UHD POLS 2306
Texas Social and Personal Ethics
Due October 4 by 11:59PM through Blackboard.
Instructions: Read Machiavelli, Chapter 18, then complete assignment. See below.
Machiavelli, The Prince
CHAPTER XVIII: Concerning The Way In Which Princes Should Keep Faith
EVERY one admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith, and to live with
integrity and not with craft. 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
circumvent the intellect of men by craft, and in the end have overcome those who have
relied on their word. You must know there are two ways of contesting, the one by the
law, the other by force; the first method is proper to men, the second to beasts; but
because the first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the
second. Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the
beast and the man. This has been figuratively taught to princes by ancient writers, who
describe how Achilles and many other princes of old were given to the Centaur Chiron to
nurse, who brought them up in his discipline; which means solely that, as they had for a
teacher one who was half beast and half man, so it is necessary for a prince to know how
to make use of both natures, and that one without the other is not durable. A prince,
therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the
lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend
himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a
lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they
are about. Therefore a wise lord cannot, nor ought he to, keep faith when such observance
may be turned against him, and when the reasons that caused him to pledge it exist no
longer. If men were entirely good this precept would not hold, but because they are bad,
and will not keep faith with you, you too are not bound to observe it with them. Nor will
there ever be wanting to a prince legitimate reasons to excuse this nonobservance. Of this
endless modern examples could be given, showing how many treaties and engagements
have been made void and of no effect through the faithlessness of princes; and he who
has known best how to employ the fox has succeeded best.
But it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic, and to be a great
pretender and dissembler; and men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities,
that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be
deceived. One recent example I cannot pass over in silence. Alexander VI did nothing
else but deceive men, nor ever thought of doing otherwise, and he always found victims;
for there never was a man who had greater power in asserting, or who with greater oaths
would affirm a thing, yet would observe it less; nevertheless his deceits always succeeded
according to his wishes, because he well understood this side of mankind.
Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated,
but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to
have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is
useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a
mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to
change to the opposite.
And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all
those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the
state, to act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion. Therefore it is necessary
for him to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of
fortune force it, yet, as I have said above, not to diverge from the good if he can avoid
doing so, but, if compelled, then to know how to set about it.
For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip from his lips
that is not replete with the above-named five qualities, that he may appear to him who
sees and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and religious. There is
nothing more necessary to appear to have than this last quality, inasmuch as men judge
generally more by the eye than by the hand, because it belongs to everybody to see you,
to few to come in touch with you. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know
what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who
have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especially
of princes, which it is not prudent to challenge, one judges by the result.
For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding his state, the means
will always be considered honest, and he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar
are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world
there are only the vulgar, for the few find a place there only when the many have no
ground to rest on.
One prince of the present time, whom it is not well to name, never preaches anything else
but peace and good faith, and to both he is most hostile, and either, if he had kept it,
would have deprived him of reputation and kingdom many a time. END
UHD POLS 2306
Write a one and half page letter to a friend (“Dear Responsible Friend,…”). Assume this friend
is an ethical person and that he or she wants to go into TX politics. Score will be either Pass
well 90, Pass 70, Fail 40, or No Response 0. In your letter make sure that you include all of the
following features:
1. Show that you understand Machiavelli’s chapter in your letter.
2. Name and offer a description of the ethical character of your friend in contrast to that of
Machiavelli’s prince.
3. Offer an example of how your friend can still treat others ethically despite Machiavelli’s
viewpoint.
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