the art of war...

the prince is written by niccolo machiavelli, a bureaucrat during the last chaotic days of florence, a city state of rome, before she finally fell, in early sixteenth century..



i first encountered machiavelli, as the germ of an adjective machiavellian, meaning cunning, in broad sense of the word. the word was mostly used in derogatory sense, as i know it being used thus. that was circa 1971, when i was just out of school.



much later, in 1977, when prime minister ms indira gandhi declared emergency in india, was subsequently overthrown for her excesses, and was replaced by a popular government on negative votes, it somehow became public knowledge that she closely followed the prince in her brand of statecraft.



i know not the merit or source of this public understanding of her actions and philosophy of governance; i regard ms india gandhi as the last statesman of india. but the rumor added another tag to the post and  brought me an inch closer to machiavelli.



i encountered machiavelli again in a brilliant novella titled then and now by w somerset maugham, where he is involved as a government official in  florence, a patriot to the core,  hobnobbing with persons in power.



there are no imprints  of the prince in this novella. the plot revolves around how machiavelli lost to a young errand-boy in his crafty  and well-thought-of design upon a rich man's wife, who had no issues!



machiavelli has returned again to me, through book installments www.dailylit.com sends to me regularly. i read the stuff as it arrives. with every installment i have begun to see more and more of that mature mind quite advanced for his age and times.



it is different today from what it was before. i have grown and the world has grown with me. machiavelli appeals to me now for his depth of thought, foresight and innate knowledge of the affairs of statecraft with reference to a plethora of examples the political arena of his times and before, afforded.



i take any page out of the prince and try to read it in the light of present day lords of human material on this planet. i find the same thread woven into all the characters, the same deception, the same greed, the same double talk, the same dominating spirit, the same everything. now no different from then!



i now feel that machiavelli proves himself right with every 'prince' who rises and falls regularly in every nation even in the present times. with years added to the history of civilization, machiavelli is becoming more relevant by the day.



i am  writing below, in my expression, an abstract of chapter XIV of  the famous book.

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CHAPTER XIV: THAT WHICH CONCERNS A PRINCE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE ART OF WAR





ruler of a state must always study war, its rules and its discipline-

-because the art of war is the only art that belongs to the ruler.



the forceful art of war supports  born princes.

low persons acquire the status of a ruler with this art.



whenever a ruler has chosen to go easy in the study of war,

he has lost his state.



a master of this art is enabled to rule.

a ruler is disabled on neglect of the art.



how did francesco sforza, a private person , become the Duke of Milan? 

through being martial!



and how his sons, were reduced to private persons from dukes?

through avoiding the hardships and troubles of warfare!



of many evils awaiting the unarmed, one is, being despised:

ignominy of being despised, a leader must guard himself against. why?



because unarmed man is never secure among armed servants,

nor shall an armed one ever obey the unarmed.



the two can never work well together, for

in one there is disdain and suspicion, another.



misfortunes keep coming in the way of the rulers, but

the worst is disobedience from own soldiers,



so it is, that the ruler of men should always think of strife;

and more when in peace, than when at war.



in peace, a ruler must be in war-like mood, never laid-back, and

make soldiers do likewise: exercises, drills, hardships and chase-



-study well the hills, the valleys, plains, rivers and marshes

for, having known one country, one knows many similar.



a captain should know all this, that teaches him to surprise the enemy,

to lead armies, to array the battle, to besiege towns to advantage.



Philopoemen, Prince of the Achaeans, in time of peace, thought of war,

mind-battles with friends did he plan, in the terrains they passed.



thus prepared for action in war by actions during peace,

does a ruler fortify himself and even more by intellectual exercises.



the captain should read histories, to keep him going

and to know the actions of illustrious men;



to see how they have fought, and to see why they won and why they lost

so that he may avoid the latter and imitate the former;



thus alexander of macedonia simulated achilles;

julius  caesar copied alexander; scipio, cyrus.



by imitation and copy do rulers go the way greats have gone before,

rising to their heights in glory and success, avoiding the blows of  destiny.

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the days of small states, forever at war with each other, as in machiavelli's time, are no more!



large states have emerged as agglomerates of smaller entities. democracy is the going brand of governance.  tools of  war too have changed. but  machiavell's tenets for a good success at the throne, whether inherited, usurped or elected to, remain valid to their last details to date.



... and here lies the beauty of great minds. their sway is not limited to small spaces and small times, neither to a small community nor to small events. their thoughts encompass the eternity, their actions influence the courses of history.



i will never use the word machiavellian in derogatory sense again !