More than 500 years ago, Niccolo Machiavelli, the father of modern political science, offered sound advice for how citizens of a republic can maintain their freedoms.
He did so in The Discourses on Livy, a work of political history and philosophy. One of its longest chapters—Book Three, Chapter Six—covers “Of Conspiracies.” In it, those who wish to conspire against a ruler will find highly useful advice.
And so will those who might well become the targets of conspiracies.
Among his advisories: There are five ways a conspiracy can be foiled:
- Discovery through denunciation;
- Discovery through carelessness;
- Discovery through writings;
- Dangers in executing the conspiracy;
- Dangers following the execution of the conspiracy.
The first two have already been profiled. Now for the remaining three.
Discovery through Writings: You may talk freely with any one man about everything, for unless you have committed yourself in writing, the “Yes” of one man is worth as much as the “No” of another.
Thus, you should guard most carefully against writing, as against a dangerous rock, for nothing will convict you quicker than your own handwriting.
You may escape, then, from the accusation of a single individual, unless you are convicted by some writing or other pledge, which you should be careful never to give.
If you are denounced, there are means of escaping punishment:
- By denying the accusation and claiming that the person making it hates you; or
- Claiming that your accuser was tortured or coerced into giving false testimony against you.
But the most prudent course is to not tell your intentions to anyone, and to carry out the attempt yourself.
Even if you’re not discovered before you carry out your attack, there are still two dangers facing a conspirator:
- Dangers in executing the conspiracy; and
- Dangers following the execution of the conspiracy.
Dangers in Execution: These result from:
- An unexpected change in the routine of the intended target;
- The lack of courage among the conspirators; or
- An error on their part, such as leaving some of those alive whom the conspirators intended to kill.
Adolf Hitler, who claimed to have a sixth-sense for danger, was famous for changing his routine at the last minute.
On November 9, 1939, this instinct saved his life. He had been scheduled to give a long speech at a Munich beer hall before the “Old Fighters” of his storm troopers.
But that evening he cut short his speech and left the beer hall. Forty-five minutes later, a bomb exploded inside a pillar—before which Hitler had been speaking.
An unexpected lack of courage can also doom a conspiracy.
…Two brothers of Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, plotted against his life, and employed for the execution of their plot one Giannes, the Duke’s almoner and musician, who several times at their request brought the Duke to them….but neither of them had the courage to do it.
The conspiracy was discovered, and they bore the penalty of their wickedness and their imprudence.
Conspirators can sabotage their efforts by speaking before acting:
Lucilla, the sister of the Emperor Commodus, ordered Quintianus to kill him. He lay in wait for Commodus at the entrance of the amphitheater, and, on stepping up to him with drawn dagger, cried, “The Senate sends you this!” which caused Quintianus to be arrested before he had time to strike Commodus….
The more people targeted for assassination, the more likely the conspiracy is to fail.
Conspiracies against single individuals are generally apt to fail…but when undertaken against two or more persons, they fail much easier. Such conspiracies present so many difficulties that it is almost impossible that they should succeed.
In fact, to strike two blows of this kind at the same instant and in different places is impracticable, and to attempt to do so at different moments of time would certainly result in the one’s preventing the other.
John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, planned to murder not only Lincoln but two other high-ranking officials: Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward.
On the night of April 14, 1865, Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford’s Theater. But George Alzerodt, who had been picked to murder Johnson, lost his nerve and never tried to carry out his assignment.
And Lewis Powell attacked Seward in his home, stabbing him five times in the face and neck, but failed to kill him. After struggling with a bodyguard and one of Seward’s sons, Powell fled.
Conspirators can also be undone by their good intentions.
In 44 B.C., Gaius Cassius, Marcus Brutus and other Roman senators decided to assassinate Julius Caesar, whose dictatorial ambitions they feared.
Cassius also intended to murder Mark Anthony, Caesar’s strongest ally.
But Brutus objected, fearing the plotters would look like butchers, not saviors. Even worse, he allowed Anthony to deliver a eulogy at Caesar’s funeral.
This proved so inflammatory that the mourners rioted, driving the conspirators out of Rome. Soon afterward, they were defeated in a battle with the legions of Anthony and Octavian Caesar—and forced to commit suicide to avoid capture and execution.
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MACHIAVELLI: A FEW MODEST PROPOSALS FOR CONSPIRATORS–PART FOUR (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on November 5, 2026 at 12:09 amMore than 500 years ago, Niccolo Machiavelli, the father of modern political science, offered sound advice for would-be conspirators—and for rulers seeking to thwart conspiracies.
He did so in The Discourses on Livy, a work of political history and philosophy. In it, he outlined how citizens of a republic can maintain their freedoms.
One of the longest chapters—Book Three, Chapter Six—covers “Of Conspiracies.” In it, those who wish to conspire against a ruler will find highly useful advice. And so will those who might well become the targets of conspiracies.
For conspirators, there are five ways their efforts can be foiled:
Of these dangers, all but the last one have been examined so far.
Dangers following the execution of the conspiracy.
For Machiavelli, the greatest danger following the successful execution of a conspiracy is:
….the attachment of the people to the prince who has been killed. There is no remedy against this, for the conspirators can never secure themselves against a whole people.
[An example of this occurred in] the case of Julius Caesar, who, being beloved by the people, was avenged by them. For having driven the conspirators from Rome, they were the cause of their being all killed at various times and places.
Machiavelli closes his chapter “Of Conspiracies” with advice to rulers on how they should act when they find a conspiracy has been formed against them.
If they discover that a conspiracy exists against them, they must, before punishing its authors, strive to learn its nature and extent. And they must measure the danger posed by the conspirators against their own strength.
And if they find it powerful and alarming, they must not expose it until they have amassed sufficient force to crush it. Otherwise, they will only speed their own destruction. They should try to pretend ignorance of it. If the conspirators find themselves discovered, they will be forced by necessity to act without consideration.
Niccolo Machiavelli
The foregoing was taken from Book Three, Chapter Six, of Machiavelli’s masterwork, The Discourses on Livy, which was published posthumously in 1531.
But elsewhere in this volume, he notes how important it is for rulers to make themselves loved—or at least respected—by their fellow citizens:
Note how much more praise those Emperors merited who, after Rome became an empire, conformed to her laws like good princes, than those who took the opposite course.
Titus, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus and Marcus Auelius did not require the Praetorians nor the multitudinous legions to defend them, because they were protected by their own good conduct, the good will of the people, and by the love of the Senate.
On the other hand, neither the Eastern nor the Western armies saved Caligula, Nero, Vitellius and so many other wicked Emperors from the enemies which their bad conduct and evil lives had raised up against them.
In his better-known work, The Prince, Machiavelli warns rulers who—like Donald Trump—are inclined to rule by fear:
A prince should make himself feared in such a way that if he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids hatred: for fear and the absence of hatred may well go together.
Donald Trump
By Machiavelli’s standards, Donald Trump has made himself the perfect target for a conspiracy.
During his first term as President, he viciously attacked many of the institutions Americans have cherished for more than 200 years. And during the first two years of his second term he has accelerated those attacks.
Among his targets:
As Machiavelli warned:
“When a prince becomes universally hated, it is likely that he’s harmed some individuals—who thus seek revenge. This desire is increased by seeing that the prince is widely loathed.”
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