The Prince

by Machiavelli, Niccolo

• ISBN13: 9780553212785
• ISBN10: 0553212788
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1984-08-01
• Publisher: Bantam Classics

Summary

Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. Astonishing in its candorThe Princeeven today remains a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince . . . a king . . . a president. When, in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in his beloved Florence, he resolved to set down a treatise on leadership that was practical, not idealistic. InThe Princehe envisioned would be unencumbered by ordinary ethical and moral values; his prince would be man and beast, fox and lion. Today, this small sixteenth-century masterpiece has become essential reading for every student of government, and is the ultimate book on power politics.

Author Biography

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was born in Florence. He served the Florentine republic as secretary and second chancellor, but was expelled from public life when the Medici family returned to power in 1512. His other works include The Discourses, The Art of War, and the comic satire The Mandrake.

Peter Constantine is the recipient of a PEN Translation Prize and a National Translation Award. His Modern Library translations include The Essential Writings of Machiavelli, Voltaire’s Candide, and Tolstoy’s The Cossacks. He lives in New York City.

Albert Russell Ascoli is Gladys Arata Terrill Distinguished Professor of Italian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and was awarded the Rome Prize for study at the American Academy in Rome.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(11)
The Prince
Niccolo Machiavelli to the Magnificent Lorenzo de' Medici	12	(1)
I The Kinds of Principalities and the Means by Which They Are Acquired	13	(1)
II Hereditary Principalities	13	(1)
III Mixed Principalities	14	(7)
IV Why Alexander's Successors Were Able to Keep Possession of Darius' Kingdom after Alexander's Death	21	(3)
V How to Govern Cities and Principalities That, Prior to Being Occupied, Lived Under Their Own Laws	24	(1)
VI Concerning New Principalities Acquired by One's Own Arms and Ability	25	(3)
VII Concerning New Principalities Acquired with the Arms and Fortunes of Others	28	(7)
VIII Concerning Those Who Become Princes by Evil Means	35	(4)
IX Concerning the Civil Principality	39	(3)
X How the Strength of All Principalities Should Be Measured	42	(2)
XI Concerning Ecclesiastical Principalities	44	(2)
XII Concerning Various Kinds of Troops, and Especially Mercenaries	46	(4)
XIII Concerning Auxiliary, Mixed, and Native Forces	50	(3)
XIV A Prince's Concern in Military Matters	53	(3)
XV Concerning Things for Which Men, and Princes Especially, Are Praised or Censured	56	(1)
XVI Concerning Liberality and Parsimony	57	(2)
XVII Concerning Cruelty: Whether It Is Better to Be Loved Than to Be Feared, or the Reverse	59	(3)
XVIII In What Way Princes Should Keep Their Word	62	(2)
XIX How to Avoid Contempt and Hatred	64	(9)
XX Whether Fortresses and Many Other Expedients That Princes Commonly Employ Are Useful or Not	73	(3)
XXI What a Prince Must Do to Be Esteemed	76	(3)
XXII Concerning the Prince's Ministers	79	(2)
XXIII How to Avoid Flatterers	81	(1)
XXIV Why the Princes of Italy Have Lost Their States	82	(2)
XXV Concerning the Influence of Fortune in Human Affairs, and the Manner in Which It Is to Be Resisted	84	(3)
XXVI An Exhortation to Free Italy from the Hands of the Barbarians	87	(4)
Discourses Upon the First Ten Books of Titus Livy BOOK ONE	91	(32)
II Of the Various Kinds of States and of What Kind the Roman Republic Was	91	(5)
III The Events That Led to the Creation of the Tribunes of the Plebs, by Which the Roman Republic Became More Perfect	96	(1)
IV That the Disorders Between the Plebs and the Senate Made the Roman Republic Strong and Free	97	(2)
X Founders of Republics and Kingdoms Are As Much to Be Praised As Founders of Tyrannies Are to Be Censured	99	(3)
XI On the Religion of the Romans	102	(3)
XII The Importance with Which Religion Must Be Regarded and How Italy, Lacking It, Thanks to the Church of Rome, Has Been Ruined	105	(3)
LVIII The Multitude Is Wiser and More Constant Than a Prince	108	(5)
BOOK TWO	113	(6)
II The People the Romans Had to Fight, and How Obstinately They Defended Their Freedom	113	(6)
BOOK THREE	119	(4)
XXI How It Happened That Hannibal Gained the Same Results in Italy As Scipio Did in Spain by Contrary Means	119	(2)
XLI That One's Country Ought to Be Defended, Whether with Shame or Glory, by Whatever Means Possible	121	(2)
Chronology	123	(2)
Notes to The Prince	125	(17)
Notes to The Discourses	142	(4)
Selected Bibliography	146