Book response activity for "The Prince" by Machiavelli.

1. EL PRINCIPE
By Hanuman
Points from “The Prince” by Niccolò
Durina Machiavelli

2. content

3. principalities
Machiavelli states that there are
two types of principalities:
Hereditary
principalities
Recently established
principalities

4. five mistakes
Machiavelli states that there are
five mistakes one must not make to
hold a country under one’s
control, and are as follows:
 Eliminating the lesser powers
 Giving more power to those with already a
great deal of power
 Introducing a powerful Foreigner
 Not making a home there
 Not making colonies there
Any of these could lead to destruction

5. old Laws
To govern a state with
old laws and rules, one
must establish an
oligarchy and be able to
hold it until the memories
of the old laws and rules
dies.

6. wickedness
To rule through wickedness one can
either:
 To conquer a supreme empire one must
eliminate the ruler and councilors, and
please the citizens with gifts.
 To conquer a kingdom divided into parts
and held by barons, one must convince
Baron by Baron and use them against the
ruler, but it is hard to control.

7. strength
To judge the
strength of a
province, you must
see how long it could
hold out under siege.

8. mercenaries
Employing
mercenaries is
dangerous because they
often have little incentive
and will not do what is
best for you, but what is

9. allys’ troops
Using an ally’s troops is
very dangerous because
even if you win, you may
be ridiculed, or taken over
by you allies. However, if
you lose it will be a double
loss.

10. good and bad qualities for a
ruler: Good Bad