Machiavelli's, 'The Prince' and St. Term Paper

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Parableman. 11 Aug Retrieved from: http://parablemania.ektopos.com/archives/2008/08/rightreason2.html]

Machiavelli notes how the smart and successful ruler never allows the public to know his true intentions. This brings to the light of day the knowledge that what one sees is not what one always gets and that the most pleasing ruler might in reality be the most evil and corrupt ruler but who is smart enough and strategic enough to pull a sleight of hand and deceive those over whom he rules. Suppose for instance that Lucifer is already residing in a major world city. Then consider what city he might choose. According to Machiavelli, the city would be one that demonstrated "great enterprises" and from the view of Machiavelli's theory the city would exude the magnificence of its ruler. Two cities come to mind in the contemporary age and those being the cities of New York City and the city of Dubai in the UAE. Ellul (1970) in his reflections on this discussion wrote t the following:

"Cain has built a city. For God's Eden he substitutes his own, for the goal given to his life by God, he substitutes a goal chosen by himself -- just as he substituted his own security for God's...The city is called Enoch. "Enoch" means "initiation" or "dedication" Cain dedicates a new world." (the Meaning of the City, p. 5-6) the city is a metaphor of predatory human behavior -- founded by the first predatory human-- where, piling on top of one another with the alpha human in the pyramidical penthouse, it vividly portrays the materialism driving its life, where struggling for money is struggling for life, and struggle is marked by predation."[footnoteRef:18](Machiavelli, nd, p.1 [18: Machiavelli, N. (1908) the Prince. Transl. W.K. Marriott Written c. 1505, published 1515. Rendered into HTML by Jon Roland of the Constitution Society. Retrieved from: http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince00.htm]

Augustine writes the following concerning the City of God

"With the fall of angels and the original sin of Adam, the earthly city was established.

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It was and is still occupied by those who strive for the glorification of self. Running parallel throughout time has been the heavenly city~the City of God. It was and is still occupied by those who strive to praise and glorify only the one true God. Every person must choose which city to occupy and serve."[footnoteRef:19] [19: Translated by Marcus Dods. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 2. Edited by Philip Schaff.(Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight..]

A reading of the work of St. Augustine or Machiavelli reveals that both of these individuals were affected by the events of the age in which they lived. The city of Rome had fallen after a 700-year long rule.

While Machiavelli's work entitled "The Prince" was focused on the earthly rule of earthly cities, the work of St. Augustine is spiritually focused and concerns the rule of God over future cities yet unestablished. However these futuristic conceptual frameworks are interlaced with the contemporary political issues of the age in which Machiavelli writes. Machiavelli provides the reader with hard-hitting advise about how to manage one's public image when a ruler and fails to acknowledge that certain ethical questions present

Summary and Conclusion

This study has endeavored to compare and contrast the work of Machiavelli in 'The Prince' and the work of St. Augustine in "City of God." These two works in writing are worth noting that, in that each of the stories results in the individual being thrown head-on into a political system, which may or may not be characterized by efficacy of the research. The ideas about what was meant of implied by these two authors are widely varied in nature......

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