The Renaissance Man

According to Machiavelli, instead of having faith and integrity, a leader would prove to be effective by means of his intellect of the “craft”, by law or by force. This craft is better described as the art of war, which Machiavelli deems as necessary in every rule. To gain power by force is “proper to beasts.” (Machiavelli 25)

By the use of arms in what he called as the art of war, the prince and his army goes against the army of their enemy land in order to reach his end, his ultimate goal – power, glory and wealth. These serve as apparent happiness for the prince and the means that he is to achieve it goes against what a rational being is called to do. Machiavelli supposed that in attaining his goals, the prince must not mind the shame of cruelty. Such actions make a brute out of him. (Machiavelli 21)

Montaigne is well known because of his Skepticism during his time. Being a skeptic, he doubted the ability of the mind to know. According to him, as man gains more knowledge, the more enlightened he thinks he is. Montaigne’s work, “On Coaches” describes how falsely man is led by what he believes is true. Particularly, man lives only to what he discovers at present, instead of exploring how it was in the past. Additionally, Montaigne described the man during the ancient world as ”all naked, simply pure, in nature’s lap, and lived only upon such means and food as his mother-nurse afforded him.” (Montaigne 158) This man from the infancy stage that he described is free from corruption brought about by latter day knowledge and crafts. Such developments gave man an unending desire for higher learning that leads him to continually seek for more knowledge.

Going back to Petrarch’s writing, ignorance is bliss, and those with less complications in life can truly enjoy it more.

“..so those people are happiest who have nothing to do with learning and follow nature as their only guide.. except as a man wishes to go beyond what is proper for him.”

Petrarch further compared animals to man, the former “are content with their natural limitations; man alone is vainly very ambitious.”

Similarly, he described how the ancient man lived.

“The people of the golden age lived without the advantages of learning, being guided by instinct and nature alone.” (Erasmus 932)

The pursuit for knowledge is good for as long as it is aimed towards the good. However, when it harms mankind in such a way that it hinders them from living their lives to the fullest, then as Petrarch put it, they become marble figures. Moreover, if man alone is to confine himself within the walls of learning, he deprives himself of truly experiencing how it is to be man.

“A model of wisdom.. dissipated the best part of his life in continual worry and study.. he has never lived..” (Erasmus 935)

By reading the works of the era’s finest writers, during the Renaissance, man seemed to be too absorbed with wisdom, thinking that this alone could furnish them with happiness, unknowing that it was only the apparent good. This means that it only appears good to them while it eventually harms themselves and the people around them. In some circumstances, they are blind to what is truly true for they drown themselves in what they want to believe in. For instance, Machiavelli’s “The Prince” becomes obsessed with gaining and retaining power that he resorts to war (murder), setting aside what was called for by his true nature – faith and integrity. By doing otherwise, he lowers himself to become a brute. No matter how wealthy, powerful or glorious he is in his eyes, he is perceived as a beast by the world.