“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.” 

——Niccolò Machiavelli

每個人都能看到你所表現(xiàn)出來的樣子,，但是很少人知道真實的你。

——尼科爾·馬基雅維里

From Shakespeare’s plays to modern TV dramas,the unscrupulous schemer for whom the ends always justify the means has become a familiar character type we love to hate.

So familiar, in fact, that for centuries we’ve had a single word to describe such characters: Machiavellian.

But is it possible that we’ve been using that word wrong this whole time?

從莎士比亞的戲劇到現(xiàn)代電視劇,，總是用最終目的來為其行為辯解的無恥陰謀家,，已經(jīng)成為我們既愛又恨且熟悉的角色類型。

事實上,，我們對其如此熟悉,，以至于幾世紀(jì)以來我們都用一個詞來描述這樣的人物：馬基雅維利主義者。

但我們有沒有可能一直都用錯了這個詞,？

The early 16th century statesman Niccoló Machiavelli wrote many works of history, philosophy, and drama.

But his lasting notoriety comes from a brief political essay known as The Prince,framed as advice to current and future monarchs.

Machiavelli wasn’t the first to do this–in fact there was an entire tradition of works known as “mirrors for princes” going back to antiquity.

But unlike his predecessors,Machiavelli didn’t try to describe an ideal government or exhort his audience to rule justly and virtuously.

Instead, he focused on the question of power–how to acquire it, and how to keep it.

And in the decades after it was published,The Prince gained a diabolical reputation.

During the European Wars of Religion,both Catholics and Protestants blamed Machiavelli for inspiring acts of violence and tyranny committed by their opponents.

By the end of the century,Shakespeare was using “Machiavel” to denote an amoral opportunist,leading directly to our popular use of “Machiavellian” as a synonym for manipulative villainy.

16世紀(jì)初的政治家尼科爾·馬基雅維利寫過許多歷史,、哲學(xué)和戲劇作品。

但他持久的聲譽來自一篇被稱為《君主論》的簡短政治文章,，這篇文章包含對當(dāng)前和未來君主的建議,。

馬基雅維利不是第一個這樣做的人——事實上，有一個完整的作品體系,，被稱為“君主的鏡子”,，可以追溯到遠古。

但與他的前輩們不同,，馬基雅維利沒有試圖描述一個理想的政府或者勸誡他的聽眾公正而有道德地統(tǒng)治,。

相反,，他專注于權(quán)力問題——如何獲得它，如何維持它,。

在《君主論》出版后的幾十年里,，這本書收獲了糟糕的名聲。

在歐洲宗教戰(zhàn)爭期間,，天主教徒和新教徒都指責(zé)馬基雅維利,，因為他給他們對手的暴力和暴政提供了靈感。

世紀(jì)末,，莎士比亞用“馬基雅維爾”來表示一個不道德的機會主義者,，直接導(dǎo)致我們對“馬基雅維利主義者”的廣泛使用作為操縱性惡行的同義詞。

At first glance,The Prince’s reputation as a manual for tyranny seems well-deserved.

Throughout, Machiavelli appears entirely unconcerned with morality,except insofar as it’s helpful or harmful to maintaining power.

For instance, princes are told to consider all the atrocities necessary to seize power,and to commit them in a single stroke to ensure future stability.

Attacking neighboring territories and oppressing religious minorities are mentioned as effective ways of occupying the public.

Regarding a prince’s personal behavior,Machiavelli advises keeping up the appearance of virtues such as honesty or generosity,but being ready to abandon them as soon as one’s interests are threatened.

Most famously, he notes that for a ruler,“it is much safer to be feared than loved.”

The tract even ends with an appeal to Lorenzo de’ Medici,the recently installed ruler of Florence,urging him to unite the fragmented city-states of Italy under his rule.

乍一看,，《君主論》作為暴政指南的名聲似乎是應(yīng)得的,。

總的來說，馬基雅維利似乎完全不關(guān)心道德,，除非對維持權(quán)力有益或有害,。

例如，君主論們被告知要考慮所有必要的暴行來奪取政權(quán),，然后一次性的實施暴行以確保未來的穩(wěn)定,。

攻擊鄰國領(lǐng)土和壓迫宗教少數(shù)民族被認為是占領(lǐng)公眾的有效途徑。

關(guān)于君主論的個人行為,，馬基雅維利建議保持美德的外表,，比如誠實或慷慨，但一旦利益受到威脅,，就要準(zhǔn)備放棄它們,。

最著名的是，他指出,，作為一個統(tǒng)治者,，“讓人害怕比讓人愛戴更安全?！?/p>

這一段甚至以對洛倫佐·德·梅迪奇的陳詞結(jié)尾,，最近才成為佛羅倫薩的統(tǒng)治者，

敦促他在自己的統(tǒng)治下把支離破碎的意大利城邦聯(lián)合起來,。

Many have justified Machiavelli as motivated by unsentimental realism and a desire for peace in an Italy torn by internal and external conflict.

According to this view,Machiavelli was the first to understand a difficult truth:the greater good of political stability is worth whatever unsavory tactics are needed to attain it.

The philosopher Isaiah Berlin suggested that rather than being amoral,

The Prince hearkens back to ancient Greek morality,placing the glory of the state above the Christian ideal of individual salvation.

But what we know about Machiavelli might not fit this picture.

The author had served in his native Florence for 14 years as a diplomat,staunchly defending its elected republican government against would-be monarchs.

When the Medici family seized power,he not only lost his position,but was even tortured and banished.

With this in mind,it’s possible to read the pamphlet he wrote from exile not as a defense of princely rule,but a scathing description of how it operates.

Indeed, Enlightenment figures like Spinoza saw it as warning free citizens of the various ways in which they can be subjugated by aspiring rulers.

許多人認為馬基雅維利是受非感性的現(xiàn)實主義,，以及在一個被內(nèi)外沖突所撕裂的意大利尋求和平的愿望所鼓動。

根據(jù)這個觀點,，馬基雅維利是第一個了解艱難的真相的人：政治穩(wěn)定的更大好處值得采取任何令人討厭的策略來實現(xiàn)它,。

哲學(xué)家以賽亞·柏林認為，與其說是非道德的,，《君主論》貫穿了古希臘的道德觀,，把國家的榮耀放在基督個人拯救的理想之上。

但我們對馬基雅維利的了解可能與這種觀點相左,。

作者在他的家鄉(xiāng)佛羅倫薩當(dāng)了14年外交官,，堅定捍衛(wèi)其民選共和政府，反對未來的君主制,。

當(dāng)美第奇家族奪取政權(quán)時,，他不僅失去了職位，甚至被折磨和流放,。

考慮到這一點,，有可能讀他從流亡國外寫的小冊子不是為了捍衛(wèi)君主統(tǒng)治，而是對其運作方式的尖銳描述,。

事實上,，像斯賓諾莎這樣的啟蒙式人物把《君主論》看作是警告自由公民，他們可能會以各種各樣的方式被有抱負的統(tǒng)治者征服,。

In fact, both readings might be true.

Machiavelli may have written a manual for tyrannical rulers,but by sharing it, he also revealed the cards to those who would be ruled.

In doing so,he revolutionized political philosophy,laying the foundations for Hobbes and future thinkers to study human affairs based on their concrete realities rather than preconceived ideals.

Through his brutal and shocking honesty,Machiavelli sought to shatter popular delusions about what power really entails.

And as he wrote to a friend shortly before his death,he hoped that people would “l(fā)earn the way to Hell in order to flee from it.'

事實上,，兩個說法都可能是真的。

馬基雅維利可能為暴君寫了一本手冊,，但通過分享,，他也向那些將被統(tǒng)治的人透露了這些東西。

這樣做,，他徹底改變了政治哲學(xué),，為霍布斯和未來思想家奠定基礎(chǔ)，從人的具體實際出發(fā)研究人的事務(wù)而不是基于先入為主的理想,。

通過他殘酷而令人震驚的誠實,，馬基雅維利試圖粉碎大眾對權(quán)力真正賦予了什么的幻想。

他死前不久給一個朋友寫信,，他希望人們能“學(xué)會下地獄的方法,，以便逃離地獄”。