Machiavelli - The Prince Essays

Machiavelli - The Prince EssaysMuch is written about Machiavelli and his 'The Prince' yet some of the questions posed by his essays remain unanswered. For example, why does he advocate basing an uprising on the Christians?It would seem that Machiavelli wanted to unite all factions in Italy, under one banner, to overthrow the Pope and establish a republic. But then, even though he concedes that this might be difficult to do, he nonetheless maintains that the Christian people will be forced to support the crown if they cannot do it on their own. This seems like a strange reasoning to me.He also cites examples from the Greeks and Romans, to support his argument that The Prince is necessary for all factions. For example, his insistence that Roman emperors have to be trusted because they will always follow the dictates of The Prince. Again, when discussing Christianity, it is said that they are prevented from participating in an uprising for the simple reason that they cannot be relied up on to not lead Rome into ruin.Then again, why does he consider the Christians to be the most likely to join him and the other factions? In fact, some people point out that, by his own admission, he has been negotiating with them for decades. This raises an important question: Why is he only now considering throwing down against them? If he doesn't have much faith in them to begin with, why would he make it known that he would kill or subjugate them?Some scholars have even argued that Machiavelli's arguments may actually be based on the fact that the Christians are the main military force of Rome. His position is that, if you were to lay down arms in battle with the armies of the Christians, you are likely to be killed or captured anyway. So, although it would not be quite fair, if your fellow rebels were to kill or capture you, it would not matter.Yet, I am fairly sure that this would not be the reason why the Christian emperor of the time was left alive and well as the Empire rose and fell. Instead, it could very well be that he either did not know what he was doing or that he just knew what he wanted from the start. Even if he had, the attempt to assassinate the emperor would have failed and he would have had to flee with his family and retainers.In fact, one of the essays of 'The Prince' is dedicated to honoring those Christians who would be executed in order to appease the soldiers of the Christian factions. At the same time, the author also points out that this would be a bad idea because Christians would be allowed to join the fight if they wanted to. So, although it is not implied that Christianity was the real reason why he was removed from power, it does appear that this is why the third part of his essay: Politics, was written: in order to win back the loyalty of the Christian troops and convince them that there would be no harm done to them.Many have tried to answer the questions surrounding The Prince, and there is no doubt that the answers will be questioned as well. Still, the issues raised by his essays should not be ignored and if you are a lover of Machiavelli, then it may be a good idea to continue reading about his thoughts.