Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli In His World

by Erica Benner

His design ‘was to write for a tyrant those things that are pleasing to tyrants, bringing about in this way, if he could, the tyrant’s self-willed and swift downfall’.

When he describes how Cesare Borgia scapegoated his own governor, having him sliced in two pieces and laid out in the piazza at Cesena with a bloody knife close by, Machiavelli gives readers an unforgettable image of how far princes will go to hold on to power – showing that the writer’s true intention in the Prince was to expose the perversities of princely rule.6 His purpose was to warn people who live in free republics about the risks they face if they entrust their welfare to one man.

I’d tell them, Niccolò responds, that the freedom I speak of isn’t private licence to do whatever one chooses.4 If anyone says that there is no true freedom where the laws leave no room for individuals to choose what work they do, whom to marry, how many children to have, or what opinions to hold and speak short of calumny, I’d agree with them. But when I say libertà I mean public freedom, which can only be preserved if I accept laws that set bounds on my choices, and on everyone else’s. In a world I’m forced to share with others who have their own equally stubborn desires, what could be less realistic than the notion that I should have licence to do whatever I want?

machia defining freedom as a private right, but doesn't deny tht iron fist laws aren't totalitarian. needs citation ugh