Machiavelli's Cruelty

In the support of that thesis, Machiavelli advices rulers to always ask themselves whether such a policy is helpful to fulfill their objective of sustaining power. According to him, it does not matter for the ruler to be considered as cruel by his subjects. As long as the effect is to retain the state power and prevent the downfall of his reign; such kind of consideration does not have any impact in itself. Thus no ruler should mind being called cruel for what he does to keep his subjects united and to keep control of the state. A wise ruler chooses to be feared rather than loved since the need to be loved makes him dependent on others as opposed to the fundamental rule, to achieve independence from the favor and recourses of anyone else

We can say that cruelty is used well (if it is permissible to talk in this way of what is evil) when it is employed once and for all, and one's safety depends on it, and then it is not persisted in but as far as possible turned to the good of one's subjects. Cruelty badly used in that which, although in- frequent to start with, as times goes on, rather than disappearing, grows in intensity. Those who use the first method can, with divine and human assistance, find some means of consolidating their position; the others cannot possibly stay in power. (George,1988:99) Here we can see that Machiavelli recognizes such actions to be, i.e. evil, and morally un- acceptable, but he still recommends them as tools to consolidate the safety and power of the ruler. Furthermore, he assumes that in the end such means are turned to "good"

after the survival of the ruler has been assured. Here we can understand that Machiavelli elevates this to a principle of necessity, based on making the best of situations, to ensure the continuation and the increasing of power to the ruler and his regime. A ruler, consequently, must rely on what he can control as: So, on this question of being loved or feared, I conclude that since some men love as they please, but fear when the prince pleases, a wise prince should rely on what he controls, not on what he cannot controls. He must only endeavor, as I have said, to escape being hated. (Machiavelli:1988,99) In these lines, we can see that Machiavelli emphasizes on achieving long term goals, even if cruel means are required. Indeed, we can see that he provides a totalitarian doctrine, which treats pains and pleasures in a kind of control calculus, e.g. Kill few to keep many. In short, according to Machiavelli, to pursue love is to lose power. Thus, it is better for a leader, unlike a private or ordinary person, to be considered as a god and feared than to be loved for his political success. Besides, Machiavelli also used and understood the