Leadership in the Aeneid and The Prince
Uploaded by john03 on Oct 26, 2011
This paper explores the leadership styles of Aeneas and Cesare Borgia. (3+ pages; 2 sources; MLA citation style.
I Introduction
There are many different types of leadership. There’s leadership by example, by force, by persuasion, by coercion; there are as many styles as there are leaders.
This paper considers the way leadership is portrayed in two classical works: Machiavelli’s The Prince and Virgil’s Aeneid.
II Discussion
Cesare Borgia led by force, trickery, and sometimes outright murder. After gaining power, he did “all that ought to be done by a wise and able man to fix firmly his roots in the states which the arms and fortunes of others had bestowed on him.” (PG). First, he weakened the opposition by winning the loyalty of his opponent’s adherents, “making them his gentlemen, giving them good pay … and honouring them with office and command.” (PG). Within a few months, these men were loyal to him.
Then he was able to trick his remaining opponents into gathering at Sinigaglia, where he “exterminated the leaders”. He thus had eliminated his enemies, either by killing them or by turning them into friends. Finally, to secure Romagna, he appointed a cruel minister, Ramiro d’Orco, to keep order. He allowed d’Orco to do as he liked while he (Borgia) appeared not to know what d’Orco was doing. When complaints grew about the man’s cruelty, Borgia executed him, thus giving the impression that d’Orco was acting against his orders, when in reality he had obeyed them. It was by such means that Borgia exercised his “leadership.”
Aeneas is very different, for many reasons, not least of which is that he is fated by the gods for a special destiny: Aeneas is a Trojan, and after the fall of the city he carries his father on his back and leads his son by the hand, out of the ruin of Troy. Thus begins his long journey to Italy, where he will found the greatest city of all: Rome.
Aeneas’s greatest quality, which Virgil shows us again and again, is his compassion. He knows that his followers are suffering, and at one point, when they can’t go any further (Book V), he allows some of them to remain behind in Sicily:
“Trust in his hands your old and useless train;
Too num'rous for the ships which yet remain:
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