Niccolo Machiavelli: The Laughing Lion and the Strutting Fox

220 Pages·2010·3.9 MB·English

by  Raymond Angelo Belliotti

Niccolb Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli
The Laughing Lion and
the Strutting Fox
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Belliotti, Raymond A., 1948-
Niccolo Machiavelli : the laughing lion and the strutting fox / Raymond Angelo
Belliotti.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN-13 : 978-0-7391- 3062-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN- 10: 0-739 1-3062-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-1 3: 978-0-7391- 3064-3 (electronic)
ISBN-10 : 0-739 1-3064-1 (electronic)
1. Machiavelli, Niccolo, 1469-1 527. Principe. 2. Political science-Philosophy. 3.
Political ethics. I. Title.
JC143.M3946B45 2009
320.14~22 2008031336
Printed in the United States of America
@"The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSINIS0 239.48-1 992.
For Marcia, Angelo, and Vittoria
I1 mondo k degli audaci

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Machiavelli's Life and Times xv
Chapter One: The Prince 1
Chapter Two: The Discourses 3 1
Chapter Three: Methods, Motivations, and Purposes: The Prince 63
Chapter Four: Machiavelli's Top Ten 99
Chapter Five: Ends and Means 137
Chapter Six: Machiavelli's Final Letter 177
Appendix A: Texts and Their Abbreviations 181
Appendix B: Biographical Notes: Medici Scorecard 185
Bibliography 187
Index 193
About the Author 197

Preface
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC-43 BC), Roman statesman and philosopher,
remarked that moral wrongs are performed by either force or by fraud. Both
methods are unworthy of human beings and are, instead, the trademarks of
beasts: fraud flows from the cunning fox, force from the ferocious lion. Niccolb
Machiavelli (1469-1527), Florentine politician and social theorist, rejected the
classical Greek notion that peace and harmony were the natural goals of human
beings and their political structures. Citizens and their states, on the contrary,
exist in relentless struggle, conflict, and turmoil. Enduring glory, not static se-
renity, is the greatest worldly prize.
As a result, Machiavelli celebrates the guile of the fox and the power of the
lion as crucial skills for successful statecraft. Human governors have much to
learn from the animal kingdom. Machiavelli's fox, however, is never merely
cunning. He struts and preens, at least when so doing does not jeopardize his
goals. Machiavelli's lion is never merely forceful. He roars with self-celebratory
laughter, at least when so doing invigorates his spirit and facilitates his ends.
This book is an interpretation, analysis, and critique of the political theory
Machiavelli advanced in The Prince and The Discourses. Traditionally, Machia-
velli is taken to be a theorist who separated morality from politics or who cham-
pioned Roman (pagan) morality over conventional (Christian) morality. I dem-
onstrate why both of these interpretations are unpersuasive. Instead, I locate
Machiavelli's innovation in his tacit understanding of the perhaps irresolvable
moral conflicts that exist within political leaders who fulfill the duties of their
ofices while accepting the authority of absolute moral principles. Throughout
the work, I refer to Machiavelli's lesser read works-such as the Florentine His-
tories, Art of War, Lfe of Castruccio Castracani, Mandragola-to support my
argument.
Chapter 1 is a description and explanation of The Prince: the qualities he
must emulate, the political principles he should follow, and the motivation that
spurs his labors. I also analyze the nature of Machiavelli's key concepts: for-
tuna, virtic, necessitd, and gloria.
Chapter 2 is a description and explanation of The Discourses: why republics
are generally preferable to principalities; what features a republic should em-
body; why republics must expand territory and influence; why international rela-
tions are a series of zero-sum contests; the ways republics differ from tyrannies;
the need for one strong man to found or reform a corrupt state; and the insepara-
ble connection between the self-interest of political leaders--the quest for en-
during glory-and the self-interest of citizens and subjects-the need for secu-
rity, order, and political freedom.