(1) What are some of the qualities and strategies Machiavelli recommends to political leaders in the excerpts you read? How does this represent a break with the past?
One of the qualities Machiavelli recommended is that a ruler must focus on what is rather than what should be. A prince must posses virtue which to Machiavelli meant political skill, adaptability, and decisiveness, rather that moral goodness. A strategy that Machiavelli employed was that it is better to be feared than loved. Machiavelli writes that if a leader cannot both be loved and feared, it is far safer to be feared rather than loved. Love is fickle and based on obligation, while fear is sustained by the dread of punishment. However he emphasizes that a prince must avoid being hated, which leads to rebellion.
(2) Briefly discuss three artists from the early Renaissance (in other words, people from lessons 158 and 159) as well as one major work for each.
The first of the three early Renaissance artists is Filippo Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi was a master architect and engineer who formally rediscovered the mathematical rules of linear perspective. His greatest achievement was designing and engineering the monumental dome of the Florence Cathedral, solving a massive structural challenge by using a double-shell construction without relying on traditional wooden scaffolding. the second of the three early Renaissance artists is Donatello. Donatello revolutionized European sculpture by creating the first freestanding life-sized n*de sculptures since Classical antiquity. He also reintroduced Classical techniques such as contrapposto, the natural posture where weight is shifted onto one leg. The final of the three early Renaissance artists is Masaccio. Masaccio was a pioneer of early Renaissance painting. In The Holy Trinity, he was among the first to successfully apply mathematical linear perspective in painting, creating the optical illusion of a deep three-dimensional recessed chapel on a flat wall.
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