In keeping with the themes of the Renaissance, Machiavelli recommended that a prince appear outwardly to be a shining example of virtue; that he was, in fact a deceitful and ruthless creature of vice ought to be carefully concealed. The Prince demonstrate roots in the fundamental principles of humanism however it explores humanist ideals as a tool to keep power rather than as a virtue in their own right. However when considering Machiavelli’s life and circumstances in addition to humanist ethics, the concepts expressed in The Prince can be easily explained.
Machiavelli’s advice on how a prince should strive to appear to his subjects aligns almost perfectly with humanist values. In theory humanists placed importance on individual virtue and betterment, but oftentimes the mere appearance of such qualities was the true desire. The Book of the Courtier and The Prince are both books about power dynamics in Renaissance Italy. One focuses almost entirely on gaining power while the other is largely about maintaining it, but their basic ideas about the appearance which one must keep were the eerily similar. If a courtier was not a good writer he should “take pains to suppress his work, to avoid …show more content…
Rather than rely purely on modern examples such as that of Pope Alexander VI Machiavelli chose to return to the classics. He referenced Alexander the Great and Antiochus and a host of other long dead case studies. This was further proof that Machiavelli drew from humanism, but it was also possible that this was just another calculated use of humanism to further his agenda. When writing a book to the Renaissance elite, it made sense to write in a way that would appeal to their values. In this way his references to the classics serve as just another example of Machiavelli using fundamentally humanist values to further his own