The political lessons of Seneca and Machiavelli: clemency or cruelty as the best strategy for perpetuation in power

Abstract

Amid the uncertainties which permeate the political decisions of a governor, there remains a deep distrust of the belief that it is plausible to establish any political strategy which ensures the achievement of his actions. Is making cruelty a means of imposing authority a prolific strategy to enhance him? Would it be the most proper conduct to guide decisions by clemency and be lenient in the face of possible threats? It is certain that both strategies involve serious risks of undermining the confidence in the sovereign and make him vulnerable to conspiracies. Seneca’s On Clemency and Machiavelli’s The Prince reveal the conflicting visions on the best way forward for the ruler. Seneca wrote to the Roman emperor Nero. Machiavelli dedicated his works to the prince of Florence Lorenzo de’ Medici. Two philosophical texts developed according to pedagogical guidelines whose aim is the ethical and intellectual enhancement of the ruler. Seneca and Machiavelli reveal discrepant political views. But the long centuries which separate the philosophers do not obscure the links that make possible to understand the essential aspects to human nature, the complexity which involves the political connections and the obstinacy shared by the two philosophers of tracing a feasible path for the ruler to perpetuate himself in the power.