The Prince

by Machiavelli, Niccolo; Bull, George

• ISBN13: 9780140447521
• ISBN10: 0140447520
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-08-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

"This political science classic still has the power to shock, just as it did when first published almost five hundred years ago. Fritz Weaver reads in an appropriately detached manner, for it is this air of objectivity regarding the ruthless pursuit of political power that has made Machiavelli's name synonymous with evil. This quality recording begins and ends with ceremonial music, which sets the right tone for a treatise directed to royalty. A masterpiece of prophecy, psychological insight, and forceful prose, "The Prince "is a classic of realpolitik, stunningly relevant to our times.

Author Biography

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a Florentine statesman who was later forced out of public life. He then devoted himself to studying and writing political philosophy, history, fiction, and drama.

George Bull is an author and journalist who has translated six volumes for the Penguin Classics: Benvenuto Cellini’s Autobiography, The Book of the Courtier by Castiglione, Vasari’s Lives of the Artists (two volumes), The Prince by Machiavelli and Pietro Aretino’s Selected Letters. He is also Consultant Editor to the Penguin Business Series. After reading history at Brasenose College, Oxford, George Bull worked for the Financial Times, McGraw-Hill World News, and for the Director magazine, of which he was Editor-in-Chief until 1984. His other books include Vatican Politics; Bid for Power (with Anthony Vice), a history of take-over bids; Renaissance Italy, a book for children; Venice: The Most Triumphant City; and Inside the Vatican.

Table of Contents

Chronology	p. ix
Map	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
Further Reading	p. xxx
Translator's Note	p. xxxii
Letter to the Magnificent Lorenzo de Medici	p. 3
How many kinds of principality there are and the ways in which they are acquired	p. 7
Hereditary principalities	p. 7
Composite principalities	p. 8
Why the kingdom of Darius conquered by Alexander did not rebel against his successors after his death	p. 15
How cities or principalities which lived under their own laws should be administered after being conquered	p. 18
New principalities acquired by one's own arms and prowess	p. 19
New principalities acquired with the help of fortune and foreign arms	p. 22
Those who come to power by crime	p. 28
The constitutional principality	p. 32
How the strength of every principality should be measured	p. 35
Ecclesiastical principalities	p. 37
Military organization and mercenary troops	p. 40
Auxiliary, composite, and native troops	p. 44
How a prince should organize his militia	p. 47
The things for which men, and especially princes, are praised or blamed	p. 50
Generosity and parsimony	p. 51
Cruelty and compassion; and whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse	p. 53
How princes should honour their word	p. 56
The need to avoid contempt and hatred	p. 58
Whether fortresses and many of the other present-day expedients to which princes have recourse are useful or not	p. 67
How a prince must act to win honour	p. 71
A prince's personal staff	p. 74
How flatterers must be shunned	p. 75
Why the Italian princes have lost their states	p. 77
How far human affairs are governed by fortune, and how fortune can be opposed	p. 79
Exhortation to liberate Italy from the barbarians	p. 82
Glossary of Proper Names	p. 86
Notes	p. 98
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.