‘FAITH’ is clearly not a word that one would ordinarily associate with a man like Machiavelli, and it is here that the mask really begins to slip:

Everyone admits how good it is in a prince to keep faith, and to live with integrity and not with trickery. Nevertheless our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how to get their way through cheating. In the end they have overcome those who have relied on their word. You must know there are two ways of winning, one by the rules, and the other by force. The first method is suited to men, the second to beasts. But because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to use the second.

On the other hand, Machiavelli does have enough ‘faith’ to inform his readers that Achilles was raised by Chiron, a creature who was both half-man and half-horse. His contention, of course, is that many Greek heroes were schooled in the way of the beast and that it allowed them to understand the apparent necessity of combining one’s own humanity with the comparative unpredictability and lawlessness of the wild. Nature in the raw, and bright red in tooth and claw.

The beast continues:

A prince, therefore, being forced knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against traps and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the traps and a lion to frighten the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they are doing.

Rather than seek to rise above such calumny, by way of example, Machiavelli is clearly proposing that in order to keep his head above the swirling waters of dynastic intrigue the prince must devise ever more ingenious methods of deceiving one’s counterparts, be they friend or foe, and that

it is necessary to know how to hide this characteristic well and to be a great pretender. People are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that anyone who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.

He then presents Pope Alexander VI (pictured) as a perfect example of the way in which deception can be successfully applied, although he does not appear to take into consideration the fact that Alexander’s lies were more readily accepted at face value on account of his ecclesiastical office. A second individual who applies this strategy, he says, must remain nameless, yet it is a prince who

never preaches anything else but peace and good faith, and yet to both he is most opposed. If he had followed what he preached, he would have lost his reputation and kingdom many a time.

Labelling the Italian “a tutor of tyrants,” Frederick explains that whilst the public often takes an interest in the private lives of others – something we see a great deal in the twenty-first century and the age of the celebrity – they have an even greater interest in the transparency of their rulers because it affects them directly. Showing interest in who a famous athlete happens to be dating, therefore, is considerably less important than studying those who exercise power over our own lives:

The princes know, far more than other men, the unwritten rules, policies and judgements of the world, including the ones that are in the near future; they are like the different stars in the sky, where the astronomers are inclined to direct their telescopes towards. The courtiers who observe them consider it significant if a mere gesture, a glare, or a glance betrays something that the prince’s empty mouth will not reveal, and the people “get to know them” by speculation and guesses. In a word: as the sun cannot cover its spots, no more can the great princes can hide their defects at the bottom of their character to the eyes of so many observers.

In other words, the kind of prince that Machiavelli describes would have to create an entirely false and misleading persona and that would require an immense degree of effort.

Frederick also rejects Machiavelli’s simplistic parables about men and beasts, claiming that they offer nothing of any relevance:

He concludes that what these animal tales show is that a prince is not obliged to keep his word. Here is a conclusion without premises: isn’t the doctor of crime ashamed of stuttering during his lecture of impiety?

He also notes the inherent contradiction between Machiavelli’s claims that (a) if people are out to trick and deceive one another, the prince must seek to apply the same rule, and (b) people are very simple and thus easy to deceive:

After the author proves the need for the crime, he wants to encourage his disciples by making easier its commission. “But men are so simple,” he instructs us, “and governed so absolutely by their present needs, that he who wishes to deceive will never fail in finding willing fools.” Which is reduced to this: Your neighbour is stupid, and you are clever; therefore, it is necessary that you deceive him, because he is stupid! It is the syllogism for which the schoolboys of Machiavel have pledged allegiance to, and has them coiled to strike.

It stands to reason, of course, that if people are so utterly credulous then a ruler has far less to fear and there is no need for him to go to such ridiculous lengths in order to deceive them in the first place. Frederick believes that any prince who relies upon such nefarious means will soon lose the confidence of the people themselves. His conclusion, is that Machiavelli

wants the typical king made a born liar, and to crown his dishonesty with hypocrisy; he thinks that people will be both devoted to a prince and revolted from the ill-treatments that they suffer from him. There are people who are of this feeling; for me, it seems that they always have these indulgences for errors of speculation, for they do not wish to pursue the corruption of the heart to its conclusion.

Furthermore, he notes, the common people

will love more an “unsound” prince who is also an honest man, and who works for their happiness, rather than a “safe” degenerate. This may not be the thoughts of The Prince, but these are the actions which make the men happy.

TO BE CONTINUED…