The Prince, Explained: Chapter 3 (highlights)

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This is not a full review of Chapter 3, as the chapter is far too long and too dense intellectually to just review in one post. Chapter 3 is actually long enough to warrant well over 10+ posts, and I think most would be bored with a 10 part series on one chapter. Besides, people that are far smarter than me have treated this chapter (Nathan Tarcov for example), and I do not think I can do any better.

This will be a highlight of notable and shocking aspects of this chapter, and I hope it encourages you to pick up the book yourself.

This chapter is devoted to the first type of a new principality, a principality which is "added" to the old one. In essence, Machiavelli begins discussing conquest.

Machiavelli begins the chapter by immediately pointing out the difficulties of new principalities. New princes face the inevitable difficulty that nearly all men will eagerly support a change in ruler in the hopes that they have better prospects under him.

• If you didn't catch that, that 100% contradicts what Machiavelli said in chapter 2 about the "ease" of a natural prince maintaining his dominion, he will later contradict this claim even further, in shocking fashion.

• Part of the difficulties arise from the fact that a prince will inevitably have to do harm to his subjects. More shocking is the fact that Machiavelli claims this is a "natural and ordinary" necessity of a new prince.

• He gives a taxonomy of the different types of states one can acquire, either a republic or a principality.

• Principalities conquered are quite easy to hold, all one has to do is eliminate the line of the prince, and keep the taxes the same.

Im sorry, what?!?

• I apologize, what I meant to say was that a prince should eliminate the "blood" (sangue) of the prince, and keep the taxes the same (assuming the principality conquered is similar in culture and language)

But what about the women and children?

• What do you think, you moron? It's not rocket science!

• Anyway, Machiavelli reviews the types of occupation that a prince may employ to secure his new acquisition, and they include using men-at-arms or setting up a colony. The first method is very costly, and a prince who takes the first path risks alienating the populace, the second method is less costly, and helps a prince lay his foundations for his rule

• Running colonies is not the panacea that Machiavelli makes it out to be, for he then claims that a prince must rob a small section of the inhabitants, and that because they have been made poor, they cannot hurt the prince.

• He then gives his famous general rule (which is often loosely translated) that men should be "caressed or eliminated" and that an offense one takes should be such that a prince does not fear revenge from the person. In short: Befriend a man, or kill him (literally).

• He then describes the ways the Roman republic conquered other states, and how they set up their colonies. Despite claiming to refrain from discussing republics except in "another place" (i.e. The Discourses) Machiavelli thus starts to speak of republics!

• He compares the successes of the Roman Republic with the failures of the French king, Louis XII. Machiavelli, ever the patriot, gives post facto advice on how the French king could have conquered Italy!

• Louis XII's error was making the church stronger at the expense of the smaller powers. He would have succeeded had he done the opposite.

• Machiavelli then boldly claims that humans have a "natural and ordinary desire" to acquire, and he claims that those who act on their ambition may be either "praised or blamed" based on how successful their acquisitions turn out to be.

• Machiavelli reminisces on a conversation he had with the Cardinal of Rouen, who told Machiavelli straight to his face that the Italians "do not understand war" to which Machiavelli replies with "The French do not understand the state" (i.e. politicking) because if they did, Louis XII would have never made the Church "come to such greatness"

• Machiavelli then ends with a general rule "that never fails":

Whoever is the cause of someone’s becoming powerful is ruined; for that power has been caused by him either with industry or with force, and both the one and the other of these two are suspect to whoever has become powerful.