Petrarch and Machiavelli: The Changing Role of the Prince in Italian Society

A Paper by M. Rinn

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Machiavelli’s The Prince is the most enduring and well known work of Renaissance literature. Since its publication, it has sparked a fury of debate about political morality, reflected in the book’s portrayal of how one should run a government as a prince. However, the ideals expressed in the book are not from out of the blue and written because Machiavelli was cynical of human nature and felt that ruthless efficiency by one man was the best way to run a government. Rather, the book’s political ideals come from a turbulent time in Italian history where the traditional ideals of a prince, reflected in works such as Petrarch’s letter to the Carrara lord of Padua, had to be challenged in order to help Italy continue onwards.

Until the French invasion in 1494, Italian city-states had remained relatively stable. This overall political stability is reflected in works such as Petrarch’s letter to the ruler of Padua, written in 1373. In the letter, Petrarch, the leading humanist of the time, offers Carrara advice on how to rule as an effective prince, laying out a good model that he should try to fill. Amongst the virtues that Petrarch emphasizes is friendliness, claiming that it is far better for a prince or lord to be loved than feared and viewed as unapproachable, that it is ideal to act loving and merciful towards subjects, pointing out that “just as the love of the people is gained more easily by mercy and generosity than by any other quality, so, conversely, nothing is more guaranteed to provoke a people's hatred than cruelty and greed" (Kohl and DeWitt 6). He also places an emphasis on how to behave towards one’s subjects, emphasizing that a prince should beautify the city, give charity and offer patronage to artists in order to further glorify the city as well as the prince himself. The prince is to be a man of virtue and respectability, whose main focus is on the territory that he rules over and seeing to the well being of its citizens.

Petrarch’s letter reflects a very traditional view of what a prince should be. He focuses primarily on internal affairs and the maintenance of one’s territory more so than anything else. In addition, the mention of patronage of writers, artists and sculptors as well as public works not only indicates the emphasis on internal affairs, but also that there was enough money for a prince to do so and that he should be willing to spend money in order to patronize these people, bringing himself and the city great prestige. The virtues that he expresses that are good qualities for a prince to have also reflect an ideal Christian. When dealing with legal issues it is always better for the prince to be fair and balanced and to show mercy on the accused, even if he is found guilty. To exact cruel and unusual punishment would be unchristian. The emphasis that Petrarch places on giving money to charity and being kind to widows and orphans also come out of this tradition, placing an emphasis on the religious character of the ruler. This sort of virtuous prince, described by Petrarch, was perfect for a peaceful Italy. However, when foreign powers began to invade Italy starting in 1494, the model of the prince had to change. No longer could he simply sit back, dealing with the occasional conflict and make the city beautiful. It was now far more important to preserve the state at any cost rather than to be virtuous and have it be taken away by other countries.

By the time The Prince was written in 1532, the political landscape in Italy had changed greatly. France had invaded and political alliances had been made with other countries such as Spain that allowed them to gain a foothold in Italy and influence Italian politics. In addition, the pope had far more power than was ever expected and the former Florentine republic had now become a principality under the Medici family. There was constant turmoil as the major powers tried to influence Italian politics in their favour while native Italians struggled to defend their territories and keep the other countries out of their affairs. It was against this backdrop, as well as Machiavelli’s own attempts to reconcile with the Medici, that he wrote The Prince.

The biggest feature of Machiavelli’s political treatise was the radical change in the values that a prince should have. In Machiavelli’s view, the personal matters of a prince, no matter how virtuous his own character may be or how good and moral of a person he may be in private, when dealing with the matters of the state it was better to put all of his personal values aside and to do what was good for the whole of the state. He writes specifically against the virtues that Petrarch and others so idealized in the 14^th century, saying that “if [a prince] has these qualities and always behaves accordingly he will find them harmful; if he only appears to have them they will render him service….his disposition should be that if he needs to be the opposite [of compassionate, faithful to his word, kind, guileless and devout], he knows how” (Machiavelli 57). For Machiavelli, to always behave in a manner that defined the princes of old is hazardous to the state and puts the prince as a grave disadvantage. This is particularly true when dealing with larger powers who do act in the manner that he describes, in order to protect the prince form being taken advantage of and to ensure that the he protects his state. The one value that a prince absolutely must have is the ability to “recognize traps…and frighten off wolves” (Machiavelli 57). Cunning is the ultimate virtue of Machiavelli’s ideal ruler, and in his age, this was what was more important. He makes reference to the mistakes of people like Ludovico il Moro, who in his attempt to win back his title as Duke of Milan had allowed the French into the country and launching Italy into war, citing an almost naïve aspect of them in order to demonstrate what having virtue will do to a ruler when associating with larger powers that have larger territory and bigger armies and do not act virtuous in their dealings. Machiavelli also emphasizes that while a Prince should be cunning, it is important for him to keep up the traditional princely image, saying that he should “appear a man of compassion…faith…integrity and kind and religious man” (Machiavelli 58), emphasizing the last one most of all, as what the prince projects is how he will be judged. So long as the prince can maintain the outward appearance of Petrarch’s prince and acts cunningly and sometimes amorally in order to preserve his state, he will be a successful ruler.

While Machiavelli may have created a name for himself that borders on the infamous with The Prince, he also demonstrated the changing face of Italian politics in the 15^th century. Because of the constant change and threats to tear Italy’s city-states apart and put them under the control of larger countries, he decided that the most important thing was to express to the Medicis and other Italian ruling families that old princely ways could not be abided by any more. The times called for change, and Machiavelli understood that, taking care to outline exactly how one should adapt to this new political environment.