People often use the term “Machiavellian” to describe politics and as stated by Dr.

Maurizio Viroli, the person described “has very low moral standards, that the person is not

reliable, that he's cunning like a fox, astute, that you cannot trust him”. However Dr. Viroli

implies that Niccolo Machiavelli is the complete opposite of a Machiavellian. “Machiavellians

are calculators. Niccolo was passionate. Machiavellians always try to adapt themselves to the

circumstances. Machiavelli fought many battles against the conventional political culture of his

time. Machiavellians normally win. Niccolo was a loser. Machiavellians always fight for what

they think they can get. Niccolo always fought for grand ideas. He was precisely the opposite”.

Dr. Viroli first studied Niccolo’s political views, but then he mentioned that the person, his life,

his passions, his ideals, was more interesting than the thinker. Which I also found interesting on

how he is such a family man and at the same time having affairs with numerous girls which will

be further discussed later. There was this one time when he told his son about their weak mule

and his wife said that their mule was crazy and normally it should be killed or tied up but niccolo

said no, the animal should be free. Freedom will help the animal regain his sanity, he mentioned.

The way he thinks is just so calming and different from all of the other people. No doubt he was

a good father to his children and that he brings joy into the home; as Marietta Corsini, his wife

mentions “When you are here, we feel safe. It's better. When you are not with us, I'm sad and

disgusted.” He spends a lot of time abroad for diplomatic missions. He really did love Marietta

Corsini but she just wasn’t his best love. He was a bad husband, since he had a lot of affairs, and

his last love, Ms. Barbara which was significantly younger than him. He had a lot of affairs

wherein Dr. Viroli mentioned a few and he just ended with “many others”. Basically, all this is

explaining that he brings so much joy to the people around him. Teaching life lessons, and has a

very stable and calm mindset. What’s rather interesting is that he may be such a good influence
on people but he himself commits adultery, which could break the hearts of his family (It was not

mentioned if the family knew or not). Despite all of his affairs, he still did love his wife and

family. His values and ideals were still intact even if he committed a lot of deadly sins such as

adultery. I have one question in my mind, how can one demonstrate good values now that it is

being infected by deadly sins. Which leads to other questions such as, are his intentions still good

despite being tainted of the said sins? I agree with Dr. Viroli that Niccolo is indeed an interesting

man; He is different from the other Marchiavellis. Is it because he came from the poor side of the

family? All of these unanswered questions and we’ll never know but all that we can do is

assume.