Earlier handbooks told a prince which virtues he ought to have. Machiavelli said he would describe instead the verità effettuale — the effective truth of the matter. Take eight decisions Italian rulers actually faced between 1494 and 1512, then hear the old moral tradition and Machiavelli answer the same question, side by side, and find out what really happened.
1494Florence1 of 8
Your chancellor
The mirror-for-princes tradition
Machiavelli
Second chancellor, dismissed 1512
How you are reading himlive
Three traditions are being scored at once. They are not a right answer and two wrong ones — each is a coherent position with real defenders.
Moral tradition0%
Cicero, the Christian mirrors: nothing is useful that is not also honourable.
Effective truth0%
The Prince, 1513: describe what rulers do, not what they should do.
Republican institutions0%
Discourses on Livy: liberty rests on institutions, not on good men.
50%
All skill — virtùAll chance — fortuna
Your record
Nothing decided yet. Each choice will be written up here with the tradition it belongs to.