Machiavelli and Erasmus: Two Opposing Political Writers - Essay Example

Machiavelli and Erasmus: Two Opposing Political Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince and Erasmus’ Education of a Christian Prince, which were both written within a few years of each other, stand in very sharp contrast to one another. Machiavelli’s work was written first, but it wasn’t released till about sixteen years later. This is an interesting fact considering that both of these works seem to be practically criticizing the other work. A comparison of these two works shows them to be completely in contrast with each other in their viewpoints. Erasmus’ chief concern is in advising his ideal prince in following the will of God: “though following Him is hard, not following Him is a sin.” Taking the Christian perspective, since God was the creator of the universe, he was then accordingly the source of all power. Since God was the source of all power, following the will of God would most assuredly brought his concept of a prince the most power. For surely, if a person were to ignore the will of God, then God would not protect that prince, or to the more extreme aspect of the situation, God would remove immoral princes from power. In the Christian view, since there was no way to avoid God or to avoid the consequences of ignoring the will of God, this would make the most appropriate way to gain power and to keep this power by merely following the will of God. According to Richard F. Hardin, “Erasmus thought it possible to dissuade kings and their subjects from the idolatry of power”1 Richard F. Hardin, “The Literary Conventions of Erasmus’ Education of a Christian Prince,” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 2, (Summer 1982) p. 152.. They were to hold their power not for their own gains, but they were to try to improve upon the condition of mankind. Anyone in a position of power should attempt to do this, from a Christian perspective, and those who didn’t were guilty of “unmitigated tyranny.” Erasmus was not concerned with how useful this document turned out to be in the real world. What he hoped to accomplish in the end was to shape the way that the real world functioned. To many, though, this was viewed as “primitive and simplistic”2 Ibid. Read More