like a lion. Lion is a symbol for courage, ferocity, strong, and cruel. As a lion, it is able to drive way wolves, but the lion can’t recognize traps like the fox “Thus, since a prince is compelled of necessity to know well how to use the beast, he should pick the fox and lion, because the lion does