Share:

Category Books

The Prince » (New Edition)

Book cover image of The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Authors: Niccolo Machiavelli
ISBN-13: 9780981224411, ISBN-10: 0981224415
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Prohyptikon Publishing Inc.
Date Published: March 2009
Edition: New Edition

Author Biography: Niccolo Machiavelli

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI was born in Florence in 1469. In 1498, he was appointed Second Chancellor of the Florentine Republic; in 1501, he was imprisoned and tortured when the Medici returned to Florence. Upon his release, he retired to his farm to study and write.

Book Synopsis

The book has been variously described as the first to analyze the role of the political elite; as the one that established the independence of politics from theology; as an early formulation of the political 'myth' required to galvanize apolitical masses into revolutionary action; as a practical rule-book containing timeless precepts for the diplomat; and, most frequently, as the handbook of evil. Based upon Machiavelli's firsthand experience as an emissary of the Florentine Republic to the courts of Europe, The Prince analyzes the often-violent means by which political power is seized and retained, and the circumstances in which it is lost. Above all, it provides a remarkably uncompromising picture of the true nature of power, no matter in what era or by whom it is exercised.

	Chronology
	Map
	Introduction
	Translator's Note
	Selected Books
	Machiavelli's Principal Works
	Letter to the Magnificent Lorenzo de Medici	1
I	How many kinds of principality there are and the ways in which they are acquired	5
II	Hereditary principalities	5
III	Composite principalities	6
IV	Why the kingdom of Darius conquered by Alexander did not rebel against his successors after his death	13
V	How cities or principalities which lived under their own laws should be administered after being conquered	16
VI	New principalities acquired by one's own arms and prowess	17
VII	New principalities acquired with the help of fortune and foreign arms	20
VIII	Those who come to power by crime	27
IX	The constitutional principality	31
X	How the strength of every principality should be measured	34
XI	Ecclesiastical principalities	36
XII	Military organization and mercenary troops	39
XIII	Auxiliary, composite, and native troops	43
XIV	How a prince should organize his militia	47
XV	The things for which men, and especially princes, are praised or blamed	49
XVI	Generosity and parsimony	51
XVII	Cruelty and compassion; and whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse	53
XVIII	How princes should honour their word	56
XIX	The need to avoid contempt and hatred	58
XX	Whether fortresses and many of the other present-day expedients to which princes have recourse are useful or not	67
XXI	How a prince must act to win honour	71
XXII	A prince's personal staff	75
XXIII	How flatterers must be shunned	76
XXIV	Why the Italian princes have lost their states	78
XXV	How far human affairs are governed by fortune, and how fortune can be opposed	79
XXVI	Exhortation to liberate Italy from the barbarians	82
	Glossary of Proper Names	86
	Notes	99