158 Political Theory: The Relationship of Man and the State
premises which Machiavelli postulates which make such a
prince necessary.
The state, according to Machiavelli, is organismic; man can
not live without the state, man is a part of the state. The state is
a living organism. It is bom, grows, matures, ages, withers and
dies. The implications of the organismic theory of the state
follow logically for Machiavelli. If the state is a living organism,
then growth and strength, as in a human body, are signs of a
healthy state. Thus, three terms are necessary to understand—
chauvinism, militarism, and imperialism. Chauvinism is love of
one’s state over another, and can be compared to self-love or
self-interest. Militarism is necessary if the state is to be strong,
and imperialism is evidence of the growth which healthy organ
isms display.
New states replace the old, and the cycle continues. However,
while the state lives, within it are the means to attain that which
all men desire— fame, power, and glory. Fame, power, and glory
are Machiavelli’s primary virtues. They are not the traditional
virtues of the Christian society of which he was a part, but rather
the pagan virtues of antiquity which he admired in ancient Rome.
To distinguish his pagan concept from the traditional, he referred
to those qualities as virtu. Virtu is what he wishes for all men, but
in the prince, the state’s leader, virtu is a necessity. Without the
state there is nothing. So it takes a prince with virtu to do all that
is required to maintain the state, at all costs, by any means.
Machiavelli lists some of his most important rules for a prince
with virtu:
- Be ruthless in the use o f force. He advises the prince to
“commit all his cruelties at once.” Men easily forget the cruelties
that are committed if there follows a period of peace and
tranquility. Time heals the worst of wounds; certainly the
memory of a past cruelty fades. Conversely, the prince would be
wise to pass out favors piecemeal, so that the pleasure is often
received and therefore, by proximity, remembered.
- Use persuasion well. The art of ruling requires that the
people feel catered to, whether or not it is so. Force is best used
to acquire power, but is not the best means to maintain power.
The display of guns, bayonets, soldiers, only serves to remind the
populus of the force that was once used upon them. But the
results that propaganda can achieve act to soothe, comfort, and
