Machiavelli’s The Prince: structure and themes of the political treatise dedicated to Lorenzo De’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, composed in 1513.From 1512 Machiavelli was confined and put in prison because he was suspected of having participated in an anti-Medici conspiracy. It is thought that in this period, between March and December 1513, he completed the draft of The Prince and the outline of the first 18 chapters of the speeches.
Initially Machiavelli thought of dedicating the treatise to Giuliano de’ Medici but, after his death, the book was dedicated to Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici , Duke of Urbino. The title of the pamphlet makes clear the model that inspired Machiavelli, that is, the treatise on the ideal sovereign, a common literary form in the Middle Ages. However, between the production of this genre and Machiavelli’s The Prince there is a great difference both on the thematic and formal level and on the theoretical and ideological level. The choice of the model concerns only some external aspects, such as the general title, the titles of the individual chapters in Latin and the organization of the treatise.
Machiavelli’s The Prince: Structure
The Prince is divided into twenty-six chapters, each with a title in Latin . We can distinguish four themes treated by Machiavelli:
- The first includes chapters I-XI and deals with different types of principality in general and acquired principalities.
- The second chapters XII to XIV, which deal with the problem of mercenary militias and one’s own militias .
- The third includes chapters XV-XXIII and deals with the behaviors and virtues that are appropriate for a prince .
- The fourth concerns chapters XXIV-XXVI and examines the Italian situation and the crucial problem of fortune and its power over the lives of men .
There is an initial dedication to Lorenzo de’ Medici which also contains the author’s overall judgment on his own text. In chapter VI Machiavelli turns his attention to the true object of the investigation, the foundation of a new State. Chapter XV opens like chapter VI. In this chapter Machiavelli begins a series of reflections on the qualities necessary for a prince and on his concrete practice of government. Chapter XXVI is characterized by a forcing of the lucidly reasoning trend dominant in the entire work and by the prevalence of the emotional aspect.
Division into chapters
In the first eleven chapters Machiavelli examines the different types of principality, while the three chapters XII-XIV concern the organization of the militias. With chapter XV a new argumentative core begins, where the qualities and precautions necessary for the prince to govern are discussed.
In chapter XVII he addresses the qualities of cruelty and piety and how useful they are to the Prince. In chapter XIX he continues the discussion of the arguments started in chapter XV , reducing the qualities harmful to the Prince to those that induce hatred or contempt in the subjects, as numerous ancient and recent examples attest. In the very short chapters XXII and XXIII he addresses the theme of prudence that the Prince needs to choose collaborators and men of trust and the ways to defend oneself from flatterers.
Chapter XXIV examines the reasons that have determined the recent loss of states by the Italian princes, while the following chapter focuses on the relationship between fortune and virtue. The attack on chapter XXIV marks the end of the precept-based discussion: if the prince follows all the indications, the advice, his new kingdom will seem ancient, conferring on the precariousness of the new political construction the same stability that is typical of hereditary states.
Chapter XXV raises the problem of the relationship between fortune and virtue, insisting on the conditional power of the former but also on the capacity of the latter to subjugate it through shrewdness and above all through impetuous action. Chapter XXVI contains the final exhortation to free Italy from foreigners.
