Niccòlo Machiavelli-The Thought of the Devil and the Monarch-The first brick for modern politics.

Niccòlo Machiavelli (1469-1527) is the author of “The Prince” (Il Principe) which along with Utopia is one of the two most influential books on contemporary Philosophy.

Or in that he emphasized trickery, cunning, cruelty, distrust and inhumanity as things that a ruler should have to maintain power. His advice is not “immoral” but rather standing outside of morality, willing to ignore common humanity and morality, which will weaken political arguments. Also because the content goes against it. Because of the morality of that time, the book was banned by the Church immediately after its publication. However, Niccòlo Machiavelli also contributed to building the vocabulary of that time. His name is used to call the devil in English – “Old nick ” and his surname “Machiavellian” refers to cunning and maliciousness throughout Europe. It’s quite ironic, but “Viel Feind, viel Ehr”, it doesn’t matter. The work is still considered a medal of honor to Napoleon Bornapatre, Adolf Hitler, Cromwell and even Benito Mussolini.

Scene
Niccolo Machiavelli was born during the Renaissance (Middle Ages) in Florence, Italy, in the midst of the chaos and misery of the “Warring States” when Italy was still a collection of small and weak city-states ( damage from a loose Roman Empire) before the war ambitions of the kings of France, Spain and the German Emperor.
Florence at that time was the center of Greek culture, a place where Greek and Roman learning flourished strongly, so Machiavelli inherited an excellent education. The family ruling Florence at that time was the Medici family, headed by Piero. After being invaded and humiliated by the French army, the people of Florence drove Piero away and wholeheartedly supported the republic. But the leader was the fanatical Protestant monk Girolamo Savonrola, who issued many crazy orders such as burning works of art and destroying lavish properties, vehemently condemning “lewdness”. immorality” takes place in the Holy See. Savonarola was burned at the stake in 1498 and the Medici family returned to power in 1512. He was directly responsible for establishing the city’s army so as not to be dependent on mercenaries. Machiavelli knew, he fucked down.

Career
As Foreign Minister, Niccolo Machiavelli had the opportunity to meet many important statesmen throughout his political and diplomatic life, including King Louis XII of France, Pope Julius II, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian and, perhaps most importantly, Cesare Borgia—a prince in the Papal States. He was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI. And with his wisdom and cunning. He inspired Machiavelli to write the masterpiece The Prince, which has been controversial for 400 years. When the Medici family returned to power in 1512, Machiavelli, famous as a key figure in the Republic, was imprisoned and tortured on suspicion of intending to oppose the Medici family, then was pardoned and allowed to return to power. early retirement.
The book The Prince was written hastily by him hoping that the Medici family would grant him the favor to continue serving like his other colleagues but failed. At the same time, to stay away from the destroyed Republic. In 1527 he died at San Casciano under the contempt and misunderstanding of the Republicans.

The work “The King”

The King, the book shows what a monarch must do to maintain power and the country according to Machiavelli. The work revolves around “virtu” or the virtue of a king according to Machiavelli; arguing that to do right and well what a leader should do and complete assigned tasks, it is in conflict with being a leader. So we cannot be a perfect politician and a good person at the same time.
He raised the issue that a king should be both fearsome and respectable, but if forced to choose, it is better to let the people fear him. Since the monarch cannot guarantee the love of all the people, it is better for them to be afraid of opposing, thereby gaining loyalty. That “People in general are often ungrateful, inconsistent, deceitful, cowardly, greedy… Love is maintained by the grace given; and it will break as soon as humans – inherently vile – encounter a more profitable opportunity. But their fear protects the king because everyone is worried about being punished.”
When it is necessary to take someone’s life, there must be appropriate evidence and obvious reasons; But absolutely do not touch other people’s property, because people can quickly forget their father’s death but not their lost property. Kings should not be hated by people, and if they are forced to do tasks that are not supported, they should be entrusted to others to do them for them. For example, when Ceasar conquered Cesena, he ordered his mercenary, Remirro, to bring order to the city. Remirro did so quickly and brutally. Men were beheaded in front of their wives and children, their property was confiscated, traitors were castrated. Cesare then slashed Remirro in half and left his body exposed in the square, just to remind the people who the boss really was. Cesare then turned to cutting taxes, importing cheap grain, building theaters and organizing festivals to win the hearts of the people.
He believes that brutality is acceptable if necessary, or that appearing sincere and sympathetic while still acting in one’s best interests, or that destroying all enemies is the safest way, and If someone commits harm, it must be sudden and cruel so that the victim cannot take revenge, because they only know how to take small revenge and do not dare to take big revenge; Therefore, once we have to cause harm to someone, we must act brutally to make them afraid to respond.
Going against ancient morality, Machiavelli thinks that a king should not keep his word when the promise is harmful to him, or when the reason for the promise no longer exists. Because people are inherently evil and do not keep trust with us, so we are not obliged to keep trust with them. But being a king, there is no shortage of legitimate reasons to justify breaking a promise. A monarch must always make others see that he is very tolerant, loyal, benevolent, honest and pious. Because people in general often judge with their eyes and not with their hands, as a king, you should not accidentally say things that do not include the above five qualities.
A king must be both a fox and a lion; Because the lion cannot avoid the trap, and the fox cannot resist the wolf. So we must be a fox to avoid the trap and a lion to frighten the wolves. Whoever can harmonize and flexibly switch between these virtues when necessary will surely have the whole world in their hands, will be able to unite Italy from the hands of foreigners and Petrarch’s poetic words will come true. Real:
Resist brutality
Religion attacks and wins
The spirit of the ancestors
Immortal in the soul of Italians.

Excessive discussion
Works revolving around the truth “The origin of humanity, the nature of evil” have always been rare but not impossible. If the West has Niccolo Machiavelli’s Prince, the East has Han Phi’s Prince Charming, all revolving around the “beautiful” and “wild” qualities of humanity.
The Prince of Han was written by Han Fei – a son of Han in the Warring States period to present to the King of Qin Doanh Chinh – later the Water Emperor, hoping that the King of Qin would consider and stop attacking Han. These two works were both written during a chaotic and barbaric period, when moral values were completely corrupted and the words of the ancestors were just a breeze passing through the ears. The difference in both works is that Han Phi Tu was written in BC, promoting the rule of law and has much more content value than the King: “The law does not follow the nobles… When the law is enforced “When it comes to the law, the wise will not give up and the brave will not dare to fight. Punish the unavoidable wrongs of the great man, reward the unavoidable right of the ungrateful”, Han Phi’s theory revolves around Legalism, criticizing Confucian scholars only know how to promote the past, learn from the old things from the reigns of King Yao and King Shun and take it as the core, disdaining the present. That’s why it is the direct and indirect cause. leading to the burning of ancient books and burying alive students of Qin Shi Huang.
There are countless works that contradict Machiavelli’s The Prince, but the most typical is Frederick the Great’s Essay Anti-Machiavel.

King of Prussia. The essay was written by the young king at the age of 18, edited by his teacher Voltaire.

The essay criticized the Prince for overvaluing power and cunning, saying that absolute power would lead to absolute corruption. Frederick said: The king is the first servant of the people. If the king uses his power cunningly and for personal gain, the people will not obey, the officials will not believe, and the country will be in chaos. (Going completely against what was written in The King).
Except for Il Principe, Niccolo Machiavelli also wrote many other works such as History of Florence, Discussion on the Art of War by Sun Tzu. And most famous is the Treatise – the masterpiece that he spent 6 years of his life discussing with famous philosophers throughout Florence at that time. In the Treatise (Discussion of the first 10 historical books of Titus Livius) we see Niccolo Machiavelli’s deep love and sincerity for the Republic that he wholeheartedly worshiped.
In short, The Prince is the world’s first pragmatic political work, the first pragmatic country governance manual and a brick that laid the foundation for today’s modern politics. But The Prince is also just an open door to take us to deeper issues mentioned in Han Concubine, Anti-Machiavel or the Treatise itself – also written by Niccolo Machiavelli.

Tags: history, Holy See, King Louis XII, Niccòlo Machiavelli, The work "The King"