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The Discourses & The Prince

There seems to be a certain tension between the views of Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince and what Machiavelli expresses regarding republican government in The Discourses. The two works are in antagonism even though the two taken together explain Machiavelli's views on the two forms of government he perceived as legitimate in his time, and they vary because Machiavelli is addressing different types of government and society in different time periods in the two works.

a) In The Prince, Machiavelli indicates at the outset the two types of government:

All the governments and forms of dominion that have had and now have rule over men have been and are either republican or princely (Machiavelli The Prince 95).

At the beginning of his second chapter, he states that he will omit a discussion of republics "because I have elsewhere dealt with them at length" (Machiavelli The Prince 96), which some have taken to be a reference to The Discourses. Machiavelli describes the nature of both types of government in his two books. Leo Strauss notes that the writings of Machiavelli promote "value-judgments" (Strauss 181). This is especially clear in The Prince as he offers advice to the prince on a wide variety of topics related to governance and the maintenance of control.

Machiavelli set out to instill in the people of his time an udnerstanding of the republicanism of the Romans, and he draws parallels between ancient and modern history with the intention that his readers would learn lessons from the events of the past so that they would be better able to find solutions to the political and military problems they faced in their own era. In the Discourses, Machiavelli shows a staunch republicanism that shows the influence of Florentine humanism, notably the writings of Leonardo Bruni, who set forth arguments for the advantages of republican over monarchical government. Machiavelli believes in a continuing struggle between social ...

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The Discourses & The Prince. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:18, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1704020.html