Niccolo Machiavelli: "The Prince"


 * Niccolò Machiavelli
 * Good ruler must be popular and powerful
 * Machiavelli lives in fragmented Italy with the city-states going to war, the Popes going to war, fathers and sons going to war as well
 * Machiavelli says that to be a good leader there is interplay between fate and God, luck and faith
 * Gains loyalty from men in opposing forces by honoring them, bribing them with money
 * Knows Christianity, but doesn’t think plausible that a man can be “good” and be powerful prince
 * “The Prince”
 * Model for perfect prince is Cesare Borgia, Duke Valentino
 * His father the Pope wanted him to be the next Pope