Summary — Chapter I: The Kinds of Principalities and
the Means by Which They Are Acquired
Machiavelli describes the different kinds of states, arguing
that all states are either republics or principalities. Principalities
can be divided into hereditary principalities and new principalities.
New principalities are either completely new or new appendages to
existing states. By fortune or strength, a prince can acquire a
new principality with his own army or with the arms of others.
Summary — Chapter II: Hereditary Principalities
Chapter II is the first of three chapters focusing on
methods to govern and maintain principalities. Machiavelli dismisses
any discussion of republics, explaining that he has “discussed them
at length on another occasion”—a reference to Book 1 of his Discourses.
Machiavelli notes that it is easier to govern a hereditary
state than a new principality for two main reasons. First, those
under the rule of such states are familiar with the prince’s family
and are therefore accustomed to their rule. The natural prince only
has to keep past institutions intact, while adapting these institutions
to current events. Second, the natural disposition of subjects in
a hereditary state is to love the ruling family, unless the prince
commits some horrible act against his people. Even if a strong outsider
succeeds in conquering a prince’s hereditary state, any setback
the outsider encounters will allow the prince to reconquer the state.
Summary — Chapter III: Mixed Principalities
[M]en must be either pampered or annihilated.
See Important Quotations Explained
Machiavelli explains why maintaining a new principality
is more difficult than maintaining a hereditary state. In the first
place, people will willingly trade one recently arrived ruler for
another, hoping that a new ruler will be better than the present
one. This expectation of improvement will induce people to take
up arms against any relatively unestablished prince. Although the
people may quickly realize that their revolt is ineffective, they
will still create great disorder. Furthermore, when a prince takes
over another prince’s domain, he finds himself in a tricky situation
with regard to the people who put him in power. He cannot maintain
the support of these people because he cannot fulfill all of their
expectations that their situation will improve. But he also cannot
deal too harshly with them because he is in their debt. Immediately
after taking power, the prince is in danger of losing his newly
gained principality.
When a prince successfully suppresses a revolt, however,
the ruler can easily prevent further revolt by harshly punishing
the rebels and decimating his opposition. The ruler can deal more harshly
with his subjects in response to the revolt than he would be able
to normally.
It is much easier to maintain control over a new principality
if the people share the same language and customs as the prince’s
own country. If this is the case, the prince has to do only two
things: destroy the family of the former prince, and maintain the
principality’s laws and taxes. People will live quietly and peacefully
so long as their old ways of life are undisturbed.
