"M" is For "Machiavelli"

 

"M" is For "Machiavelli"

    Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, part-time traffic cone, and historian.  He was born in Florence, Italy (that would explain the “Florentine” bit) on May 3, 1469 and would die on June 21, 1527 in Florence.

Kind of a creepy looking dude, if you ask me.
  No wonder he never left Florance.

    BONUS NOTE:  The country we know as Italy today was actually a group of different city-states and pizza parlors which wouldn’t unify until the 19^th century.  Other notable regions at the time included Venice, Genoa, and the Papal States.  Each province on the Italian peninsula had their own agendas and often competed with other in trade policy, best lavatories, and remedies for the Black Death.

Which didn't work and were often quite silly

    He is considered the Father of Political Philosophy and Political Science.  Apparently, the mother wanted nothing to do with Philosophy and Science Machiavelli and joined Marco Polo on his trip to visit the Great Khan on Ceti Alpha V.

"So, tell me, Marco.  Do the horses of your family drown during Water Polo?"

    NOTE:  To learn more about Marco Polo, please visit my post for the letter “K.”  Yes, I know “Polo” begins with “P.”  It’s about “Kublai Khan.”  You can visit if you want.  Or not.  I’m just impressed that you’re here.

    Niccolo was quite a mover and shaker in the Medici-ruled Republic of Florence,

    ANOTHER NOTE:  The Medici family were the muscle in Florence.  While their story would take a whole ‘nuther post (and I’ve already got an “M” input), let’s put it this way: 

They were like the Mob before the Mob was cool.

but his most famous work was, The Prince.  

Not that one

This one

Of course, he would never know if it made the Renaissance bestseller list or not because it wasn’t published until five years after his death in 1532.

    The delay was caused by the fact that the only printing press available was on loan to Milan at the time.  However, it was written in 1513, which was quite a bit before his death of a stomach disease.  In it, Machiavelli described his political philosophy when it came to how a ruler should...uh...rule over his people.

    Thinking he was just being pragmatic and hitting his fellow Renaissance despots with some tough love, The Prince has become known as an unscrupulous owners’ manual for tyrants 

Be honest.  You were expecting someone else, weren't you? 
Gotta spread my mockery out fairly, ya know.

who would use any means at their disposal to achieve their goals and establish affordable health care.

    “The end justifies the means” could very easily be word-for-word from The Prince, but I didn’t feel like looking it up.  Hey, this A-Z Challenge is tough enough as it is.

    Let’s just say that it perfectly encapsulates his “Machiavellian” point of view.

"Hey, whaddayaknow? That's where the word came from!"

    Now, before you think that was the only thing he wrote, Machiavelli also wrote numerous works such as The Discourses of Livy, considered to have paved the way for modern republicanism,

Now we know who to blame.

The Florentine Histories. A history of...Florence, and Dell’arte Della Guerra, which translates to The Art of War. 

Not to be confused with The Art of Carney

    That last sounds vaguely familiar...like I've heard of it before.

"He who would copy work would lose printing press to Milan."
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

    You know, when you think of it, maybe we should add "plagiarist" to his many titles.  Too bad he lived during the Renaissance.  He could have been President today.   

"No joke."