Editing Cesare Borgia (section)

==According to Niccolo Machiavelli==
[[File:A Glass of Wine with Caesar Borgia - John Collier.jpg|thumb|''A Glass of Wine with Caesar Borgia'' (1893) by [[John Collier (Pre-Raphaelite painter)|John Collier]]. From left: Cesare Borgia, [[Lucrezia Borgia]], [[Pope Alexander VI]], and a young man holding an empty glass. The painting represents the popular view of the treacherous nature of the [[House of Borgia|Borgias]]—the implication being that the young man cannot be sure that the wine is not poisoned.]]
[[Niccolò Machiavelli]] met the Duke on a diplomatic mission in his function as Secretary of the Florentine Chancellery. Machiavelli was at Borgia's court from 7 October 1502 through 18 January 1503. During this time he wrote regular dispatches to his superiors in Florence, many of which have survived and are published in ''Machiavelli's Collected Works''. In ''[[The Prince]]'', Machiavelli uses Borgia as an example to elucidate the dangers of acquiring a principality by virtue of another. Although Cesare Borgia's father gave him the power to set up, Cesare ruled the Romagna with skill and tact for the most part. However, when his father died, and a rival to the Borgia family entered the Papal seat, Cesare was overthrown in a matter of months.

Machiavelli attributes two episodes to Cesare Borgia: the method by which the Romagna was pacified, which Machiavelli describes in chapter VII of ''The Prince'', and the assassination of his captains on New Year's Eve of 1502 in Senigallia.<ref>Niccolò Machiavelli, "A Description of the Method Used by Duke Valentino in Killing Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, and Others", ''The Chief Works and Others'', trans. Allan Gilbert, Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1989, 3 vols., 163–169</ref>

Machiavelli's use of Borgia is subject to controversy. Some scholars see Machiavelli's Borgia as the precursor of state crimes in the 20th century.<ref>Ernst Cassirer, ''The Myth of the State'', New Haven: Yale University Press, 1946</ref> Others, including [[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Macaulay]] and [[John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton|Lord Acton]], have historicized Machiavelli's Borgia, explaining the admiration for such violence as an effect of the general criminality and corruption of the time.<ref>Harvey C. Mansfield, ''Machiavelli's Virtue'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.</ref>