Fashioning a Prince

In Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare, Stephen Greenblatt refers to a dinner party at Cardinal Wolsey’s, at which Sir Thomas More was present. We are told that a “performance” of sorts was being played out in which the guests were trying to outdo each other in praising the Cardinal. Both parties took part in this game of satisfaction of self-love knowing fully well that it is all an elaborate pretence. What this represents for More is the power of the Cardinal: “power, whose quintessential sign is the ability to impose one’s fictions upon the world: the more outrageous the fiction, the more impressive the manifestation of power.” Greenblatt distinguishes this from the kind of pretence Machiavelli deals with in The Prince, for whom he says “the prince engages in deceptions for one very clear reason: to survive.”

For Machiavelli all actions of aspiring and newly established princes should be directed towards survival as the Prince. The goal is to make himself acceptable, in the very least, to his people, for “the best fortress that exists is to avoid being hated by the people”. In chapter IX Machiavelli says that it is safe to build power on the people if the Prince is one who can “command and is a man of courage, who does not despair in adversity, who does not fail to take precautions, and who wins general allegiance by his personal qualities and the institutions he establishes.” Yet this can be achieved neither by paying too much heed to popular opinion, nor by appearing as one is. In many cases this involves the use of deception and dissimulation: fashioning of the prince in a particular manner.

Let us begin by looking at the reputation of the Prince, as discussed in chapters XV to XIX. Machiavelli begins by saying that while it is good for a Prince to be virtuous he may not be able to observe these virtues completely because of conditions in the world. For Machiavelli it is better to ensure one’s security by resorting to vices than to fall attempting to be virtuous. Likewise, it is better to have a reputation for parsimony than to be renowned for generosity, for good and sincere generosity goes unnoticed, and to sustain a reputation for generosity one has to be “ostentatiously lavish”. It is better to be reputed for cruelty than for compassion, to be feared than to be loved, if one cannot be both at the same time. “A prince…must watch that he does not come to be afraid of his own shadow.” An interesting distinction appears here. While the Prince is not “to be afraid of his own shadow”, there exist situations in which it is possible for him to create his own ‘shadow’. Indeed, one might go so far as to say that this ‘shadow’-making is one of the most important tools in the hands of the Prince. He solidifies his position when he is a new prince by creating a ‘shadow’ for himself, and as an established prince, maintains his position using it.

In chapter XVII where Machiavelli speaks of Cruelty and Compassion, he remarks that the bond of love is an insecure one, for men, “wretched creatures that they are, break it when it is to their advantage to do so.” Fear, on the other hand, is prompted by the dread of punishment. It appears that Machiavelli relies more on a response that can be aroused and regulated by the agency of the prince, i.e. fear, rather than on one which is relatively harder to control, i.e. love. He speaks of Hannibal’s huge army, where “there was never any dissension” because of Hannibal’s inhuman cruelty. However he says that “without such a reputation (for cruelty), no army was ever kept united and disciplined.” (Italics are mine.) Does this, then, imply that it suffices to have a reputation, by whatever means, for cruelty even if the Prince is not in fact cruel? He gives the example of Cesare Borgia earlier in the chapter, who was accounted cruel, when according to Machiavelli, was more compassionate than the Florentines who “allowed Pistoia to be devastated”. He says that “by making an example or two he will prove more compassionate than those who, being to compassionate, allow disorders which lead to murder or rapine.” While Machiavelli appreciates Borgia’s ‘compassion’, Borgia is “accounted cruel” by the people, and yet he succeeds in keeping his principality united. However, it is interesting to note that even Borgia tries to fashion himself as anti-violence and to mold his subjects when he has Remirro killed brutally. Having achieved unity he kills Remirro, attempting not only to distance himself from cruelty, but also to establish himself as a man who has put an end to cruelty. “The brutality of the spectacle kept the people of the Romagna at once appeased and stupefied”: the effect of wonder, which Machiavelli speaks of with respect Ferdinand of Aragon, in chapter XXI, is achieved .

The importance of controlling one’s appearance is demonstrated further through the example of Alexander VI. Machiavelli writes, “Alexander VI never did anything, or thought of anything, other than deceiving men; and he always found victims for his deceptions. There was never a man capable of such convincing asseverations, or so ready to swear to the truth of something, who would honour his word less.” Even earlier, he praises Julius II for having forged a reputation for being generous in order to win over the papacy. Machiavelli considers Alexander VI and his methods worthy of respect, as evident from chapter VII. He claims in chapter XVIII that while it is important for a Prince to appear as a man of “compassion, a man of good faith, a man of integrity, a kind and religious man”, it is essential, above all, that he appear religious. “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

Machiavelli’s ideas about religion deserve at least a separate essay. Yet, since religion, or a Prince’s appearance of being religious play an important part in his statecraft, it cannot be ignored. Religion can be used ruthlessly to control the populace. In The Discourses Machiavelli asserts that “the religion introduced by Numa was among the primary causes of Rome’s success” (1.11). Superstitions were also used to by the authorities, as in the case of the siege of the city of Veii. We are told of the year “the Alban lake had risen in an extraordinary way”, and the troops who were tired of the long siege were desirous of returning to Rome. It was then that the authorities discovered that certain oracles had prophesied that “Veii would be taken in the year in which Lake Alba overflowed” (1.13) The soldiers captured the town. Machiavelli says that even his contemporary Florentines were vulnerable to such myths, as illustrated in the case of Savonarola, who claimed that he had converse with God. In chapter XXI of The Prince Machiavelli tells us of Ferdinand of Aragon who used Church funding to sustain his armies, and gradually lay good foundations for his standing army. He undertook even greater campaigns, “still making use of religion”, “chased out the Moriscos”, and “under the same cloak of religion he assaulted Africa”. Machiavelli says later in that same chapter that “at suitable times of the year he (the Prince) should entertain the people with shows and festivities”: the shows of power Greenblatt speaks of in his chapter on More.

It becomes evident that Machiavelli does not so much place a great deal of importance on a virtuous prince. He warns time and again that it is good for a Prince to be virtuous, but he must also prepare himself for carrying out vices. “A prince, therefore, need not necessarily have all the good qualities I mentioned above, but he should certainly appear to have them.” Again, in chapter XIX, Machiavelli emphasizes the importance of appearance. A reputation of being “fickle, frivolous, effeminate, cowardly, irresolute” is to be avoided like the plague He must “strive to demonstrate in his actions grandeur, courage, sobriety, strength.” The Prince who has newly acquired a principality, must imitate great and outstanding men. “If his prowess fails to compare with theirs, at least it has an air of greatness about it.” The appearance of a Prince becomes, then, one of the most important aspects of the aspiring Prince. Much of the aspirant’s chances of coming to power,and holding on to it, depend on his ability to fashion himself in a certain way.

It will perhaps be fitting to close the essay by considering whether Machiavelli himself, in his attempt to win favour with “Lorenzo de Medici”, tries to re-fashion his own image. It appears that he was working simultaneously on The Discourses, and although in terms of methodology the two works do not contradict each other greatly, they are very different in their perspectives. Machiavelli closes his work by himself attempting to create a larger-than-life image of his own patron, placing him in the rich lineage of Moses, Cyrus and Theseus: deliverers of their peoples.