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Comparison of 4 Renaissance Writers In The Prince, Machiavelli recommends that princes read histories and consider the actions of "excellent men", as men learn by imitation. Just as Achilles was the model for Alexander, and Alexander for Julius Caesar, new princes should imitate these men. Machiavelli expresses his grief that "no sign of that ancient virtue remains with us" because ancient "kings, captains, citizens, and legislators are admired rather than imitated." He makes "utility and imitation" essential elements in reading The Prince. The criticism of the imagination gives expression to the "contempt" that "men of deeds" often have for "men of words. " The Prince leaves no place for "writing as an heroic act"; words are valuable only as "initiators of action." Machiavelli presents himself not only as a restorer of ancient ways but also as a discoverer of new modes and orders, the imitation of ancient models becomes inadequate for achieving his ends. Cosimo, as incarnation of this notion, appears in the novel a fortunate prince who rules honestly while having ideas how to be deceitful and faithless. His liberality and modesty reveal that he is guided by a desire to leave the appearance of having religion.
But in fact, Cosimo came to power through "tricks", and he stars ruling with cunning. He is one of those princes who admires the ancients but does not believe they have to be imitated or followed as the religion teaches to deny worldly things. As Machiavelli tells us that modern princes are reluctant to imitate the ancients because it is disallowed by an education and religion which believes that times have irrevocably changed. One way to circumvent this obstacle would be to place an ancient captain in modern times, that is, to incorporate ancient strategies and methods of ruling into the fictionalized life of a modern captain, and to illustrate his success in present circumstances. Since the greatest factual life written by Machiavelli shows us Cosimo as a clever and modest unarmed prince who lacks the means to rule openly, it appears that teaching the effectual truth to princes required writing an imaginary life.
It is argued that Machiavelli added many fictional moments to the story. But why could not he have rewritten, for instance, the life of Moses in his own version? Perhaps he never drafted the life of Moses because nobody could become Moses by imitation of his life. Only the founder turns one man's modernity into the next man's antiquity. This way, it becomes not difficult to infer what Machiavelli held about the Renaissance commonplace - princes should imitate the lives of excellent men, even if the last are invented. Machiavelli was looking for the basis for the art of governance on science rather than on Christian principles.
He focused on how to preserve the state by any effective means. His writings are concerned with the principles on which such a state is founded, and with the means by which they can be implemented and maintained. His acceptance of the principles that the end justifies the means, that a ruler is not bound by traditional ethical norms, was bluntly expressed in this work; and it reflects the degree to which the new political environment had changed popular thinking. In his view, a prince should be concerned only with power and be bound only by rules that would lead to success in political actions. But at the same time Machiavelli wrote: Men must imitate the ancients in matters calling for strength and vigor.
They must adopt the true and perfect ways of antiquity, not the false and corrupt. Machiavelli's political realism is not concerned with right and wrong: Since it is my purpose to write what may be useful to those who need it, I have thought it more fitting to concern myself with the effective reality of things than with speculation. It was only later that the word Renaissance acquired a broader meaning. The Renaissance in Italy is classified as one of the great ages of human cultural achievements.
At that time, one of the most popular work in literature was Baldesar Castiglione's Book of the Courtier. Castiglione was a count and a diplomat, and his book is not really about literature or philosophy. Rather, it is in the form of a debate over the ideal behavior of aristocratic men and women across a variety of situations and matters. The Book of the Courtier is more about human nature underlying aristocratic behavior. Castiglione view on antiquity as a cultural and political model is similar to the one of Machiavelli's in its modern and progressive thinking.
Other eras had viewed man as nothing more than a subject of God, a sinner, or a helpless robot. The Renaissance was a rekindling of the classical view of man as an end in himself, a master of his own destiny, a being of soul. Castiglione, in setting forth the program of education for the ideal courtier, divides the subject into two forks: education of mind and of body. Although the model courtier's profession is arms, he must be very learned in letters.
He must know Latin and Greek. He must be well-versed in the poets, orators, and historians of antiquity, as well as being able to write poetry and prose in Italian. Castiglione supports the necessity of a liberal education to a soldier by citing several antique military commanders who were quite fond of literature, such as Alexander, C? sar, Scipio Africanus, and others. The Book states that a good courtier should possess charm, be handsome, be of noble birth, modest, physically fit, be good at sports, should both observe and imitate those good qualities of other courtiers, be a good dancer, have an appreciation of music, letters and art, not be affectation, Indeed, Castiglione holds up those practices of the ancient world in high esteem as being worthy of the perfect courtier.
The model wife has but two responsibilities: maintaining the household and rearing the children. The end to which she performs these twin duties is to free her husband of undue attention to family matters so that he may pursue his role in public service. The Book of the Courtier outlines the ideal man as a uomo universal, or as a person expert in a wide variety of knowledge and skills. Most important to the cultured person is a certain ease or facility with situations, knowledge, love, and skills; Castiglione called this quality sprezzatura. Italians had been indoctrinated with Christianity for over one thousand years, one could safely say that their cultural situation did not bode well for reason.
They banished reason to the realm of the body-traditionally, science and mathematics-and upheld faith's supremacy in all things moral. It is said that Saint Francis was not much to look at, but he was someone with whom subsequent centuries had to deal. His order of lay penitents, for example, spread so rapidly in Western Europe that it helped bring about the demise of feudalism. As for the man's effect on a live audience, here is an eyewitness account, given by a university student who heard him in Bologna in 1222: "I saw Saint Francis preach in the marketplace in front of the courthouse, where nearly all in the town were gathered. But the beginning of his sermon was 'Angels, Men, Devils. ' His habit was dirty, his appearance insignificant, his face not handsome. But God gave his word such power that many noble families, between whom there was much old-time enmity and spilled blood, allowed themselves to be induced to make peace. " According to Augustine and other writers of the Patristic period, post-Fall nature is evil, satanic, something to be subdued and controlled.
Few, indeed, are Christians in a position of authority who would speak with Francis of Assisi of and to "my little sisters the birds. " Saint Francis became an eloquent spokesman for the vast numbers of common people who had never quite abandoned the sacred groves of antiquity. White argues that the "whole concept of the sacred grove is alien to Christianity." He is correct, but only if we identify all of Christianity with the official teachings. Each person is free to worship divinity by any name, in any shape, as one as well as many, or not at all. While Westerners, particularly in the "high" cultural traditions, tend to perceive the universe in dualistic terms as a battle between matter and spirit, humanity and nature, good and evil, truth and lie.
Hence Saint Francis saw no contradiction between intense faith and his sense of kinship with "our sister, mother earth, the which sustains and keeps us. " The natural world, in this perspective, was a by-product of the church, a resource to be dominated by the elect. There was no room for Earth-Mother Mary sitting in a green meadow with flowers in her hair and a naked God-baby in her lap. What we all know is that the Middle Ages comes into being as a period by virtue of the uniquely modern self-conscious act of Renaissance. Like all such things that go without saying, much of this story is untrue.
What is especially untrue is the assertion of original, self-conscious periodization. It is true that certain Fourteenth and Fifteenth century intellectuals begin using the terminology and concepts of rebirth -- rena sci, ri nascimento, renaissance -- outside of the religious sphere where it had long been an essential part of the discourse, applying it now to secular processes. Lorenzo Value said the word is used with a characterizing genitive, a genitive that names just what has been reborn -- sometimes arts or letters, sometimes education, and in certain rare instances political liberty. It can be said that all four writers had a unique attitude and vision of the antiquity as a cultural and political model. Machiavelli's realistic perception of imitation would not agree with highly idealistic standard of Castiglione's human behavior. Francis divine expectancy of nature would not also find much in common with Values periodization and cyclical rebirth.
But all of these visions made a brave step to come from under the strict and all-possessing hand of church. Words: 1 678
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Research essay sample on Princes Should Imitate Antiquity As A Cultural Machiavelli
