The Different Outcomes of acting like the “Princes”, as

mentioned by Machiavelli and Erasmus

Both Machiavelli and Erasmus have written about how

(future) rulers should operate and what their goal should
be. Erasmus puts his focus on the virtuous education of a
“Christian Prince”. Machiavelli on the other hand focusses
on obtaining power and keeping it, he does not take
Christianity or righteousness into account. Of course, next
to these points, there are many other differences in the
way Machiavelli and Erasmus talk about (the education) of
a Prince. In this paper, I will outline the different goals of
a Prince as mentioned by Machiavelli and Erasmus, as
well as their reasonings. Next to that, I will link this briefly
to today’s politics.

Erasmus mentions that “a good and wise prince will try to

be at peace with all nations but particularly with his
neighbors” (Erasmus p.94, 1997). He points out that
neighbors can be dangerous when they are hostile and
helpful when they are friendly. The goal of trying to be at
peace is not to appear strong and friendly in order to keep
a good reputation and stay in power but to maintain
peace. Erasmus emphasizes the importance of being
virtuous and being good. This, of course, fits the Christian
values perfectly (Erasmus, p.102, 1997). Interestingly
enough, Machiavelli says something similar as Erasmus
about maintaining good relations with neighboring
countries. The big difference is in the reasoning for this.
Machiavelli cares for the reputation of the Prince, so he
can be respected (or feared) by others and stay in power.
He also states that it is smart not to stay neutral if there
happens to be a conflict between two powerful neighbors.
By picking a side, you will not become a prey of the
conqueror and the one who is conquered will not get the
chance to be angry at you or find satisfaction in you being
conquered as well (Machiavelli, ch.21, 1532). These views
of Erasmus of Machiavelli provide an interesting and
important difference. We can see that one the on hand,
Erasmus wants the Prince to strive for peace among all
countries and on the other hand, Machiavelli suggests that
the Prince should pick whatever side is more powerful. If
we try to take this further and apply it to modern day
politics. What could happen if a ruler should try to be
educated as Erasmus proposes? Maintaining peace in
principle is a good goal. On second thought though, it
could come across as weak in the event that other rulers
do not have the virtues or values as mentioned by
Erasmus. Some rulers might be more in line with the
reasoning of Machiavelli. When thinking of the war
happening right now in Ukraine, we see that Putin does
not seem to care for peace. Russia is (and always has
been) trying to protect themselves as much as possible
from “The West”. They want to appear strong, even though
intrinsically they might be insecure. Instead of
maintaining peace with neighboring countries, they try to
stay in power. This gives them the advantage of taking
land and being feared by others, to protect their nation.
However, they usually lose the respect of other nations
and they have to deal with several sanctions – for example
economically – that give them a disadvantage in power. In
this situation we see that many countries worldwide are in
favor of maintaining peace and working together.
However, Russia is not being stopped and economic
sanctions do not seem to be stopping them from taking
innocent lives. Is there something wrong in Putin’s
education or are other leaders missing something in
theirs? Erasmus states that “war will arise between bad
and foolish princes, out of the very treaties designed to
prevent war” (Erasmus, p.102, 1997). While this might be
true, it does not give us a solution to end war. Erasmus
suggest not acting from anger, but rather thinking in the
interest of the public. He says that it is better not to be
linked with countries in war, because “war is always
disastrous” and being allies with some countries might not
be much better than actual war” (Erasmus, p.103, 1997).
Machiavelli has a different view on this, as he thinks that
it is better to choose, because when choosing the side of
the winner, you will get mercy and by choosing the losers’
side, you will get shelter (Machiavelli, ch.21, 1532).

Based on arguments mentioned above, I do not believe

there is a realistic way of having Perfect Princes all over
the world in the near future. While a virtuous Prince would
be preferred by all, it is almost impossible to establish
righteous Princes worldwide. It appears we are already
using both the reasonings of Erasmus and of Machiavelli.
A big part of the world is, however, trying to strive for
unity and alliances. If the world leaders of today would
dive deeper into Erasmus’ educational reasonings and
forget about Machiavelli’s power moves for a moment, we
might be a step closer to world peace.

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