Devil Doc
When Death smiles, Corpsmen smile back
It's the birthday of Niccolò Machiavelli, born in Florence, Italy (1469). He grew up at an extremely unstable period of Italian history. Italy wasn't even a country at the time, but just a collection of city-states that were constantly at war with each other. Machiavelli lived in the most influential city-state, Florence. He got into politics only after Florence formed a semi-democratic government. By the time he was thirty, he became the secretary to Florence's governing council, which meant he was the most influential bureaucrat in the city. Then, at the height of Machiavelli's career, the influential Medici family took power in Florence, overthrowing the elected city council and purging the government of enemies. Machiavelli's name was put on a list of anti-Medici conspirators. He lost his government position, and then the authorities arrested him and threw him in a dungeon, where he was tortured for twenty-two days.
Machiavelli was eventually released from prison. There was no evidence that he had conspired against the new government, but he was still sentenced to house arrest. All his friends and family were terrified to be associated with him, and so he found himself utterly alone.
He decided that the only way to get his life back was to offer some kind of gift to the Medici family, and the thing he had to give was his knowledge of politics. So he holed up in his tiny villa just outside of Florence and set out to write a handbook, incorporating everything he knew about being an effective ruler in a dangerous and volatile world. It took him just a few months to complete his book in 1513, and that was The Prince, the book for which he is remembered today.
Machiavelli believed most people were weak and wicked, but he also believed that a ruler could take advantage of these weaknesses in order to do good. Machiavelli's main point in The Prince is that an effective ruler should use whatever means possible to keep his country secure and peaceful.
Despite Machiavelli's hopes, The Prince didn't win over the Medicis. He wasn't able to get another government job for the rest of his life.
Nicollò Machiavelli said, "It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both."
Doc
Machiavelli was eventually released from prison. There was no evidence that he had conspired against the new government, but he was still sentenced to house arrest. All his friends and family were terrified to be associated with him, and so he found himself utterly alone.
He decided that the only way to get his life back was to offer some kind of gift to the Medici family, and the thing he had to give was his knowledge of politics. So he holed up in his tiny villa just outside of Florence and set out to write a handbook, incorporating everything he knew about being an effective ruler in a dangerous and volatile world. It took him just a few months to complete his book in 1513, and that was The Prince, the book for which he is remembered today.
Machiavelli believed most people were weak and wicked, but he also believed that a ruler could take advantage of these weaknesses in order to do good. Machiavelli's main point in The Prince is that an effective ruler should use whatever means possible to keep his country secure and peaceful.
Despite Machiavelli's hopes, The Prince didn't win over the Medicis. He wasn't able to get another government job for the rest of his life.
Nicollò Machiavelli said, "It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both."
Doc
