family, especially his sisters and their children,
although he himself never married.
Further Readings
Hamburger, J. Macaulay and the Whig Tradition.Chicago: Uni-
versity of Chicago Press, 1976.
Trevelyan, George. The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay.Lon-
don: Oxford University Press, 1876.
Machiavelli, Niccolò (1469–1527) Italian
Renaissance political philosopher and official in Flo-
rence
Known as the father of political realism and secular
power politics, Machiavelli earned the nickname “Old
Nick” (or Satan). His book The Princeis a handbook of
ruthless DICTATORSHIP and political cunning. It is
believed that Machiavelli’s experience as a diplomat for
the Florentine republic (with other Italian states and
the French and German monarchies) and his witness-
ing of international intrigue contributed to his nega-
tive view of humanity and politics. Unlike the
CLASSICALemphasis on VIRTUEand JUSTICE(PLATO, ARIS-
TOTLE) or the MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANemphasis on faith and
morals (St. AUGUSTINE, St. Thomas AQUINAS), Machi-
avelli emphasized the necessity of brute power, deceit,
and violence in governing. A Machiavellian leader
becomes identified with one who uses political power
deceitfully, ruthlessly, and manipulatively. Adolf HITLER
and Joseph STALINwere admirers of Machiavelli.
Machiavelli’s pessimistic view of human nature
comes from his opinion that people are greedy, selfish,
petty, dissatisfied, and disloyal and have no hope of
redemption. They have infinite wants and no means to
satisfy them, so they are continually frustrated and
resentful. Their resentment is always directed at the
ruler, whom they expect to make them happy, and they
blame the government (or prominent people) when
they don’t get what they want. People are vain, jealous,
proud, and stupid in Machiavelli’s view. How does a
ruler deal with such people? The Princegives step-by-
step guidelines for governing such foolish, fickle
human beings. He claims to have discovered a scien-
tific principle of politics that fits all times and every
society. The key to this “science of politics” (later
developed by Thomas HOBBES’s LIBERALISM) is to focus
on POWER: getting and keeping it. Every other value or
virtue must be subordinated to the acquiring and
maintaining of state power. After all, Machiavelli rea-
sons, without power you can’t do much else. This sub-
ordination of all morals to worldly power earns him
the nickname of the devil.
A Machiavellian politician, then, must learn to
appearto be good when he isn’t, appearto be virtuous,
generous, kind, trustworthy, honest, and religious
when in fact (when necessary for keeping his power
and position) he is vicious, stingy, mean, duplicitous,
and cynical. Being truly good, Machiavelli insists, can
“lead to one’s ruin,” so it is better to survive by any
means; for example, it would be nice to govern gently
from the love of one’s subjects, but because people are
easily offended and unreliable, the successful Prince
must instill a degree of fear in the people to gain
respect and obedience. Other practical advice from
Machiavelli includes: (1) rigging elections or candi-
dates; (2) appealing to a country’s origins and past tra-
ditions (e.g., celebrating holidays); (3) employing
religion to gain reverence for the state; and (4) using
other officials to carry out unpopular policies (and
then destroying them). Such tactics make it dangerous
to work for the Machiavellian Prince, but there are
always enough people who want to be close to power
to supply needed helpers and pawns. In a famous
phrase, Machiavelli advises the ruler to be “a beast,” or
rather two animals: a lion and a fox (the first to strike
terror into opponents, the second to wisely recognize
traps and tricks). Finally, Machiavelli justifies this
political realism with the statement that other peoples’
evil requires us to treat them badly. This ethical rever-
sal of ancient and Christian morality rendered Machi-
avelli a villain in most political literature (including
Shakespeare) afterwards.
Some scholars (such as J. G. A. POCOCK) have tried
to redeem Machiavelli by pointing to his classical
REPUBLICANISM, but even in The Discourses on the First
Ten Books of Titus Livy(1513), Machiavelli examines
the Roman Empire to learn “Modernman’s” rules for
power politics. He may also have wished Lorenzo de’
Médici of Florence to use his precepts to reunite Italy
and save it from humiliating civil war and foreign
domination, but his principles seemed, to most, despi-
cable.Further Readings
De Grazia, Sebastian. Machiavelli in Hell. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1989.
Hulliung, M. Citizen Machiavelli.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1983.
Jensen, De Lamar. Machiavelli: Cynic, Patriot, or Political Scien-
tist?Boston: D.C. Heath, 1960.
Meinecke, F. Machiavellianism: The Doctrine of Raison d’Etat and
its Place in History,D. Scott, transl. New York: Praeger, 1957.194 Machiavelli, Niccolo