Machiavelli and the Admirable Virtue of Cesare Borgia Instructions: 5 page interpretive essay written on Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince", including in text citations from "The Prince" and scholarly articles supporting my argument. My thesis is that Cesare Borgia is the near-perfect prince who exemplifies Machiavelli's radical theory of virtue that holds no regard for morality other than what is necessary to attain and preserve a state. Machiavelli uses Cesare Borgia's parable to prove that morality is a malleable tool to use when convenient and abandon when inconvenient.

1. Machiavelli and the Admirable Virtue of Cesare Borgia
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Machiavelli and the Admirable Virtue of Cesare Borgia
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NOVEMBER 10, 2016

2. Machiavelli and the Admirable Virtue of Cesare Borgia 1
Admiration is a reflection on character. To admire a head of state speaks well for that
leader's qualities.However, what if the qualities of the admired typically inspire trepidation and
are not so admirable after all? Brutality, deceitfulness, and treachery typify the characteristics of
a tyrant. Yet these are the very qualities thatdefineCesare Borgia as the model kingpinin Niccolo
Machiavelli's The Prince. Borgia is the near-perfect prince who exemplifies Machiavelli'sradical
theory of virtue that holds no regard formorality other than what is necessary to attain and
preserve a state.Machiavelli uses Cesare Borgia's parable to prove thatmorality is a malleable
tool to use when convenient and abandon when inconvenient.
The name Borgia is associated with Renaissance decadence, treachery and questionable
realpolitik. The reports of the fine and bloodthirsty condottiere Cesare Borgia; his dad, Pope
Alexander VI, has spawned a countless quantity of reports, poems, books, operas and movies.
Cesare Borgia's morally flexible virtue dominates Machiavelli's fascination and he identifies
Borgia as thebest of the best (or as close as you can get to it). Borgia "used every means and took
all the precautions that a wise and able [virtuoso] man should to root himself in those states
which had been granted him by the arms and fortunes of others...( Machiavelli 19)"
Borgiamurders his opposition, aka the Orsini and Colonna families, while simultaneously
achieving their subjects' loyalties. He establishes his own army to replace the auxiliary and
mercenary forces. He seizes control of Romagna and, at first, employs cruel methods of
governance, but later allows the state to govern itself. He also employs a cruelminister to govern
Romagna who he later exploits as a scapegoat and executes to avoid hatred and instill fear in his
people. Finally, Borgia resolves to solidify his power in Italy by taking control of the Vatican. He

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plans to eliminate the established nobles, bribe sway the College of Cardinals to his sympathies,
and overtake as much of the papal land as he can before his father, Pope Alexander VI, dies.
Borgia's strategy is uncompromising
Chapter six makes clear that the best and most praiseworthy princes gain power through virtue
and their very own arms, as did Moses, Cyrus, Theseus, and Romulus. Consequently, Cesare
would appear to be the best exemplar of the incorrect sort of prince. From the structure of the
argument, one might presume that his “example” will indicate something to prevent, not a thing
to be imitated. At first, however, this seems not to be the case:
“Cesare Borgia, called Duke Valentino by the vulgar, acquired his state through the fortune of
his father [Pope Alexander VI] and lost it through the same, notwithstanding the fact that he
made use of every deed and did all those things that should be done by a prudent and virtuous
man to put his roots in the states that the arms and fortune of others had given him.” (P.7:26-27)
After stating Cesare’s deeds, Machiavelli adds that:
“The duke had laid very good foundations for his power” (P.7:29) and “he would soon have
succeeded, if Alexander had lived” (P.7:30).
As we first read chapter seven, it appears that Cesare failed because of events he could not have
foreseen or prevented.
“But if at the death of Alexander the duke had been healthy, everything would have been easy
for him. And he told me, on the day that Julius II was created, that he had thought about what

4. Machiavelli and the Admirable Virtue of Cesare Borgia 3
might happen when his father was dying, and had found a remedy for everything, except that he
never thought that at his death he himself would also be on the point of dying.”(P.7:32)
Before we move onto Cesare, we just want to observe that Alexander serves as a style for
Machiavelli of how ruthlessness and immorality will often work to the benefit of a ruler. He did
things that popes are not supposed to complete, and what did he get because of it? He made the
papacy stronger than it had actually been before.
The “fortune” that brought Cesare to energy was the desire of his father, Pope Alexander VI...
Later Machiavelli describes Cesare as simply the “instrument” of his father; indeed, it absolutely
was Alexander who “did everything I discussed over in what of the duke” (P.11:46). Having been
determined by his father, Cesare did not know enough to own produced the proper choice.
So who is this person? It all starts with his father. Cesare Borgia is the illegitimate child of Pope
Alexander VI. Before he became pope, Alexander VI was a cardinal. (In the Catholic Church,
cardinals rank below popes but above bishops.)
As Cardinal Roderigo, Alexander VI made Borgia into the Bishop of Pamplona, a region in Italy.
Borgia was only fifteen at the time, about the time when kids these days are getting their driver's
licenses. (We'd rather have the license, to be honest). Three years later, Roderigo became Pope
Alexander VI and eighteen-year-old Borgia got promoted to Cardinal of Valencia.
That is usually not really a good sign, since rulers who arrive by luck do not often last too long.
But Borgia labored his bottom off to keep himself in power. It's probably when he began with

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this specific disadvantage and still reached therefore significantly that Machiavelli says, "I
wouldn'tknow what better advice to give a ruler new to power than to follow his example" (7.3).
Borgia has been accused, unfairly, of glorifying cruelty and treachery. This isn't the case.
Machiavelli wrote it is appropriate for a king to need the love of his persons -- although not at
the trouble of disorder. "A lot of whim," he creates, "enables problems to be on, where spring
killings or depredations. “Let us see what he did as he had the power and state
• He killed his competitors, the Orsini and Colonna individuals, and changed all their
proponents to his side.
• He eliminated mercenaries and auxiliaries and recognized their own military
• He guaranteed his new state, Romagna, by first smashing it with cruelty and then and can
work itself. While being terrible, he applied a scapegoat to ensure that no-one hated him,
and then killed the scapegoat therefore he (Borgia) could be feared.
• He produced a four stage arrange for how to help keep energy when his father died,
including these:
✓ Destroy all regional rulers.
✓ Gain help of Roman nobles.
✓ Get therefore significant area that there is no-one to feel him.
Let us always check Borgia's measures against Machiavelli's principles:
✓ Destroy the persons who are able to contend with you.

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✓ Produce relationship with the poor.
✓ Never use mercenaries or reliable forces.
✓ Use enormous levels of abuse and cruelty on a brand new state in the beginning, but be
nicer.
✓ Do not allow persons loathe you.
Borgia was therefore questionable but skilled, he realized therefore properly that you've to
get around persons or ruin them and he'd accumulated such strong foundations for his energy
such a short while that when he hadn't had both of these armies threatening him, or if he
hadn't been therefore sick, he might have overcome every obstacle.
What does it show that Borgia is Machiavelli's perfect leader? It reveals people that
Machiavelli rewards the capability to be self-sufficient and to be questionable when
necessary. Borgia wasn't a squeamish man, he was not indecisive, and he did not count on
chance following his father served him out. If you appear strongly, you'll note that the rest of
the guys (Machiavelli just discusses guy rulers) that Machiavelli supports as instances to
copy search eerily much like Borgia.
In line with the foregoing bill of the position of Cesare Borgia in Machiavelli's axioms
predicated on The King, there are numerous concluding statements the following:
1、Machiavelli tells his viewers that the ancients wrote about politics with secret
explanations; the moment his performs is cautiously study, Rousseau's assertion that
Machiavelli applied exactly the same methods becomes evident.

7. Machiavelli and the Admirable Virtue of Cesare Borgia 6
2、Relying on the bundle that produced him to energy, Cesare unsuccessful to really make
the appropriate decision which triggered their own defeat.
3、Cesare Borgia was in exactly the same condition as Lorenzo de 'Medici. The King is
focused on a detailed general of the pope; and it had been the pope, Leo X (Giovanni de
‘Medici), who'd types to make use of Lorenzo to determine a main German state.
4、The outcomes or outcomes of a political leader's actions-not his objectives or aims-are
the sole sensible qualification for knowing him.
5、Machiavelli might be extremely strange when he claims “I don't know very well what
greater training I really could share with a fresh king compared to exemplary case of his
actions” (P.7:27).Cesare is definitely an example of anything the brand new king must avoid.
Conclusion
The Prince can be an incredibly realistic guide since it doesn't inform the audience what the best
king and principality is, however it describes to the audience what activities and features have
allowed a king to most useful concept a particular principality. The guide can be crucial due to
Machiavelli's perspective of a united Italy, a notion 35 decades in front of their time.
Machiavelli's reason was proper for his time since his time was a period of regular conflict
and suggestions about the artwork of conflict was needed. This really is solved by the 500
decades of conflicts, treachery and genocide. These traditions were disliked by Machiavelli, but
he acknowledged them as natural to individual interaction. Persons haven't transformed, and
governments, though providing top support to justice and concept of legislation carry on showing

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against their neighbors and their very own individuals with regularity. Machiavelli is equally as
applicable as actually, some facts may require upgrading, and however the substance stays
important.
References:
Machiavelli, Niccolo P: The Prince. tran. Harvey C. Mansfield. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press,
1985.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques SC: Social Contract. ed. Roger D. Masters. New York: St. Martin’s
Press,1978.
Pocock, J.G.A.1975 The Machiavellian Moment. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.
Scott, John T. and Vickie Sullivan1994 “Patricide and the Plot of The Prince: Cesare Borgia and
Machiavelli’s Italy”, American Political Science Review 88: 887-900.