Except that Vivienne forgets the other key point raised by Machievelli in The Prince;
"Still, a prince should make himself feared in such a way that if he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids hatred"
Which ironically is what she's advocating, she wants to restore the Circle and go back to the system where mages were feared, hated and reviled by the people of Thedas, who consider them better locked away for their own good and that of others.
We could raise up that Vivienne has never read Machievelli, and so can not be condemned for failing to understand it, because Machievelli does not exist in the Dragon Age universe.
We could also point out that Machievelli's line, as you quote it, is poorly applicable because the nature of political power is that some is always going to dislike what you do. The 'avoiding hatred' line is not a prescription for taking unpopular positions... or rather, if it is, it's a poor one because the only leaders who avoiding taking hated positions are the poor leaders who don't take any position worth noting.
But far more relevantly is the weird misunderstanding that Vivienne's desire is (was) the re-establishment of the Circles, then reforms, because she does consider it in everyone's good interests.
Furthermore, this shows the flaw in her leadership style and why she was never able to actually seem to rally the loyalists into a cohesive faction during the Mage-Templar war, as we saw they instead were either scattered to the wind or ended up de facto part of the Rebellion.
?
The loyalist mages sat out the war and the rebellion. Which was rather the point.
The bigger question/issue is why there weren't enough loyalist mages left to help the Inquisition close the breach, but that's something Bioware never really thought about because they needed the 'our solution has to be in Redcliffe' plot. It takes, what, a dozen mages to support the Inquisitor's mark? And the Inquisition's own mages, and those who fled and went underground, or the loyalists couldn't amount to that?
While ruling through fear works in the short term and is useful when playing The Game, this does not breed any sense of loyalty towards her from people over the long term, as people know that Vivienne will discard anyone who does not suit her goals or help her gain power.
Unlike, say, Bloody Murder Leliana, or 'I quit jobs that don't agree with me when the glitter rubs off' Cassandra?
Hey, if you can claim that Vivienne discards anyone, why not smear those two the same way? At least they have examples to point towards: still waiting for the list of people that Vivienne has discarded or betrayed.
It's fairly clear that you don't like Vivienne. It's far less so why you expect most, or even many, people in Thedas to hold the share view.
Except that in the Divine Leliana ending with the College, the mages in southern Thedas are actually being accepted.
For the moment.
As alluring as that moment can be, the honeymoon period always has a shelf-life: see world-saving Inquisition in Trespasser. There was also always going to be roll-back- especially when Leliana's moment of accomplishment doesn't actually address the concerns of her opponents.
Vivienne's new civil war risks ending up putting the common people of Thedas in the crossfire and earning their ire, since it'd only prove that mages cannot control themselves without supervision, reinforcing the position of those who'd rather things return to the previous flawed system.
In other words, vindicating Vivienne's warnings and views? It's almost like she'd win even if she lost or something. If she wins, she can re-assert the control and oversight she thinks is proper. If she loses, the victors either assert control and oversight to prevent it- thus furthering her agenda- or they don't, and it occurs again.
People have argued about the inevitable futility of the Circle system, because it would always breed resentment and attempts to rebel. Now free-mage advocates are going to have to address the inverse: the ever-present forces and actors who will roll-back what many see as dangerous freedoms and lack of accountability. If you give people freedom to choose what they want, you're always going to have issue of people who don't want what you want.
Not, mind you, that we know how this Circle-vs-College conflict shapes... or if it even merits being called a civil war in the first place. It's two separate, distinct organizations: only by forcing them under a single identity could it be considered a civil war in the first place, and to date we've only heard enough to get a sense of, hey, the Game is still being played.
We really haven't heard, or seen, anything to suggest that it's All Vivienne's Fault. Anymore than the Mage-Templar conflict was All -Insert Faction's- Fault.
That is suicidal, because Vivienne is slapping aside the first olive branch that mages have been extended in a long time, simply because she wants a little bit more power and prestige than she already had.
This seems strangely at odds with the facts. The mages were offered a series of olive branches for some time even before the Inquisition: the Ferelden Crown, Divine Justinia, Redcliffe, even the Inquisition. Even without Vivienne and just Fiona, many of these olive branches were burned- and many of them by the mage side. Unless we're considering a handful of years 'a long time', the last decade for Thedas has had a number of mage-mundane developments that included better efforts.
On the other hand, this 'olive branch' of the College wouldn't really be an olive branch to anyone who doesn't agree with its premise. The College isn't 'peace between mundanes and mages', anymore than the Circles were. The College is 'the form of mage freedom and (lack of) oversight that some find desirable.'
If you do not find the College desirable, it's extension is not an olive branch. It is the problem.
Fiona, regardless of whether you agree with her, was at least was thinking of other people, while Vivienne is only out for herself here.
If we ignore Vivienne's stated, and regularly supported, motivations that involve other people, sure.
And if we ignore all the people that Fiona wasn't particularly thinking about, or only thought about when it supported her.
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