Preacher of Evil, Niccolò Machiavelli on This Day in History

This Day in History: Niccolò Machiavelli died on this day in 1527. He is best known for writing The Prince, a pessimistic look at human nature and political philosophy. As he writes: “It is much safer to be feared than loved because ... love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.” He argued that the ruler or government ought to do good when possible, but they must not be afraid to do evil to stay in power. Other men are willing to do evil in order to overturn the leader's rule, and because of this fatal tendency, leaders must also do evil from time to time. 

As a result, the word “Machiavellian” has come to denote someone who is cunning and unscrupulous. The Prince made it into the Catholic Church's first "Index of Forbidden Books" in 1557.

"Niccolò Machiavelli was reviled throughout Europe during the 16th century and on into the next two centuries. He was considered to be someone unique in the history of the West, a conscious preacher of evil, a diabolic figure who had unleashed the demons in the world of politics. The English used his given name as a synonym for the Devil, 'Old Nick.' As Macaulay put it, 'Out of his surname they have coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name a synonym for the Devil.'"~Murray N. Rothbard

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini wrote a discourse on The Prince. 

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin read The Prince and annotated his own copy. 20th-century Italian-American mobsters were influenced by The Prince. 

Hitler kept a copy of The Prince by his bedside.

John Gotti and Roy DeMeo would regularly quote The Prince and consider it to be the "Mafia Bible".

In the movie "A Bronx Tale", local mob boss says that while in jail, he passed the time by reading Machiavelli, whom he describes as "a famous writer from 500 years ago"—and then tells him how Machiavelli's philosophy, including his famous advice about how it is preferable for a leader to be feared rather than loved if he cannot be both—have made him a successful mob boss.

Rapper Tupac Shakur read Machiavelli while in prison and was so influenced by his work that he eventually changed his rap name from 2Pac to Makaveli.

Listen to the Audiobook

See also Machiavelli the Visionary 1892

Machiavelli's Prince, Article in The Nation 1891

Machiavelli Wasn't Machiavellian

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