Originally Posted by
Cranica
Machiavelli wasn't much about justification at all. He, like many, many other Italians, were really sick of infighting among the Italian city-states and wanted a return to a stronger, more unified state ala Rome. The Prince contains basically two reference sources: contemporary Italians and their neighbors, and the Roman empire. None of the rulers he cites, good or bad, were the slightest bit democratic; Machivelli discerns between people who govern effectively and people who do not. The question of legitimacy isn't really important to him, nor would it have been particularly wise to write about, since he was writing for a usurper.