XXII-+CONCERNING+THE+SECRETARIES+OF+PRINCES

When reading this you find out that ministers of the prince play very important role for the prince. "The choice of ministers is of no small importance to a prince..."

The minister's decisions reflect the choices of the prince, seeing as how the ministers are chosen and placed into their office //by// the prince. If the choices of the prince are faulty then the minister will be expected to have faulty ideas as well. Looking at this we also see that choices, faulty or not, do not start with the prince for how is it that the prince come to power? The people. The people chose the prince. So who do we blam when something goes wrong? Do we blame someone that we ourselves elected to represent us.

The prince's ministers are the equivelent to our presidents cabnet. The president decides who is on the cabinet and what each person does. We have all witnessed good choices made by the president: [|Outside Source 1] ...and bad choices: [|Outside Source 2]

XXIII A prince cannot have people flattering him constantly, if he does then he may develop an unwanted ego. The prince sould have wisdom enough to discern the advice given to him by his people also, to distinguish between flatterers and advisors.

"Therefore a prudent prince must hold to a third mode, chosing wise men in his state; and only to these should he give freedom to speak the truth to him, and of those things only that he asks about and nothing else."(Machiavelli)

A flatterer will do the prince no good.

XXIV The princes of Italy have sufferd from high egos. They have let the fact that they are princes with riches get in the way of the fact that they have a civic duty.

"Therefore, these princes of ours who have been in there principalities for many years may not accuse fortune when they have lost them afterwords, but their own indolence." (Machiavelli)

A new prince in power will be scrutinized by the public for obvious reasons: the new prince should take his job seriously and avoid the previously stated (in earlier chapters) flatterers. //"For a new prince is observed much more in his actions then a hereditary one; and when they are recognized as virtuous, they take hold of men much in obligated them much more than ancient blood"// (Machiavelli)

XXV When a prince doesn't discern between flattery and good advice his ego will build up causing a secret place of beliving that he can do all things in his own power without asking for advice.

"I say that one sees a given prince be happy today and come to ruin tomorrow without having seen him chang his nature or any quality. This I belive arises, first, from the causes that have been discussed at length in the preceding, that is, tht the prince who leans entirely on his own fortune comes to ruin as it varies."

Machiavelli is strenghthening his argurment in the previous chapters by showing the destruction that can come out of being in power and not taking advice in.

XXVI "...to someone prudent and virtuous to introduce a form that would being honor to him and good to the community there, it appears to me that so many things are tending to the benefit to the new prince that i do not know what time has ever been more apt for it." (Chapter XXVI)

Corruption has seened to come about by the present prince, if he is deemed unfit, then what better time to rid society of him than now? If the prince is not doing his job then the people have a right to a better, more beneficiary prince.

In the last few chapters, Machiavelli seemes to write more passionately about the people and the prince. He writes less monotoned than throughout the beginning of the book. He speaks of the affections and feelings of the society being abandoned by its prince.

Throughout The Prince, Machiavelli, from the beginning makes points about what a prince should and should not do to and for his people as to avoid corruption and disorder. He really cares about what happens to the people.