The Prince and The Discourses and it’s similarities.
George F. Cabrera
October 6, 2013
The Prince and The Discourses and it’s similarities. Reading the books of Machiavelli’s: The Prince and The Discourses I noticed there are many similarities to one another. Machiavelli explains the concept of an ideal ruler that he thinks would be able to govern with great power and adversity from his observation of previous rulers. The Prince is a book written about Tyrants while The Discourses is a book written by lovers of liberty (The Prince, Introduction- pg XXIII).
Throughout this essay we will look at the similarities of the books: the dedications of the books, the Constitutions instilled in the cities, the importance of the populace to the city, the method of wickedness to gain power and possession of a man with Valor and Fortuna. The Prince was dedicated to a ruler named Lorenzo de Medici, son of Piero de Medici, ruler of Florence 1471-1503. The Discourses was dedicated to Zanobi Buondelmonti and Cosimo Rucellai, both men of intellect. Both books, however, outline the necessity for a strong ruler in the development of a community. We will discuss the type of Constitutions that were laid out in both books. In The Prince, Machiavelli begins with descriptions and definitions of different types of principalities, making it clear that The Prince is concerned with Autocratic (Government by a single person having unlimited power) or Monarchical regimes (a form of government in which supreme authority is vested in a single and usually hereditary figure, such as a King, and whose powers can vary from those of an absolute despot to those of a figurehead), not Republics (The Prince, pg 14-15). In The Discourses, Machiavelli, describes using three good forms of government, which are Monarchy, Aristocracy and Democracy (a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives) (The Discourses on Livy, pg 27). He makes this statement by observing
October 6, 2013
The Prince and The Discourses and it’s similarities. Reading the books of Machiavelli’s: The Prince and The Discourses I noticed there are many similarities to one another. Machiavelli explains the concept of an ideal ruler that he thinks would be able to govern with great power and adversity from his observation of previous rulers. The Prince is a book written about Tyrants while The Discourses is a book written by lovers of liberty (The Prince, Introduction- pg XXIII).
Throughout this essay we will look at the similarities of the books: the dedications of the books, the Constitutions instilled in the cities, the importance of the populace to the city, the method of wickedness to gain power and possession of a man with Valor and Fortuna. The Prince was dedicated to a ruler named Lorenzo de Medici, son of Piero de Medici, ruler of Florence 1471-1503. The Discourses was dedicated to Zanobi Buondelmonti and Cosimo Rucellai, both men of intellect. Both books, however, outline the necessity for a strong ruler in the development of a community. We will discuss the type of Constitutions that were laid out in both books. In The Prince, Machiavelli begins with descriptions and definitions of different types of principalities, making it clear that The Prince is concerned with Autocratic (Government by a single person having unlimited power) or Monarchical regimes (a form of government in which supreme authority is vested in a single and usually hereditary figure, such as a King, and whose powers can vary from those of an absolute despot to those of a figurehead), not Republics (The Prince, pg 14-15). In The Discourses, Machiavelli, describes using three good forms of government, which are Monarchy, Aristocracy and Democracy (a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives) (The Discourses on Livy, pg 27). He makes this statement by observing