The first, most obvious purpose of The Prince is stated by the author himself, addressing Lorenzo de' Medici:

If you will read [this book] over and study it carefully, you will recognize in it my most earnest desire that you may achieve that sum

A third possible purpose of The Prince might be to outline the ideal government or, if not the ideal, the most virtuous or the best possible. It is in this purpose, the same goal pursued by countless political thinkers in history, that we extract much of what the current age considers Machiavellian. The lord most would consider ruthless and cold, but whom Machiavelli names a virtuoso, is but one (probably Cesare Borgia, son of Sixtus IV) character in the book. The author's supposedly cruel way of equating bad with good is traditionally what has gotten him into hot water. The fact is, however, that Machiavelli never truly addresses the issues of bad and good, right and wrong, these absolute judgments most people would, I think, claim him to make. Machiavelli, in laying out the "best" government, does so from a completely political and pragmatic point of view, by what works, what is possible, and, really, what for his prince results in the most power and security. The auth!

to survive in a newly conquered republic by living in it, among his new subjects. This is so important--and virtuous--because it would keep the prince from fouling his residence (and thus from fouling Florence) and it would tend to make him a Florentine, the best thing for a prince of Florence to be.

Now, historically, Machiavelli lived in and lived for his beloved republic of Florence his whole life. It was only in 1512 when France, to whom Florence had professed the traditional allegiance, left Italy and Spain reentered that the republic was totally lost, and Machiavelli expelled to the country by the incoming Medici, and Machiavelli wrote The Prince while in exile. I believe that he really wished Lorenzo to treat Florence with great care--his dear home--and wrote his book to persuade Lorenzo to do just that. We are reminded of Machiavelli's frequent comment that the prince MUST gain the favor of the people, that he should raise an army of those he just conquered to induce the feeling of membership in a group, that he should entertain the people and reward them for good things done, that a new prince should not touch the women or any property or local customs. And, of course, most frequent of all was Machiavelli's emphatic comment that a new prince could only manage !

Virtuous action, Machiavelli implies, is directly opposed to fortuna, which can be translated as luck, destiny and of course fortune. To Machiavelli, fortuna always exists in our lives as a constant yet changing force. It governs our actions--lest w

Some topics in this essay:
Noble Lie, Robert Adams, John Plamenatz, Prince Machiavelli, Medici Machiavelli, Sixtus IV, Lorenzo Machiavelli, Republic Plato, Renaissance Italy, Woman Fortune, virtu fortuna, italian virtu, purpose prince, fortuna translated, reminded machiavelli's, society machiavelli, comment prince,