Cyrus#
Summary#
Machiavelli places Cyrus among the most excellent examples of princes who rose by their own ability rather than fortune. In The Prince, he argues that Cyrus required the opportunity of finding the Persians discontented with Median rule and the Medes grown soft through long peace, but his high ability enabled him to recognize and seize this opportunity to found a kingdom. Machiavelli later invokes Cyrus alongside Moses, Romulus, and Theseus as figures whose circumstances parallel Italy’s present need for a redeemer who would liberate the peninsula from foreign domination.