Niccolo Machiavelli
Essay by 24 • May 18, 2011 • 949 Words (4 Pages) • 1,334 Views
Niccolo Machiavelli is a great influence on many poloticians, philosophers, and leaders alike. His name has also come into our grammer as Machiavellian or Machiavellism meaning a brutal or realist view of something perhaps not the most moral of methods but it is effective. In Niccolo Machiavelli's day and age he was one of the few that could read and write literacy was left primarily to preists and poloticians. He was oviously a very skilled politician and had a knowledge for the art of war. Today he is remembered as a political philosopher someone who studied polotics enough to come up with the perfect way to be a prince and inspired other poloticians for many years.
Niccolo Machiavelli was born in a small town just outside of Florence on the 3rd of may 1469, he was the son of a Lawyer named Bernardo di Nicolo Machiavelli. Niccolo showed academic promise as a child and with his father being a lawyer himself Niccolo was able to become a pupil of Paole da Ronciglionie a latin teacher. Not all of Niccolo's early life is know but it has been speculated that he attended the University of Florence due to his academic ability. Niccolo quickly ascended to the rank of clerk in Florence and not long after became an ambassador all in the same year that the Medici family was banished from Florence. As ambassador Niccolo travelled to important centers in Italy and France representing Florence, Niccolo learned much about courtlife and lordship in France and was greatly influenced by an Italian general named Cesare Borgia whos style specalized in self reliance, firmness, and occasional cruelty. The attributes of Cesare greatly appealed to Niccolo because Cesare had great success expanding his city states using these tactics.
Eventually the Medicis returned with help from the spanish and conquered Florence disrupting the republican government and restoring their hiarchy. Niccolo was held on internal exile until he was convicted of plotting against the Medicis and was imprisoned and tortured but was later released being falsely accused. Niccolo moved to a country house and began to work on his literature, he wished for nothing more than to be taken in by the Medicis as a clerk or some equivalent so he began working on his master peice "The prince" which is a guide on how to be the perfect prince he gave this to the medicis but recieved no response. Not until a few years later did Niccolo gain favor with the Medicis and was ordered to compose the "History of Florence". "The Prince" has inspired many great people since it was made it is the guide book to success and greatness there for many power seeking people have been attracted to it. "The Prince" is not a guide to being a moral leader who is caring and forgiving and ultimetly weak, it is a guide that will get you power and teach you how to maintain it once you acheive it. Niccolo Machiavelli used brutal yet efficient way to govern and seize power there were two ways according to Niccolo the first one did not appeal to Niccolo because a common man could not acheive it, if a prince is born into a family of rulers and recieve power through
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