The Prince and the Discourses on Livy Essay Example

Niccolo Machiavelli was at his time and continues to be now days one of the most influential and revolutionary authors known throughout the centuries. His writings, distinct from other renaissance authors of the epoch, make emphasis on his personal views and his opinions on the political matters taking place in Florence, Italy. Further discussed in the text are two of Machiavelli’s most renowned works, The Prince and the Discourses on Livy. Both books comprehend Machiavelli’s understandings of politics and explicit analysis on the various methods of governments with respect to principalities and republics.
Machiavelli had many intentions in mind when he was first writing The Prince, among which where to understand, instruct and influence the minds of rulers at the time. More precisely, Machiavelli meant to influence the mind of one ruler in particular, the ruler of Florence Lorenzo de’ Medici to whom the book is dedicated. Machiavelli’s purpose throughout the book intended to help Lorenzo de’ Medici achieve eminence as a prince and guide him on how to properly rule Florence.
The fist chapter of The Prince opens up by describing how many kinds of governments there are, in what manner they are given rise to and how they are later on acquired by states. Curiously, it is indeed, the first sentence of Chapter I which contains, what is perhaps, the most important discovery in Machiavelli’s entire writings from the Prince___ “ALL states and governments that have had, and have at present, dominion over men, have been and are either republics or principalities.” Being introduced the topic on governments, Machiavelli proceeds to make an acquaintance on principalities and restrains himself to talk only about this one type of government___ “I Will not discuss here the subject of republics, having treated of them at length elsewhere, but will confine myself only to principalities.” Machiavelli argues that principalities can be either hereditary, new or mixed. Hereditary