Machiavelli's The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince is a classic. Talking about the ideal ruler, this book is considered by many as a must read for politicians everywhere. In The Prince, Machiavelli describes the ideal prince as one who; is of the correct heritage, should allow states under them to reside under their own laws, and should, though both be good qualities, be feared rather than loved. Although these are far from all of his points, these are three of much importance. Machiavelli begins by speaking of heritage of the ideal prince. Machiavelli states in the second chapter, “I say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding hereditary states, and those long accustomed to the family of their prince, than new ones;” (Machiavelli 19). Machiavelli seems to believe that a prince of the same hereditary as the last is better than an entirely new prince, for if they are new princes, they will not have the same experience as one that is old and of the same family. Machiavelli goes on to say “For the hereditary prince has less cause and less necessity to …show more content…
He also should rule those states in person, as it says in chapter five “Whenever those states which have been acquired as stated have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom, there are three courses for those who wish to hold them: the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in person, the third is to permit them to live under their own laws...” (Machiavelli 31). He has to ruin them to keep them from being too powerful, allowing the state to over throw the prince, and he must also rule there in person as to keep the state under the authority of the prince, but at the same he must also give the state the freedom to follow their own state laws, thus balancing the power of the state and the