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.
