Machiavelli believes that morality has its place among regular men, however since a prince is not a regular man he must ascribe to a sort of princely morality. The ultimate goal of princely morality is not justice, or simply being a "good person", it is the effective governing of the state. This can only be accomplished though the acquisition and preservation of power. To this end, In The Prince, Machiavelli offers the following advice to would be princes:.
"You should know, then, that there are two ways of contending: one by using laws, the other, force. The first is appropriate for men, the second, animals; but because the former is often ineffective, one must have recourse to the latter. Therefore, a ruler must know well how to imitate beasts as well as employing properly human means." .
Machiavelli understands the prince is living and governing in the real world, not some ideal city, and because of this he must do what is necessary, not what is just or moral to acquire and preserve power. To Machiavelli this means that the prince should work within the laws, and within traditional conceptions of morality whenever possible, however to be a truly effective ruler the prince must be prepared to step outside these boundaries when necessary in both his moral life and political conduct.
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Machiavelli is not saying simply that "the end justifies the means"; that would be a dangerous oversimplification of Machiavelli's intentions that, if put into practice, would lead to a great many actions that Machiavelli would certainly not approve. Machiavelli is not talking about the private sphere, "it cannot be called virtue to kill one's fellow-citizens, to betray one's friends, to be treacherous, merciless and irreligious; power may be gained by acting such ways, but not glory" he is instead, talking about what a prince must do in order to acquire and preserve political power over people that he believes to be "ungrateful, fickle, feigners and dissemblers, avoiders of danger, eager for gain" .
