Qualities of a Good Ruler

In history, the primary reason why a country prospers is because of its leader. The very best written piece I have actually stumbled upon on this subject is Niccolo Machiavelli's book, "The Prince". A leader should be intelligent, strong, caring and devoted to his topics. Although individuals have various opinions in the qualities of an excellent ruler, all think that a leader ought to assist his country grow and thrive.

In his book, "The Prince", Niccolo Machiavelli states his opinions on what makes a good ruler.

He believed that a leader must not consider his high-ends as much as getting knowledge about commanding and leading. This takes a lot of training and hard work, but by doing this he will preserve the reign of his household guideline.

A fantastic example of a ruler who was too captured up in luxuries and deteriorated his empire because of selfishness is Louis XIV. He attempted to acquire as much power as possible at the cost of his topics.

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He taxed the poor to support his wars. He lived in a palace so big that a person would need days to check out all its appeals. However, when he passed away, his subjects celebrated like never previously as nothing can be more embarrassing than that.

Among the most essential qualities Machiavelli specified a ruler must have is knowledge of warfare. Without the ability to safeguard his nation, a ruler will not be for long. It likewise makes individuals worry and hazardous, which causes conspiracies against him and difficulties versus his power.

Machiavelli believed that a ruler should always exercise his practice in warfare, specifically throughout peacetime.

Machiavelli recommended that a ruler needs to study the history of other great leaders to discover how they won and lost battles, and attempt to prevent their errors. Machiavelli says that a prince in warfare should be like a fox and a lion; a fox to reveal tactic and cunningness during fight, while a lion to show fantastic strength and bring fear to his aggressors.

Some internal qualities of a ruler are kindness, leadership, intelligence and a kind heart. On the other hand, Machiavelli believed that the sovereign ought to take whatever action that he felt to ensure that order and stability was kept; therefore, he promotes the usage of wicked to get a principality.

He mentioned how cruelty was used in Romania by Cesare Borgia to achieve order and obedience. Borgia was able to do this because he used his own men and not mercenaries. Machiavelli felt that by using mercenaries, it would have lead to the prince's downfall. He thought mercenaries were "disunited, ambitious, without discipline, and unfaithful", and therefore, would ruin the prince, as well as his country.

Machiavelli theorized that it is better to be feared than loved, and he showed this example through Hannibal. Hannibal was able to lead an army of different races through other countries without problems because he was cruel and people feared him. So, Machiavelli felt that the fear of punishment was a better way to maintain power than getting people's goodwill and love. The leader should not be lenient because it enables people to take advantage of him.

One of the greatest rulers who demonstrated Machiavelli's ideas was Julius Caesar. Caesar helped his nation grow and thrive. He ruled as a dictator even though the government laws stated that he could only do so in times of dire emergencies. Another reason for Caesar's success was that he was not only the head of the state religion in the Roman Empire, but also had total command of the armies in the empire. As a ruler Caesar helped benefit his people in many ways. Throughout his empire he extended Roman citizenship, helped the colonies of veterans, and eliminated the highly corrupt tax system. In fact, he was so feared because of his power, that he was stabbed to death by the senate.

Machiavelli uses the example of Alexander Severus, who was seen to be controlled by his mother and considered feminine. This appearance of weakness led his troops to kill him.

He also shows how Antonius Caracella was a strong military leader and great fighter, but his cruel rule made him come under threat of his people, and was finally killed.

The aim to stress on a strong army is put through in his examples of Italy. He felt that Italian princesses lost their states because they were not armed. He felt that an "armed population is a stable population".

Machiavelli also had opinions of human nature. For the most part he believed that human nature was bad. He said that no human being is perfect no matter how hard they try. Therefore, these ideas were not set in stone, but to bring a leader as close to perfection as possible.

There are many different ways a leader can achieve prosperity and have qualities of a good ruler. Machiavelli stated his opinions of what makes a good ruler which turned out to be very accurate in both theory and practice. Some of the greatest rulers in history showed traits of a good ruler according to Machiavelli. Though some may think of him as an immoral being trying to spread hatred when reading passages such as "Men are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain; and while you work for their good they are completely yours, offering you their blood, their property, their lives, and their sons… when danger is far away; but when it comes nearer to you they turn away," others would agree that Machiavelli had the right idea about most of mankind.

I agree with Machiavelli's ideas because he exposed reality to the extreme with his book. Poetry and music are supposedly related to real life issues yet the author always fails to accomplish the goal of exposing reality. Machiavelli however, did not have the restrictions of the elegance for a poem or rhymes for a song and was able to get his points across very well. Amazingly, though the book was written very well, it was not written very clearly as Machiavelli never came to a complete conclusion about exactly what makes the perfect ruler. After all, according to Machiavelli himself, no one is perfect with him as no exception.