Thoughts that were duct taped to my cerebrum

now for something completely different

since yesterday i have cooled down about prisoners, illegal immigrants, and taxes. instead i am now fired up about heretic writers. liq. (btw, i use “liq” as a substitute for lol. it means “laughing inside quietly” and yes, it is a texting acronym which has taken over my life to such a point that i feel i must now use it on my blog.) If any of you were looking forward to hearing my thoughts on it, i’m sorry - but don’t worry, i’m sure that soon i shall be motivated once again to speak my mind on our wacky nation.

For now, i’d just like to talk about Niccolo Machiavelli (no default accent marks on a blog, rats) and how incredibly twisted his writing is, namely “Of New Dominions” from his piece The Prince, because that’s half of what i had to read in literature today. (Buckle your seatbelts and get some caffeine in whatever form you prefer, because literature from the Italian Renaissance doesn’t really have an energizing quality.) For those who haven’t read it, it’s Machiavelli’s observations on life, mostly politics. This section in particular is about what’s necessary for someone to become a ruler  - or prince - in the first place. It starts out rather reasonable:

“…Men walk almost always in the paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation. Not being always able to follow others exactly, nor attain to the excellence of those he imitates, a prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge of it. He will do as prudent archers, who when the place they wish to hit is too far off, knowing how far their bow will carry, aim at a spot much higher than the one they wish to hit, not in order to reach this height with their arrow, but by help of this high aim to hit the spot they wish to.”

Now, so far, i like his style. he uses a nice illustration for his point which i think is relatively true. My only problem at this point is that he presents his super duper high-aiming inspiration in worldly terms, when i would rather aim higher than following plain old humans and follow Jesus instead. But, to his credit, most people really do prefer to follow great people, instead of the one true God. this seems especially true of people who want to go far in life - they all have idols or people they look up to as great examples and as someone they want to someday become. Even believers, after all, have people they look up to - i know i have more than one person on my list of admired peoples. So, i have to give the man some points in his favor; he’s at least pretty accurate so far, if not doctrinally correct by my standards.

However, big problems can arise quickly in literature! Here is just a sampling of the rest of New Dominions:

“But to come to those who have become princes through their own merits and not by fortune, I regard as the greatest, Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus, and their like. And although one should not speak of Moses, he having merely carried out what was ordered him by God, still he deserves admiration, if only for that grace which made him worthy to speak with God… And in examining their life and deeds it will be seen that they owed nothing to fortune but the opportunity which gave them matter to be shaped into what form they thought fit; and without that opportunity their powers would have been wasted, and without their powers the opportunity would have come in vain.”

Did you catch that?!? okay, reality check. In no sense of the word was Moses “worthy” to speak with God, neither did the great things he was involved in start because of him and his “powers!” Good grief. And it gets worse from there, when he gives the example of Heiro of Syracuse to finish up:

“He abolished the old militia, raised a new one, abandoned his old friendships and formed others; and as he had thus friends and soldiers of his own choosing, he was able on this foundation to build securely, so that while he had great trouble in acquiring his position he had little in maintaining it.”

So that’s it then. If i ever become a major ruler, i’ll have to remember that ditching my friends and rearranging everyone else’s lives will make it easier, lol. Also in my literature book was a short paragraph by John Wesley, written in 1737 about Machiavelli’s writings. I hope you guys can take a little bit more hardcore lit, because i’m quoting one more time:

“In my passage home [from Scotland], having procured a celebrated book, (the Works of Nicholas Machiavel,) I set myself carefully to read and consider it. I began with a prejudice in his favour, having been informed, he had often been misunderstood, and greatly misrepresented. I weighed the sentiments that were less common; transcribed the passages wherein they were contained; compared one passage with another, and endeavoured to form a cool, impartial judgment. And my cool judgment is, that if all the other doctrines of devils which have been committed to writing since letters were in the world were collected together in one volume, it would fall short of this; and, that should a Prince form himself by this book, so calmly recommending hypocrisy, treachery, lying, robbery, oppression, adultery, whoredom, and murder of all kinds, Domitian or Nero would be an angel of light, compared to that man.”

I’ve only read part of it and yet still i agree. i don’t think i’ll be pursuing the rest of his works anytime soon, lol.

Alicia <3

Tags: 1737, archery, caffeine, dominions, God, heresy, idols, inspiration, John Wesley, Machiavelli, mentor, Moses, Niccolo Machiavelli, prince