Nicolo Machiavelli - sovereign. Sovereign Works of Machiavelli
Nicolo Machiavelli
Sovereign
Nicolo Machiavelli - His Lordship Lorenzo de' Medici
Usually, wanting to gain the favor of a ruler, people send him as a gift what they have most dear, or what they hope to give him the greatest pleasure, namely: horses, weapons, brocade, precious stones and other decorations worthy of the greatness of sovereigns. I, intending to testify to my devotion to Your Lordship, did not find among what I own anything more expensive and more valuable than my knowledge regarding the deeds of great people, acquired by me through many years of experience in present affairs and incessant study of past affairs. Having put a lot of time and diligence into thinking over what I had learned, I have concluded my reflections in a small work, which I send as a gift to Your Lordship. And although I believe that this work is unworthy to appear before you, I nevertheless believe that, by your condescension, you will deign to accept it, knowing that it is not in my power to present you with a gift greater than the means to comprehend in the shortest possible time what I myself have learned at the cost of many dangers and worries. I did not care here about the beauty of the style, nor about the pomp and sonority of the words, nor about any external decorations and ideas with which many like to color and equip their works, for I wanted my work either to remain in obscurity, or to receive recognition solely for its unusualness and the importance of the subject. I would also like it not to be considered insolence that a person of low and insignificant rank undertakes to discuss and direct the actions of sovereigns. Just as an artist, when he paints a landscape, must go down into a valley in order to take in the sight of the hills and mountains, and climb up a mountain in order to take in the valley with his eyes, so here: in order to comprehend the essence of the people, one must be a sovereign, and in order to comprehend the nature of sovereigns, one must belong to the people.
May Your Lordship accept this modest gift with the feeling that moves me; If you deign to carefully read and ponder my work, you will feel how boundlessly I wish Your Lordship the greatness that fate and your merits promise you. And if, from the peak to which Your Lordship has ascended, your gaze ever turns to the lowlands where I find myself, you will see how undeservedly I suffer the great and constant blows of fate.
HOW MANY TYPES OF STATES ARE THERE AND HOW THEY ARE ACQUIRED
All states, all powers that had or have power over people were and are either republics or states governed by sole authority. The latter can be either inherited - if the family of the sovereign ruled for a long time, or new. Either the state as a whole can be new - this is Milan for Francesco Sforza; or a part of it annexed to the inherited state as a result of conquest - such is the Kingdom of Naples for the King of Spain.
The new states are divided into those where the subjects are accustomed to obeying the sovereigns, and those where they have originally lived freely; states are acquired either by their own or by someone else’s weapons, or by the grace of fate, or by valor.
ABOUT HERITABLE UNITY
I will not touch upon the republics, for I speak about them in detail elsewhere. Here I will go straight to autocratic government and, following the order outlined above, I will analyze in what ways princes can govern states and maintain power over them.
Let me start with the fact that it is much easier for the hereditary sovereign, whose subjects have managed to get used to the ruling house, to retain power than for a new one, because for this it is enough for him not to violate the customs of his ancestors and subsequently to apply himself to new circumstances without haste. With this course of action, even a mediocre ruler will not lose power unless he is overthrown by a particularly powerful and formidable force, but even in this case he will regain power at the first failure of the conqueror.
In Italy, an example is the Duke of Ferrara, who retained power after the defeat inflicted on him by the Venetians in 1484 and Pope Julius in 1510, only because his family had ruled in Ferrara from time immemorial. For the sovereign who has inherited power has fewer reasons and less need to oppress his subjects, which is why they pay him with greater love, and if he does not reveal excessive vices that cause hatred, then he naturally enjoys the goodwill of the citizens. Long-standing and successive rule makes one forget about the former revolutions and the reasons that caused them, while every change paves the way for other changes.
ABOUT MIXED STATES
It is difficult for a new sovereign to retain power. And even the hereditary sovereign, who has annexed a new possession - so that the state becomes, as it were, mixed - finds it difficult to maintain power over it, primarily due to the same natural reason that causes revolutions in all new states. Namely: people, believing that the new ruler will be better, willingly rebel against the old one, but soon they are convinced by experience that they have been deceived, for the new ruler always turns out to be worse than the old one. Which, again, is natural and logical, since the conqueror oppresses new subjects, imposes various kinds of duties on them and burdens them with army billets, as inevitably happens during conquest. And thus he makes enemies in those whom he oppressed, and loses the friendship of those who contributed to the conquest, for he cannot reward them to the extent that they expected, but he cannot apply harsh measures to them, being obliged to them - after all, without With their help, he could not enter the country, no matter how strong his army was. It was for these reasons that Louis XII, King of France, quickly occupied Milan and also quickly lost it. And that’s why Duke Ludovico managed to recapture Milan with his own forces that time. For the people, who themselves opened the gates for the king, soon realized that they had been deceived in their hopes and calculations, and refused to tolerate the oppression of the new sovereign.
True, if a rebellious country is conquered again, then it is easier for the sovereign to establish his power in it, since the rebellion gives him a reason to punish the guilty with less caution, incriminate suspects, and take protective measures in the most vulnerable places. So for the first time France surrendered Milan, as soon as Duke Ludovico made a noise on its borders, but for the second time France held Milan until all the Italian states took up arms against her and scattered and expelled her troops from the borders of Italy, which happened for the reasons mentioned above. However, France lost Milan both times. I have given the reason for the king's first failure, common to all similar cases; it remains to find out the reason for the second and figure out what means Louis - and anyone in his place - had to strengthen the conquest more accurately than France did.
To begin with, the conquered and inherited possessions can belong either to the same country and have the same language, or to different countries and have different languages. In the first case, it is not difficult to retain what has been won, especially if the new subjects did not know freedom before. In order to strengthen power over them, it is enough to eradicate the family of the former sovereign, for with the community of customs and the preservation of the old orders, no disturbance can arise from anything else. This is how we know things were in Brittany, Burgundy, Normandy and Gascony, which long ago became part of France; True, their languages are somewhat different, but thanks to the similarity of customs they live peacefully with each other. In such cases, the conqueror should take only two precautions: firstly, ensure that the family of the former sovereign is eradicated, and secondly, preserve the old laws and taxes - then the conquered lands will in the shortest possible time merge into one whole with the original state of the conqueror .
But if the conquered country differs from the inherited one in language, customs and order, then it is truly difficult to maintain power; it requires both great luck and great art. And one of the surest and most direct means for this is to move there to live. Such a measure would strengthen and secure the conquest - this is exactly what the Turkish Sultan did with Greece, who, no matter how hard he tried, would not have kept Greece in his power if he had not moved his capital there. For only by living in the country can you notice the beginning of unrest and stop it in a timely manner, otherwise you will find out about it when it has gone so far that it will be too late to take action. Having settled in the conquered country, the sovereign, in addition, will save it from the robbery of officials, for the subjects will have the opportunity to directly appeal to the court of the sovereign - which will give the obedient more reasons to love him, and the disobedient to fear. And if one of the neighbors was planning an attack, now he will show great caution, so that the sovereign is unlikely to lose the conquered country if he moves there to live.
25
Jun
2011
Nicolo Machiavelli (collected works) (Nicolo Machiavelli)
Machiavelli, Machiavelli Niccolo (3.5.1469, Florence, - 22.6.1527, ibid.), Italian political thinker, writer, historian, military theorist. From an impoverished noble family. From 1498 he was secretary of the Council of Ten of the Florentine Republic, carrying out important diplomatic assignments. In 1512, after the restoration of Medici tyranny, he was removed from service and exiled to his estate near Florence. The most significant works: “Discourses on the first decade of Titus Livy” (1531, Russian translation 1869), “Sovereign” (1532, Russian translation 1869; “Prince” in Works, vol. 1, 1934), “History of Florence” (1532 , Russian translation 1973). M., a passionate patriot who believed that the misfortunes of Italy were explained mainly by political fragmentation, created a theory of a state capable, as he believed, of overcoming this fragmentation. M.'s important contribution to the history of political ideas of the Renaissance was his approach to the problem of the state from a secular (rather than theological) position: he tried to reveal the laws of social development, based on historical data, on the disclosure of the human psyche, on taking into account real facts, the real situation. K. Marx classified M. among those political thinkers who “... began to consider the state with human eyes and deduce its natural laws from reason and experience, and not from theology” (Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed. ., vol. 1, p. 111). M. shared the belief of most humanists in the powerful creative possibilities of man. According to M.’s concept, a strong personality is able to resist “fortune”, random coincidences of circumstances (the role of which is great in history), opposing them with his energy and insight (in the idea of the struggle between personal “valor” - virtú and “fortune” the features characteristic of for Renaissance views); a comprehensive consideration of circumstances and the ability to change policies in accordance with the situation can ensure success for rulers. M. considered a republic to be the best form of state, but he was convinced that Italian reality (continuous hostility between Italian states that were attacked by foreigners) required the establishment of autocracy; Only with a strong sovereign is it possible to create an independent Italian state, free from foreign yoke. He believed that any means were permissible to strengthen the state - violence, murder, deception, betrayal (later the term “Machiavellianism” appeared, denoting a policy that disregards moral laws). M. sharply condemned the policies of the feudal nobility and especially the papacy, which led to constant strife and prevented the formation of a unified Italian state; at the same time, he was also wary of the “rabble” (plebs), who were easily drawn into adventures. His sympathies are on the side of the middle and upper strata of the trade and craft population of Italian cities (“the people” - popolo). As a historian, M. made an important step in the development of historiography. He looked for historical patterns, a deep causal connection of events. M., convinced of the immutability of human nature, viewed history as a clash of “eternal” passions and interests, individuals and classes. M. considered the most important driving force of history to be the political struggle, which in his presentation often appeared as a social, class struggle. In 1559, the Catholic Church included M.'s works in the "Index of Prohibited Books."
Format: FB2, OCR without errors
Year of manufacture: 1499-1525
Genre: Historical literature
Russian language
Number of books: 12
Description: The world-famous politician, historian, philosopher, writer Niccolo Machiavelli, who lived in the 15th-16th centuries, gave the world a lot. For example, a treatise in which the writer addressed Lorenzo de' Medici. Machiavelli was able to combine all the experiences of famous rulers known to him and demonstrated through him that public benefit and morality are categories of a different order. The basis is the development and improvement of the homeland, and for the sake of it you can do anything!
Judge for yourself, there are two sides of the coin: the same actions of a person in private, in personal life, can be interpreted as bad and worthless, and in public - worthy of praise, admiration and respect.
M. is the author of carnival songs, sonnets, short stories and other literary works. The most outstanding of them is the comedy "Mandrake" (Russian translation 1924), sharply castigating the morals of the then Florence. The church with its hypocrisy and corruption of morals has been subjected to special attacks. A distinctive feature of comedy is the determination, will, and activity of its characters. M. enriched Italian literature with clear, concise prose, devoid of rhetorical embellishments.
M. was “... the first military writer of modern times worthy of mention” (F. Engels, ibid., vol. 20, p. 346). In his treatise “On the Art of War” (1521, Russian translation 1936), he sharply criticized the system of mercenary troops, consisting, in his opinion, of the scum of society and engaged in robbery, and recommended replacing mercenaries with a standing army of the militia type, built on the basis of universal conscription and completely subordinate to the sovereign. M. considered the infantry to be the “life basis of any army”; The cavalry, M. believed, should be small in number, well trained and equipped. M. assigned the main role in battle to edged weapons and underestimated firearms, since they were imperfect at that time. M. demanded from the army high tactical training, coherence, discipline, and the ability to quickly maneuver, and attached great importance to reserves. M.'s strategic views were inconsistent (he put forward either a decisive battle or starvation of the enemy as the main means of achieving victory). M. borrowed many provisions from Vegetius, often mechanically transferring the experience of the army of Ancient Rome to a completely different era. In 1506-1510 he created a foot and horse militia in Florence (up to 20 thousand people), which had uniform uniforms and underwent systematic combat training (however, in 1512 it was defeated by the professional Spanish army).
Instructions on the art of war. Anti-Machiavelli. History of Frederick the Great (Hohenzollern K-F., Koni F.)
Format: audiobook, MP3, 320kbps
Author: Hohenzollern K-F., Koni F.
Year of release: 2017
Genre: Philosophy, history, biography
Publisher: DIY audiobook
Performer: Alexander Kharitonov
Duration: 25:04:00
Description:
Description: Frederick the Great (1712-1786) - the “soldier king” and “philosopher king”, who ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786 - left behind an extensive epistolary legacy touching almost all aspects of life. This publication includes “His Majesty the King of Prussia’s instructions on the art of war to his generals” - a work devoted to the tactics and strategy of warfare and...
“The Prince” is a treatise by the statesman Niccolo Machiavelli. It was written back in the Middle Ages, and published only after the death of the author. In it, Niccolo Machiavelli brings together all the experience of government, sharing his thoughts with readers. Although this book is in many ways didactic in nature, it is not perceived as such. When you read, there is no feeling of boredom or that an opinion is being imposed on you with which you do not agree. The author allows readers to draw their own conclusions.
In the book you can see discussions about power and ways to achieve it; these thoughts are laconic and simple. In just a few theses, the author provides arguments confirming his point of view, based on the experience of past years. At the same time, he indicates the advantages and disadvantages of this or that method. Niccolo Machiavelli believes that there are three main ways of gaining power, and if one of them - luck - is not subject to human influence, then the other two - the power of arms and virtue - can be controlled by a person. It is regarding this that the author gives advice in his book. It is very important for a ruler to sense the situation when necessary, to show flexibility, cunning or strength. Sometimes establishing order is only possible through the use of strict measures.
The work of Niccolo Machiavelli will be very useful to the rulers of countries in the modern world; it is not for nothing that it still arouses interest. However, the author himself says that one should not blindly follow advice: what will be a blessing in one situation will become a curse in another. He talks about various nuances of governing the country and gives recommendations, and which of them to listen to, everyone decides for themselves.
On our website you can download the book “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli for free and without registration in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format, read the book online or buy the book in the online store.
Name: Sovereign (collection)
Niccolo Machiavelli
Year of writing: 1532
Volume: 530 pp.
Genres: European ancient literature, Foreign educational literature, Foreign ancient literature, Books on philosophy
Read online
“The Sovereign” is a treatise dated 1513. The content is an appeal from the great Florentine philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, the sovereign at that time.
What is remarkable about the book for modern readers? Quite a lot, if only because, after thousands of years, the thoughts, advice, and recommendations that fill the work have not lost their relevance. They, as before, reflect the essence of the correct behavior of every sovereign, striving to be strong, respected, and indestructible. At the same time, even if you are not a political leader, this book can help you, the reader, set up your business, as it is filled with a variety of practical tips on how to better manage your subordinates (in the context of the book, these are the people).
A pleasant feature of the book “The Prince” is the light style that Niccolo Machiavelli used to create his writing. Medieval literature is generally difficult to read. It, due to the fact that it was usually created by deeply religious people, and at the same time philosophers, has many complex pathetic expressions that simply force you to constantly stop in order to “digest” the essence of what you read. There is nothing of the kind in this treatise. Reading the book “The Sovereign” is easy and pleasant, all expressions are clear and understandable. Laconism and simplicity distinguish the style of writing the treatise.
On the pages of the work you will not find complex, intricate teachings about how something should be and how specifically to achieve it. No, the whole book is filled with simple words that simply explain, against the backdrop of examples, that this is correct. Why? Because life itself suggests and puts forward such theses. However, if you do not agree with the arguments presented in the pages of Niccolò Machiavelli’s work “The Prince,” no one will judge you. The philosopher brought his own views on the essence of power and they should not coincide with yours.
The book “The Sovereign,” in addition to a wide variety of advice on how to govern the state correctly and very effectively, provides examples confirming the competence and literacy of the author’s recommendations. It is very convenient to see the visual result of the actions taken. At the same time, such presentation of information fills it with truthfulness and fairness, and evokes a trusting attitude. After all, if the proposed actions have a positive result, then they take place, since they can serve as an effective method of achieving their goals.
On our literary website vsebooks.ru you can download for free the book “The Prince (collection)” by Niccolo Machiavelli in a suitable format for different devices: epub, fb2, txt, rtf. A book is the best teacher, friend and companion. It contains the secrets of the Universe, human mysteries and answers to any questions. We have collected the best representatives of both foreign and domestic literature, classic and modern books, publications on psychology and self-development, fairy tales for children and works exclusively for adults. Everyone will find here exactly what will give them a lot of pleasant moments.
Title: Sovereign
Writer: Niccolò Machiavelli
Publisher: Public Domain
Age limit: 12+
Volume: 140 pages.
Genres: Free books, Philosophy, Foreign ancient literature
About the book “The Prince” by Niccolò Machiavelli
Are you sure that somewhere in the world there are honest politicians, and especially rulers? Those who will care about the welfare of the people more than their own? To achieve your goal, all means are good. Especially if your goal is to seize and maintain power in the country. The famous Italian thinker, philosopher, and politician Niccolo Machiavelli in his book “The Prince” explains that in order to become a strong ruler, you do not need to shun anything. Flattery, lies, cruelty, stinginess - all this can be adopted, but without fanaticism.
“The Sovereign” is the most famous ancient treatise, containing various methods for seizing power, governing the country, and also describing what skills and abilities a ruler must have so as not to be overthrown. A strong ruler, according to Machiavelli, must be strong like a lion, but at the same time cunning like a fox. He may well make promises that he has no intention of keeping. The main thing is that they believe him at the current moment in time. To be known as a strong leader, you don’t need to inspire people’s love. It's better to instill fear in people. So, Hannibal killed his scouts only because they brought him incorrect information. Do you think that after this incident someone would have decided to rebel against this ruler? Mercy, morality, honesty - all this is superfluous in politics. The good will always be swept away by the more evil and merciless. Peaceful prophets died, and people with weapons won victory. And what’s even worse... have they ever thought about what means they will achieve their goals. Blood? Yes. It's OK. All means are good for pursuing your personal, selfish gain.
Also in his work “The Prince,” Niccolo Machiavelli explores the role of a strong, resilient army. She must be. And it should consist of its own citizens, and not of mercenaries. Warriors must be patriots; the ideological component of dying for their homeland should have been hammered into their heads from birth. Only a patriotic army can protect the ruler from being overthrown from the throne. Mercenaries from other countries are very unreliable. They are not ready to die for the spatial ideals of the ruling elite. If they see a threat to their life, they run away from the battlefield, not caring about any money. The patriot will stand until the end. Note that in most cases, it is the current ruler who is being protected, and not the state. Because in essence, most of the leaders in power don’t give a damn about their country.
Niccolo Machiavelli’s book “The Prince” is more useful not for politicians (they already borrow all the cunning tricks and techniques from this treatise), but for the ordinary reader, the ordinary person who begins to think about the fact that any government looks after, first of all, its own interests, and then only the interests of the people. Why should the government at least somehow take into account the interests of people in a particular living country? Can you guess? So that there are no riots and revolutions. After all, what is the main goal? Stay on the throne longer, spending the state treasury on your needs.
The publishing design is preserved in pdf A4 format.
On our literary website you can download the book “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli for free in formats suitable for different devices - epub, fb2, txt, rtf. Do you like to read books and always keep up with new releases? We have a large selection of books of various genres: classics, modern fiction, psychological literature and children's publications. In addition, we offer interesting and educational articles for aspiring writers and all those who want to learn how to write beautifully. Each of our visitors will be able to find something useful and exciting for themselves.
