But he goes on to note that there is no reason why Agathocles" actions should be considered "inferior" to the actions of other great men. As a "modern" example, Machiavelli brings Oliverotto da Fermo who not surprisingly gained power in a similar method to Agathocles. Although he started in the higher ranks of the army, he still progressed to the top of the military. Then in a similar method, Oliverotto da Fermo gathered all the people that stood in his way, and had them slaughtered by his army. He, as Machiavelli most curiously points out, was later on in his life, killed in a similar round up by Cesare Borgia. Machiavelli goes on to make a general rule about the use of cruelty. That cruelty, if one chooses to be cruel, he must do so "well." That is to be cruel all at once and as time progresses, to slowly decrease the degree of cruelty. This way, the people will start to forget the princes" past evil deeds.
It is chaters like chapter eight that give the term "Machiavellian" its meaning. Machiavelli makes one major point in this chapter: that one must "calculate the sum of all the injuries that he will have to do, and do them all at once- This is a unique approach since in chapter before Machiavelli clearly suggests that men must either be "caressed or destroyed," that it is human nature to revenge for hurts that were committed against them. These two points seem to stand in clear contradiction to each other. How is it possible that Machiavelli suggests causing great amounts of injury all at once, while stating previously that it's human nature to remember past wrongs? There are two plain and obvious answers to this question. One is that the damage that one causes immediately is so horrendously large that people consider themselves lucky to have survived. Then the trauma suffered because of the experience will keep people from rising up because of fear. Two is that Machiavelli clearly states that one must diminish cruelty as time passes.
