What Does Machiavelli Mean In Chapter Twenty-Five Of The Prince

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In chapter twenty-five of the The Prince by Machiavelli he argues that while fortune is a big determinant of whether a ruler is successful or not, it is not the only factor that leads them to success. Machiavelli claims that fortune or chance only determines half of ones lives, one must take action of the other half and do their best in obtaining success. The main point that Machiavelli is trying to make in this chapter that while a ruler might not have control over certain events or circumstances occurring during his rule, he must face these head on and try to make what is wrong right. Machiavelli illustrates this by comparing fortune with a river, a river that overflows and floods everything in its way and it chases people away. However, rather than succumbing to this the people should come back when the river permits, and learn from this and built dams that will protect them if such event were to reoccur. In the beginning of the chapter Machiavelli states that many believe that everything is governed by fortune that there really is not sense for people to try to interfere the way of thing. Machiavelli establishes that while …show more content…

However, like it is said in chapter twenty-five fortune is fickle and cannot be trusted. A ruler cannot simply rely on their good fortune. Fortune already did half of work and now it is up to the ruler to dictate the outcome of this good fortune. The ruler still possesses free will, meaning that that he can either choose to take advantage of his good fortune and establish a successful rule or to fail in being successful. One must be able to manipulate their good fortune to keep it good. It is now their job to take advantage of the gift of fortune and hold onto

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