Response To Machiavelli's The Prince

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The Prince by Machiavelli was written to gain favor by giving a customary gift to the Prince. Machiavelli wrote a guide that advised how to gain and retain power. His ideas of fortune; which can be managed by adaptation and strength, military; that is the foundation of the state and only native troops can be trusted for the guardianship of the state, and lastly the justification of an immoral act are for the betterment of the state.
Machiavelli described fortune as a fickle tide that controls half of our actions and leaves the rest more or less in our power to control. Yet, fortune has the ability to wash away anything in its path, he defined the power of the “torrential streams” by writing, “everyone yields to its onslaught” (67). The power …show more content…

He claimed that a strong military or good arms is necessary for the state. Whether a state is new or old a strong military according to Machiavelli is important to lay a strong foundation for the state. The state is supported by good arms and good laws. He wrote that where there are good arms good laws will follow. The military will create for a better state and as long as there is a good military everything else will follow. The best troops as he described are native troops from a rulers subjects. The other two types are not suitable for the defense of a prince’s state. “Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous” (34). Mercenaries are unreliable. They are paid by the prince’s coin and happy to take the money in peace time but as soon as there is a war they run with your coin. In war they turn tail and run but in peace a prince is at their mercy. They are ruled by desire for money not loyalty to man. Auxiliaries are unreliable as well. They are made up of men loyal to another ruler. That leaves the prince entirely at their mercy, “… when they lose they carry your cause down with them, and when they win, you remain their prisoner” (38). Mercenaries and auxiliaries cannot be depended on and trusted with the defense of a state only troops comprised of one’s own subjects or citizens can be sure to keep the state

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