View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Book One, The Development of Rome's Constitution, The Use and Abuse of Dictatorship, The Road to Ruin, Sundry Reflections Based on the Decemvirate.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the inspiration for Machiavelli's "The Discourses"?
(a) Machiavelli's interest in forms of government.
(b) Machiavelli's desire to guide politicians to serve the public needs.
(c) Machiavelli's fascination for power.
(d) Livy's account of the history of Rome written around 25 B.C.

2. What is a Prince as Machiavelli uses the term?
(a) A dispatched bureaucrat that carries out orders over a territory.
(b) A monarch over a sovereign system of government and territory.
(c) An underling to the ruling authority.
(d) A hereditary noble.

3. What can be inferred of Machiavelli's view of freedom based upon reading view of weak and strong Princes?
(a) That Machiavelli considered civil rights and individual liberties indispensable to the strength of a city.
(b) That Machiavelli uses the term freedom in reference to the actions of Princes only.
(c) That Machiavelli considers freedom only suited to those who can earn it or buy it.
(d) That Machiavelli is focused on keeping cities free from outside influences rather than individual freedom.

4. From what did Machiavelli develop the information that he wrote into "The Discourses"?
(a) From long experience and continuous study of worldly affairs.
(b) From research that he did in the many libraries throughout the former Roman Empire.
(c) From interviews with political thinkers of the day.
(d) From his world travels to study governments in other cultures.

5. What can be inferred of Machiavelli's idea of virtue from reading the review of the first three kings of Rome as he begins his discourse of weak Princes and excellent Princes?
(a) That he considers the most weak Princes to practice ambivalence to virtue.
(b) The he considers moral integrity to be the primary virtue for Princes.
(c) That he considers bureaucratic expertise to be an important virtue for Princes.
(d) That he believes being ferocious and warlike is an indispensible virtue for a Prince.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Machiavelli, how did the Nobles of Rome attempt to correct the limit on the wealth that was placed on them by Agrarian Laws?

2. What are the two important items that Machiavelli considers to be unwise for a Prince to put entirely into peril?

3. What does Machiavelli consider an important tool in maintaining the order of a Republic?

4. According to Machiavelli, how did the Agrarian Laws violate the foundation of well-ordered Republics?

5. What is Machiavelli's explanation for initiating his recommended approach with enemies against an empire?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 654 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample