Niccolo Machiavelli - The Qualities of the Prince

1) Why does Machiavelli praise skill in warfare in his opening pages? How does that skill aid a prince?

In this piece of writing The Qualities of the Prince the author Niccolo Machiavelli really stresses and admires the skill of warfare. Within the first few paragraphs he begins to talk about how being armed is the way to go because without any sort of fire power it may make you despised. “… being disarmed makes you despised…” (Machiavelli 38). I find this to be a bit disturbing because to me this seems to evoke violence. But I think this quote is used to describe the safety required for a prince and his superiority. “…this is one of those infamilies a prince should guard himself against….for between armed and an unarmed man there is no comparison whatsoever” (Machiavelli 38). I think Niccolo Machiavelli is trying to get to the point that once you’re a prince, you put your self in great dangers and for these reasons warfare is a must. This skill of warfare then aids a prince because “…it is not reasonable for an armed man to obey unarmed man willingly, nor that an unarmed man should be sale among armed servants….” (Machiavelli 38). In general warfare will only aid a prince if he himself is equipped with the same. “… a prince who does not understand military matters, cannot be esteemed by his own soldiers nor can trust them” (Machiavelli 38). I think overall the way the warfare is described in this piece of writing is some what extreme because you can’t just say that you don’t trust someone who is armed without you, yourself being armed (ex: cops).

Works sited

Machiavelli, Niccolo. “The Qualities of the Prince” A world of ideas: Essential readings for collage writers Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. New York: Bedford St. Martins 2006 pp 35 - 50