Machiavelli's 'The Prince' : the influence of Mediterranean history

Abstract

Ever since it was first published almost five centuries ago, Machiavelli's The Prince has provoked debate and controversy. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, his name became synonymous with scheming, cruelty and wilfully destructive rationality. Shakespeare called him 'the murderous Machiavel', whilst Frederick the Great of Prussia was so disturbed by the ideas Machiavelli put forward in his most famous work that he wrote his own refutation of them. One can say, without a shadow of doubt, that The Prince continues to be studied and discussed by the foremost moralist and political commentators of our own time. However my dissertation will not be yet another analysis of his guidebook to rulers but an inquiry into the extent Mediterranean history was an inspiration for hilS ideas. This required having a thorough knowledge not only of the episodes and historical personalities he mentions throughout his text, but also an understanding of the works of ancient, medieval and Renaissance philosophers and political commentators. An analysis of these treatises was essential in order to determine who left the most profound influence on Machiavelli and in what way was his The Prince so different from previous advice-books to rulers. As such it was imperative to go through Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics, Cicero's On Obligations, St. Augustine's City of God, various excerpts from Dante's Divine Comedy, and Pico della Mirandola's On Human Dignity. Going through these primary sources necessitated having to understand the context within which they were written and what particular episodes may have influenced the authors. Thus, for example, Cicero was writing soon after the assassination of Julius Caesar whilst St. Augustine wrote his City qf God following the devastation of Rome by the barbarian hordes. Moreover, one cannot understand the philosophy and psychology of Machiavelli without g01ng through the works of the main twentieth century scholars on this treatise, Isaiah Berlin, Felix. Gilbe1 I. and Quentin Skinner. This thesis is an attempt to prove how in formulating his ideas and maxims, he made use of various episodes from different eras in Mediterranean history to show how previous advice to rulers, based on idealism and Judeo-Christian morality could very well lead to the prince's downfall. As my set text I used the Penguin Classics 1999 edition with a revised translation by George Dull OBE. This edition also includes a new introduction by the Princeton scholar Anthony Grafton.