Machiavelli – The Prince must know how to feign and conceal

The Arcana imperii: these secrets of the empires are mercilessly put in the scene in the Tartuffe of Molière.

The duplicity, the hypocrisy, is the springs used for this play.

We recommend the article by Ronan Y. Chalmin, entitled Arcana Imperii: Coup et secret d’État dans Le Tartuffe de Molière.

In political science, we find this phenomenon in Machiavelli’s writing. For Machiavelli, an important element of the ruler, “the Prince”, is to know how to feign and conceal. Thus he writes in his eponymous main work:

“the happiest man is always the one who knows best how to cover himself with the skin of the fox. The point is to play one’s role well, and to know how to feign and conceal. And men are so simple and so weak that he who wants to deceive easily finds dupes.”

→Quotes on the Secret

Machiavelli in this quote clearly calls for the Prince to know how to conceal his expressions, interests, means, and objectives. It is “covering oneself with the skin of the fox” in a graphic way.

He takes for granted an interesting fact: the common man is simple and weak, i.e. he is gullible. It is with this fragility that one must play, so that the sovereign can take maximum advantage of it.

This principle is summed up in the inspired formula:“Qui nest dissimulate nest regnare, which means“. He who does not know how to dissimulate does not know how to rule.

Machiavelli died in Florence in 1527. Having held the office for the Florentine republic, he spent much of his life understanding the mechanisms of power, including drawing on history.

General Knowledge: the Secret

General Knowledge: the Revolutions