from The Prince by Machiavelli
HS / Social Studies
Ethics, Government, Hierarchy, Power
Ask participants to take part in the following Opinion Corners activity:
1. Post signs in the four corners of the classroom: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree,
Strongly Disagree.
2. Write on the board the following quote from the text: “He who [comes to power]
by the favour of the [elites], has greater difficulty to maintain himself than he who
comes to [power] by aid of the people, since he finds many about him who think
themselves as good as he, and whom, on that account, he cannot guide or
govern as he would.”
3. Have participants move to the corner that reflects their response to this
statement.
4. Give participants three to five minutes to discuss in their corners why they chose
that response. Have each group select a spokesperson to share their ideas.
5. Ask each spokesperson in turn to summarize that group’s thinking.
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Distribute the text and ask students to anticipate what they expect this reading to be
like. Read the poem the first time aloud. Label the pages with text 1-20 with students,
using the document camera (having students do this with you is encouraged for
teaching active reading and beginning annotations).
Share as appropriate for historical and political context: Niccolò di Bernardo dei
Machiavelli (Italian: 1469 –1527) was an Italian Renaissance historian, politician,
diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer. He has often been called the founder of
modern political science. He was for many years a senior official in the Florentine
Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He also wrote comedies,
carnival songs, and poetry. He was secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic
of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. He wrote his most
renowned work The Prince (Il Principe) in 1513.
Create a list on the (interactive) white board of all unfamiliar words and phrases: be sure
to include the following: astuteness, conciliate, humours, beholden, domineer, disposed,
license, adversity, disaffected, controvert, craft, animates, pusillanimity, prudent, nobles,
people.
Divide the class into pairs and assign one or more words to each pair. Have the pairs
define their terms and then share them both through discussion and by contributing the
definitions to one common glossary for this text. Print the entire glossary and distribute it
before the seminar for ready reference during discussion.
Or
Create an online glossary if students have individual devices. Compile a class list of
unfamiliar words. Assign small groups a set of words to define. Create a Padlet
(https://padlet.com/) to share vocabulary.
Padlet Directions
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Go to the Padlet site.
Create a free account.
Click on Create New Padlet.
Modify the wall by clicking on the gear icon.
Double click anywhere on the Padlet wall to add a new post.
Every wall has a unique URL that can be distributed to participants.
Students visit the URL and double click to add a post containing the assigned
vocabulary word and its definition.
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Be sure to discuss the distinction between nobles and people such that all participants
are comfortable with it prior to the seminar.
Divide the class into seven teams and assign one paragraph at random to each of the
teams. Have them first examine the structure of their assigned paragraph by identifying
the topic sentence (if there is one) and then outlining the points Machiavelli makes in
support of that topic sentence.
Once they have completed their analysis of Machiavelli’s paragraphs, have the teams
write a one to two sentence summary of each paragraph in modern English. Then work
through the entire text paragraph by paragraph, while the teams share their summaries
and the entire class discusses them in turn.
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 Which sentence from these seven paragraphs contains the best insight
Machiavelli offers the young prince? (round-robin response)
 What makes that piece of insight so powerful? (spontaneous discussion)
 According to Machiavelli, what is the difference between what the nobles
desire and what the people desire (paragraph 1)? How does this
difference affect the attitude of the two groups toward their prince?
 Why does Machiavelli claim that “he who is made Prince by the favour of
the nobles, has greater difficulty to maintain himself than he who comes to
the Princedom by the aid of the people” (paragraph 2)? Do you agree with
Machiavelli’s argument?
 According to Machiavelli, how should a Prince relate to the nobles in order
to retain power? Why?
 How should a Prince relate to the people in order to retain power? Why?
 In paragraph 7, Machiavelli argues that a Prince should “build on the
people” in order to maintain power. Why and how should he do this?
 What does this text teach us about the use (and abuse) of power in any
social or political situation? How do these lessons apply to your own life?
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Engage the seminar participants in an exercise usually referred to as a “chalk talk,”
wherein they respond to a quote written in the middle of the chalk or white board by
writing their responses around the quote rather than saying them aloud (think of the
process as something like a silent discussion).
First, write the unfinished phrase “A leader is …” in the center of the board and then tell
the students they have ten minutes to respond by drawing or writing on the board. While
doing so, they must obey the following rules:
 All must remain silent;
 All must participate by writing, diagramming, or drawing at least one response;
 They may connect one comment to another to show relationship; and
 You reserve the right to add to the prompt during the process.
Partway through the Chalk Talk you may want to add these words to your original
quote: “…someone who retains power,” in order to keep the idea of power in process.
After reading and discussing the attached excerpt from Machiavelli’s The Prince, write
one clear, coherent paragraph that explains Machiavelli’s attitude toward attaining and
keeping political power. Support your discussion with evidence from the text.
(Informational or Explanatory/Synthesis)
(LDC Task#:
19
)
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Display the writing task and then have students talk in pairs for two minutes to share
thoughts about what the writing task is asking and how they might respond. Discuss for
clarity with the entire class.
Have participants outline their paragraphs by composing an initial thesis statement and
listing the supporting details that will become sentences in their paragraphs. Stress the
structure of a full paragraph (> 10 sentences, etc.) as necessary.
Challenge all to draft their paragraphs defined by their outlines. Refer to the text in detail
for support and examples.
Have participants work in pairs to read their first drafts aloud to each other with
emphasis on reader as creator and editor. (Stress that each paragraph must state a
clear thesis and support that position with evidence from the texts.) Listener says back
one point heard clearly and asks one question for clarification. Switch roles. Give time
for full revisions resulting in a second draft.
Once the second draft is complete, have participants work in groups of three-four and
this time take turns reading each other’s second drafts slowly and silently, marking any
spelling or grammar errors they find. (Have dictionaries and grammar handbooks
available for reference.) Take this opportunity to clarify/reteach any specific grammar
strategies you have identified your students needing. Give time for full revisions
resulting in a third and final draft.
Publish these paragraphs on the class web site for use by other students (both in the
US and abroad) who are studying Machiavelli. Also gather all the paragraphs into a
collection of exemplars for use in teaching paragraph construction with future students
(especially when you assign similar writing tasks in the future).
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Terry Roberts
National Paideia Center
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From Chapter IX: “Of the Civil Princedom”
I come now to the second case, namely, of the leading citizen who, not by crimes or
violence, but by the favour of his fellow-citizens is made Prince of his country. This may
be called a Civil Princedom, and its attainment depends not wholly on merit, nor wholly
on good fortune, but rather on what may be termed a fortunate astuteness. I say then
that the road to this Princedom lies either through the favour of the people or of the
nobles. For in every city are to be found these two opposed humours having their origin
in this, that the people desire not to be domineered over or oppressed by the nobles,
while the nobles desire to oppress and domineer over the people. And from these two
contrary appetites there arises in cities one of three results, a Princedom, or Liberty, or
Licence. A Princedom is created either by the people or by the nobles, according as one
or other of these factions has occasion for it. For when the nobles perceive that they
cannot withstand the people, they set to work to magnify the reputation of one of their
number, and make him their Prince, to the end that under his shadow they may be
enabled to indulge their desires. The people, on the other hand, when they see that they
cannot make head against the nobles, invest a single citizen with all their influence and
make him Prince, that they may have the shelter of his authority.
He who is made Prince by the favour of the nobles, has greater diffi¬culty to maintain
himself than he who comes to the Princedom by aid of the people, since he finds many
about him who think them¬selves as good as he, and whom, on that account, he cannot
guide or govern as he would. But he who reaches the Princedom by the popular
support, finds himself alone, with none, or but a very few about him who are not ready
to obey.
Moreover, the demands of the nobles cannot be satisfied with credit to the Prince, nor
without injury to others, while those of the people well may, the aim of the people being
more honourable than that of the nobles, the latter seeking to oppress, the former not to
be oppressed. Add to this, that a Prince can never secure himself against a disaffected
people, their number being too great, while he may against a disaffected nobility, since
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their number is small. The worst that a Prince need fear from a disaffected people is,
that they may desert him, whereas when the nobles are his enemies he has to fear not
only that they may desert him, but also that they may turn against him; because, as they
have greater craft and foresight, they always choose their time to suit their safety, and
seek favour with the side they think will win. Again, a Prince must always live with the
same people, but need not always live with the same nobles, being able to make and
unmake these from day to day, and give and take away their authority at his pleasure.
But to make this part of the matter clearer, I say that as regards the nobles there is this
first distinction to be made. They either so govern their conduct as to bind themselves
wholly to your fortunes, or they do not. Those who so bind themselves, and who are not
grasping, should be loved and honoured. As to those who do not so bind themselves,
there is this further distinction. For the most part they are held back by pusillanimity and
a natural defect of courage, in which case you should make use of them, and of those
among them more especially who are prudent, for they will do you honour in prosperity,
and in adversity give you no cause for fear. But where they abstain from attaching
themselves to you of set purpose and for ambitious ends, it is a sign that they are
thinking more of themselves than of you, and against such men a Prince should be on
his guard, and treat them as though they were declared enemies, for in his adversity
they will always help to ruin him.
He who becomes a Prince through the favour of the people should always keep on
good terms with them; which it is easy for him to do, since all they ask is not to be
oppressed. But he who against the will of the people is made a Prince by the favour of
the nobles, must, above all things, seek to conciliate the people, which he readily may
by taking them under his protection. For since men who are well treated by one whom
they expected to treat them ill, feel the more beholden to their benefactor, the people
will at once become better disposed to such a Prince when he protects them, than if he
owed his Princedom to them.
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There are many ways in which a Prince may gain the good-will of the people, but,
because these vary with circumstances, no certain rule can be laid down respecting
them, and I shall, therefore, say no more about them. But this is the sum of the matter,
that it is essential for a Prince to be on a friendly footing with his people, since
otherwise, he will have no resource in adversity. Nabis, Prince of Sparta, was attacked
by the whole hosts of Greece, and by a Roman army flushed with victory, and defended
his country and crown against them; and when danger approached, there were but few
of his subjects against whom he needed to guard himself, whereas had the people been
hostile, this would not have been enough.
And what I affirm let no one controvert by citing the old saw that ‘he who builds on the
people builds on mire,’ for that may be true of a private citizen who presumes on his
favour with the people, and counts on being rescued by them when overpowered by his
enemies or by the magistrates. In such cases a man may often find himself deceived,
as happened to the Gracchi in Rome, and in Florence to Messer Giorgio Scali. But
when he who builds on the people is a Prince capable of command, of a spirit not to be
cast down by ill-fortune, who, while he animates the whole community by his courage
and bearing, neglects no prudent precaution, he will not find himself betrayed by the
people, but will be seen to have laid his foundations well.
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