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    The Prince
    The Prince
    The Prince
    Ebook174 pages2 hours

    The Prince

    By Niccolò Machiavelli

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.

    In The Prince, Machiavelli offers a monarchical ruler advice designed to keep that ruler in power. He recommends policies that would discourage mass political activism and channel subjects' energies into private pursuits. Machiavelli wanted to persuade the monarch that he could best preserve his power by the judicious use of violence, by respecting private property and the traditions of his subjects, and by promoting material prosperity. Machiavelli held that political life cannot be governed by a single set of moral or religious absolutes, and that the monarch may sometimes be excused for performing acts of violence and deception that would be ethically indefensible in private life. During the Renaissance, Italy was a scene of intense political conflict. The result was massive political intrigue, blackmail, and violence. The Prince was written against this backdrop, and in its conclusion Machiavelli issued an impassioned call for Italian unity, and an end to foreign intervention.

    This edition includes:
    -A concise introduction that gives readers important background information
    -A chronology of the author's life and work
    -A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context
    -An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations
    -Detailed explanatory notes
    -Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work
    -Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction
    -A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

    Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateApr 19, 2016
    ISBN9781451686272
    Author

    Niccolò Machiavelli

    Niccolò Machiavelli was born on 3 May 1469 in Florence during the city-state's peak of greatness under the Medici family. In 1494, the year the Medici were exiled, Machiavelli entered Florentine public service. In 1498 he was appointed Chancellor and Secretary to the Second Chancery. Serving as a diplomat for the republic, Machiavelli was an emissary to some of the most distinguished people of the age. When the Medici were returned to Florence in 1512, Machiavelli was forced into retirement. In the years that followed he devoted himself to literature, producing not only his most famous work, The Prince, but also the Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius (First Decade here means First Ten Books), his Art of War and The History of Florence. In 1527 the Medici were once again expelled from Florence, but before Machiavelli was able once again to secure political office in the city he died on 22 June 1527.

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    Reviews for The Prince

    3/5

    24 ratings72 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Interesting
    • 4/5
      While I understand that his take is controversial, I have to tell you, it makes sense. It's not nice, but it is practical.
    • 5/5
      Thought rereading this might shed some light on the Trump presidency until I realized that there is a crucial difference between realpolitik and realityTVpolitiking.
    • 4/5
      Et klassisk værk om hvorledes en fyrste bør regere.Indeholder 26 kapitler: "Om forskellige arter af fyrstevælder og måder at erhverve dem på", "Om de arvelige fyrstevælder", "Om blandede fyrstevælder", "Hvorfor Darius' rige, som Alexander erobrede, ved dennes død ikke gjorde oprør mod hans efterfølger", "Hvorledes man skal styre de byer og fyrstevælder, der før erobringen havde egne love", "Om erhvervelsen af et nyt fyrstevælde ved egne våben og dygtighed", "Om erhvervelsen af et nyt fyrstevælde ved fremmede våben og lykkens hjælp", "Om fyrster, der når herredømmet ved forbrydelser", "Om folkefyrster", "Hvordan alle fyrstevælders kraft skal måles", "Om gejstlige fyrstevælder", "Om forskellige arter stridskræfter og om lejetropper", "Om hjælpetropper, blandede og egne tropper", "Om en fyrstes militære opgaver", "Hvad der skaffer menneskene og især fyrsterne ros eller dadel", "Om gavmildhed og gerrighed", "Om grusomhed og mildhed, og om at det er bedre at blive frygtet end elsket", "Hvorvidt en fyrste altid skal stå ved sit ord", "Man må undgå ringeagt og had", "Om fæstninger eller andre forholdsregler, der træffes af fyrsten, er til nytte eller skade", "Hvorledes en fyrste skal optræde for at vinde anseelse", "Om fyrsternes statssekretærer", "Hvorledes man skal undgå smiger", "Hvorledes Italiens fyrster har tabt deres stater", "Hvad skæbnen formår i de menneskelige anliggender, og hvorledes man skal kæmpe imod den", "Opråb om at befri Italien fra barbarerne".I denne bog behandler forfatteren kun fyrstedømmer. Han indleder med at sige at arvestater er meget lettere at bevare end nyerhvervede stater. Han betoner at folkets gunst er vigtig at bevare og at man bør bosætte sig i en nyerobret stat. Man bør svække de stærke naboer og støtte de svage uden at styrke dem.Udmærket læsning. Machiavelli argumenterer for sine synspunkter, fx at lejetropper og hjælpetropper kun er af det onde, og har mange underbyggende eksempler.En manual for at opnå og bevare magt
    • 5/5
      Fascinating historical perspective.
    • 3/5
      Zeer geromantiseerde inleidingIntussen overbekende politieke theorie (efficiëntie gaat voor op ethiek). Moeilijke lectuur
    • 5/5
      A Great Book!
    • 4/5
      A very sharp commentary on the art and business of politics when ruling a nation/people. As it did for previous generations this 16th Century tome has many pertinent pointers for today's would-be establishment elite: however, the pitfalls of power & being consumed by the desire for authority that it also mentions have been neglected by so many ill-equipped & haplessly inadequate Leaders of the 20th/21st centuries it would appear many of them were not concentrating when they read Machiavelli's masterpiece!
    • 3/5
      The Prince. Niccolo Machiavelli. 2008. Our book club chose this classic of how to get and keep political power because it was an election year. What surprised several of us was how mild it seemed. We decided we were no longer idealistic and had lived too long to be shocked at what lengths a man in power will go to maintain that power
    • 5/5
      First time reading it since my 1989 Great Books course at Evergreen. A lot of fun to teach. The Dover edition, so far as I can determine, is perfectly serviceable, and, presuming I'm rating the right book, is improved vastly by including excerpts from The Discourses. Complicates things nicely for the students.
    • 5/5
      I'm weirdly pleased that The Prince lives up to its reputation: it is indeed Machiavellian. Here's his advice on conquering self-governing states (i.e. democracies): "The only way to hold on to such a state is to reduce it to rubble." Well then.

      I'd like to say that any guy whose last name becomes a synonym for evil is a badass, but Machiavelli wasn't; he was a failed minor diplomat who wrote this in a failed attempt to get reemployed. Stupid attempt, too; anyone who hired him would be advertising that he espoused Machiavellian values. This book was published. And as he himself advises, "A leader doesn't have to possess virtuous qualities, but it's imperative that he seem to possess them."

      So I'll go with this: anyone whose last name becomes a synonym for evil has written a good book.

      I hope to match that effect with my first novel. Working title: "Unicorns are Pretty."

      So if Machiavelli was such a loser, how did his book get so famous? It's not because it's great advice; it sortof isn't. I think it's because it's just a ton of fun to read. It's chock full of over-the-top quotes like the ones above. It's really funny.

      Which brings up a recurring topic for debate: did he intend for this to be taken seriously, or is it satire? I think it's the former: mixed in with the zany stuff is a fair amount of common-sense advice. He could certainly have included that to make the zany stuff pop more, or to camouflage it a bit, but I prefer to think he meant the whole thing seriously. And it's not like any of it is advice someone hasn't followed at some point. (See my first quote above: yeah, we've tried that.)

      Translation review: this is the very latest translation. Parks has gone to great trouble to reduce the crazy complexity of Machiavelli's sentences - I know this from reading his excellent Translator's Note - and I appreciate that. He's also tried hard to make it accessible to modern audiences, and sometimes I think he's tipped a tiny bit overboard on that front. "When a ruler occupies a land that has a different language...then things get rough." "Difficult" would have been perfectly clear; "rough" is too colloquial. We want to be able to read our classics, but we don't need to pretend they were written yesterday.

      That's a relatively minor complaint, though; this is a clear and easy translation. Good intro, too. And a glossary of proper names at the back, so you can sort out the various contemporary figures you don't recognize.

      I'll close with my favorite quote: "It's better to be impulsive than cautious; fortune is female and if you want to stay on top of her you have to slap and thrust."

      Machiavelli: kindof a dick.
    • 4/5
      Now understand why it's a classic 
    • 3/5
      If I were more of a historian I would have been able to dive deeper into this book. Missing some context, I struggled with a few bits and pieces of Machiavelli's statements, but the rest of his ideas and examples are pretty easy to follow. I see how this book, in the hands of the wrong person, could lead to cruelties, however, I also totally see what the book is getting at, and I enjoyed reading it.
    • 5/5
      This is a book that has been sitting on the shelf of my set of Great Books of the Western World since before I started college. That and the fact that it was written in the 1500's surely qualify it as a TOME. It is a very short book which made great changes in the thinking about political statecraft. His book is a frank discussion of the use of immoral means to achieve the goals of The Prince.For Machiavelli the sole goal of the Prince was to obtain power and hold it. Using historical models he sets out the most effective means to attain this end. The nobles and the people are the two forces that hold political power in the State as he sees it. Machiavelli goes into detail about how to deal with each of these. The nobles have their own bases of power and act in their pursuit of their own interests. For this reason it is important for the Prince that they fear him rather than love him.In his discussion on fortresses he makes the statement that the best fortress is the love of the people. A state that is prosperous and ruled fairly is the best way to achieve the love of the people. The Prince must also cultivate the love of the people through great achievements building a charisma that draws them to him.The art of war is a very important part of Machiavelli's discussion. Mercenaries are the most dangerous troops to use. They fight for their own reasons and are only loyal to the Prince as long as he is able to pay them. Auxiliary troops drawn from the people are more likely to remain loyal as long as their love for the Prince is constant.Machiavelli's ideas inaugurated modern politics and statecraft. His was original and unencumbered by the ideas of the past. He established new rules for the practice of statecraft. He was excoriated for his immorality but his ideas quickly gained precedence. Last year I read The Thirty Years War. Many of the principles set forth by Machiavelli appeared in the actions of the rulers in that war. They used mercenaries to a great extent and were often ruined by them. Morality was absent in their dealings with each other. They practiced the code of attaining power that Machiavelli established.
    • 5/5
      His very name has become, like that of Hobbes and Nietzsche, a byword for a cold, brutal ruthlessness. It's even said on the Wiki that he helped make "Old Nick" a term for the Devil (something the introduction to my edition denies) and political philosopher Leo Strauss called him "the teacher of evil." His book The Prince is one of the most influential books of all time and is known as the Bible of realpolitik, and Machiavelli is seen by some as the father of political science. In a letter Machiavelli claimed his "little work" (it's less than a hundred pages in paperback) was designed to examine the state, "discussing what a principality is, what kinds there are, how they are acquired, how they are maintained, why they are lost." The heart of his advice to the ruler is to be "prepared to vary his conduct as the winds of fortune and changing circumstances constrain him and … not deviate from right conduct if possible, but be capable of entering upon the path of wrongdoing when this becomes necessary." Thus The Prince can be said to be at the other end of the scale to utopian thinking; it's utterly pragmatic. And given my lack of sympathy for utopian schemes, you'd think this would be more to my taste. Yet in some ways I see both approaches as similar. Both sorts of thinking believe that ends justify the means. Utopian schemes from Plato to Mao willingly bend humans like pretzels to fit their ideals--Machiavelli wants his rulers to manipulate, deceive, and force his subjects to his ends, without worrying about whether the means are moral. Without caring about principles, what's left is just naked power. So why rate this so high? Well, I at least appreciate Machiavelli's style compared to that of so many political thinkers. One thing at least all commentators agree on is that his writing is succinct and lucid--and memorable. Hard to forget such precepts as "politics has no relation to morals" and "it is better to be feared than loved" and "a prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise" and "Fortune is a woman, and if you want to stay on top of her, you have to knock her around." The man can turn a phrase. Fun and chilling to read at the same time--and great insight into politics and the minds of many politicians. And given Machiavelli's experience as a diplomat and head of a militia, and his deep pragmatism, it's not like even principled statesman working for their ideals should ignore his advice--if only as a warning.
    • 4/5
      A book still relevant today in the 21th century. Even if some of the described techniques are neither adviseable nor morally and legally possible in today's society.
    • 2/5
      Well, you probably know about this book. Now, I'm sure that I could have read it much more closely and come up with some very interesting material to think about. But honestly- it's just not that interesting. If you're easily shocked or titillated by the idea that powerful people are powerful because they're immoral, you will be shocked and titillated. If you didn't spend your formative years reading Cicero's 'De Oficiis,' on the other hand, you won't be surprised. And honestly, if you've read a newspaper in the last century, Machiavelli won't teach you anything. He has a bunch of nice stories to illustrate his points, but without knowing the context of the stories he tells it's difficult to know why I should care. The chapter on republics is interesting, granted. But to be honest I think I'd rather read someone who knows a lot about Machiavelli than the man himself. Skinner, here I come.

      I should say, too, that the Cambridge edition is excellent. 'The Prince' is in desperate need of annotation, and the editors do an excellent job of making things clear without making the text unreadable.
    • 4/5
      The ultimate take no prisoners guide to ruling your world. Written as a guide to the monarchy, as the name suggests, but completely applicable to modern life.Some magazines have named it as a key componant to the cliched 80s Fortune 500 executive and it is easy to see why.A great well thought out read.I highly recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Read this simply because I had heard interesting things and it was indeed an interesting read with some interesting themes and ideas. A must for anyone considering politics.
    • 4/5
      The definitive classic in binary political logic. But then as someone once said, there are 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary and those who don't.
    • 1/5
      I can see how it had a huge influence in humanistic politics--it lends itself to realpolitik.
    • 4/5
      Despite the aura that has grown up around this book, I don't think it's as shocking to readers in the 21st century as it evidently was to those in the early 16th; it seems pretty much "politics as usual." In fact, it seems refreshingly honest about politics, never attempting to obscure the acquisition and maintenance of power with claims of high or noble purposes.I also found it interesting that...at least as far as I was concerned...there was a connotation to the term 'Machiavellian' that was a bit more self-interested than the philosophy he actually espouses.This is definitely a book worth recommending.
    • 5/5
      My job requires me to function in a highly politicized work environment. I work with a large group of department heads, providing counsel on issues pertaining to the fine art of people management. Some of them are philosopher kings and others are callous despots. I have found that rereading THE PRINCE every few years reminds me of the basics. Whether the princes are in the courts of the Italian peninsula during the Renaissance or in the offices of a large corporation at the dawn of the 21st century, people with authority act in similar ways. There is much to be learned from this amazing little book.
    • 4/5
      Other people have reviewed The Prince's content. I gave this book four stars; I would have given it five if the translation were better. This edition (Dover Thrift) is certainly economical, but the sentences are long, convoluted, and reverse subject and object. It took me a while to get through even though it runs only 71 pages. I had to sit there and wrestle with the verbiage as I went.Otherwise, thought-provoking and a handbook of international relations.
    • 5/5
      Pretty illustrations intermingled with the text to show the period during which this is written. Not terribly fond of the translation, will have to try another one to get a better feel for the text, probably a good historical and close to the original style of the book but feels a bit forced. It's an interesting look at power and how power is won or lost and while many people have taken inspiration from it to take power not many of them seem to have read the portions on keeping power.I believe I read this years ago in college but it was interesting to go back and read it again for no purpose other than pleasure. Many authors could get inspiration for how to set up governments and how to keep power in the hands of both the good and bad guys.
    • 3/5
      I read this because it is one of those books everyone says should be read. It wasn't terribly long, the translation was easily understandable and I thought I would give it a try.What surprised me, was that I enjoyed it. I found Machiavelli's teaching style very good. He sets forth a principle, then illustrates it with examples from both ancient history and his times. It was easy to go from there and find examples in our modern times of most of the principles he set forth. I found myself marveling at his insight into human nature and the practicalities of leadership in a fallen world.Needless to say, I now feel myself prepared to take on the leadership of any minor principality which would have me. World, beware!
    • 4/5
      This is an excellent book. It is straightforward and easy to read. It was a political treatise that offered advice on how a prince could gain and keep power. The book is actually dedicated to one of the Medici family members. Many people belive the reason he did this was to win favor of Lorenzo de’ Medici, then-governor of Florence. Machiavelli was involved with politics but had lost his job so he had hoped to land a position within the Florentine government. Unfortuantely, this plan did not work for him. This is a great book and everyone should read it.
    • 4/5
      To many autodidacts, this book is a bible of political science, a gross misconception that reinforces the cynical view of politics perpetuated in popular culture. This wouldn't bother me if it weren't for the fact that people read the Prince, and then think there's no other bibles to political science. The Prince is to modern political theory what Sun Tzu is to Clausewitz's Von Krieg. It has come before, and is useful for tracing a linear path and building upon what comes before, but if you're a complete neophyte to political science and think this comes packed with all the answers, you're grossly off the mark, and your time would better be spent on John Locke's Second Treatise (which actually is a lighter read), Hobbes' Leviathan, Marx's First and Third Manuscripts, Burke's Reflections, or Rosseau's Social Contract. Highly recommended for political scientists to see the origin of their discipline.
    • 5/5
      The original Italian text and German translation in parallel print. Allusions and references to most events and people given as examples are added to facilitate reading. A coldly pragmatic look at power play and its tools. Chilling at times, but rational and also clever. It's a very practical approach to the philosophy of power, and despite almost all examples being Machiavelli's contemporaries, the ideas still hold true. A fascinating text to read.
    • 4/5
      Cold, calculating, and objectively cruel. You can't help but to think about today's political leaders.

    Book preview

    The Prince - Niccolò Machiavelli

    Cover: The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli

    Enriched Classic

    The Prince

    Niccolo Machiavelli

    Includes detailed explanatary notes, an overview of key themes, and more

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    The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli, Simon & Schuster

    INTRODUCTION

    THE PRINCE: A PRIMER IN POWER POLITICS

    Italian thinker Niccolò Machiavelli’s reputation rests almost solely on The Prince, a short political tract written in 1513 that advises ruling figures on how to govern. Machiavelli thought the book would stay relevant for fewer than ten years. Nearly five hundred years have now passed since the book was first penned, and it seems just as current now as it did then. Without question, The Prince has had a huge impact on international politics. It has provoked anger, sparked debate, and influenced scores of historical leaders—both petty and grand. But Machiavelli’s original intentions, and an uncontested understanding of the book’s meaning, have eluded readers since its initial publication.

    The Prince’s structure is simple: a series of chapters, each advising a new ruler on how to deal with a specific situation. The advice is aimed at a type of ruler that was fairly new in fifteenth- and sixteenth- century Italy, a prince (Machiavelli uses this term to refer to any head of state) whose power lay not in history, tradition, or custom but rather in military power, money, and ambition. Machiavelli illustrates his points with examples from history and uses the failings and successes of the great rulers of ancient times—such as Philip of Macedon, Hannibal of Carthage, and Alexander the Great—to bolster his arguments. Machiavelli explains how to deal with foreign occupations, how to make a conquered people love you, how to tax, how to allocate offices, how to succeed. He explains how to gain glory, how to advance your country’s power—ultimately, how to be a strong ruler. Many of the situations he describes are still faced by today’s corporate and political leaders, one of the main reasons the book still seems so current.

    But being a ruler, Machiavelli explains, also requires deceit and cruelty, and he offers copious justification and practical advice for employing craft and terror in political dealings. Seemingly unconcerned with the moral consequences of his ideas, Machiavelli tells the new ruler how to accomplish his goals, and does not hide the brutality and violence that must sometimes accompany a campaign for power. In fact, The Prince seems to endorse totalitarianism, and Machiavelli seems to recommend tyrants, oligarchies, and military regimes over democratic governments. It is this facet of The Prince that has caused Machiavelli’s name to become synonymous with amoral politics.

    But was Machiavelli writing of the world as it was, or the world as he thought it should be? Was he simply describing the status quo, or laying out a program for maximum efficiency? Was he being serious or satirical? Did he believe in what he was writing, or did he simply say what the ruling family of Florence wanted to hear? Was Machiavelli a political realist or an advocate of absolute amorality? These questions should be kept in mind when reading The Prince, as they remain largely unanswered to this day.

    Historical Context of The Prince: An Outline of the Italian Renaissance

    Machiavelli lived during the Italian Renaissance, a time of unparalleled artistic, scientific, and philosophical achievement. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli are just three of the hundreds of important artists and thinkers working in the time period. The invention of the movable-type printing press in 1455 had made books easier and cheaper to print, causing an explosion in writing as well as publishing and wide circulation of new philosophical and scientific thought. But this intellectual progress took place amid great political and religious upheaval. The absolute power of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe was weakening, in large part because of popular disgust over the sensuality and decadence of some of the popes. To support their lavish courts, several popes used the sale of indulgences to raise money. Popularized by Pope Sixtus IV, the selling of indulgences refers to the practice of charging churchgoers money for the remission of their sins (though this is not, according to Catholic doctrine, how indulgences are supposed to be used).

    In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV authorized the Spanish Inquisition with the intention of rooting out the unfaithful in Spain. Suspected heretics and infidels were rounded up and tortured into submission or confession. It was a dark, intolerant, superstitious period in the history of Christianity that stretched until the early nineteenth century (when the Inquisition was formally ended by decree). During this time, many thousands of accused heretics were burned alive at the stake and maimed by unspeakable tortures.

    Despite such terrifying deterrents, clergy and common folk across Europe began to voice their dissatisfaction with the Church, and various non-Catholic Christian sects sprang up. In 1517, Martin Luther, a German monk, inadvertently started the Protestant Reformation when he nailed his famous Ninety-Five Theses, a tract decrying the sale of indulgences, to the door of the church in the town of Wittenberg. Luther’s act ushered in hundreds of years of violent religious wars in which Catholics and Protestants slaughtered one another and the exact terms of one’s religious faith became a life-and-death issue. Understandably, since the constantly changing political landscape brought various religious beliefs in and out of favor and almost anyone could be denounced as a heretic on almost any pretext, an atmosphere of fear, hysteria, and paranoia dominated much of Europe.

    The political landscape of Italy was just as fractious as the religious landscape of Europe. Italy as a nation did not exist until the nineteenth century. In Machiavelli’s time, Italy was composed of squabbling city-states, each with its own ruler, battling over land on the Italian peninsula. The five dominant powers—Milan, the Kingdom of Naples, Venice, the Papal States, and Florence—jockeyed over land and influence, constantly forming then breaking alliances with one another.

    Milan was dominated by the Visconti family—a vengeful, aggressive clan that ruled Milan for more than a hundred years and controlled much of northwest Italy. Milan was a wealthy, extravagant place. Eventually, Francesco Sforza, the treacherous soldier much talked about in The Prince, took over. Milan, like many of the Italian city-states, experienced numerous changes in government, including a ten-year occupation by the French.

    After Milan, Venice was the second strongest power in Italy and one of the oldest existing republics. The city-state was ruled by regularly elected doges, with the strong natural defense of the sea protecting it. Venice had the relative peace it needed to become a thriving city of craftsmen, selling products all over the known world through a lucrative shipping trade. Venice was a powerful, majestic place and, for its time, progressive in its politics.

    The Kingdom of Naples was a highly contested region, rich in port cities and land, with monarchs all over Europe laying claim to its throne. The Papal States were the collective cities owned by the Roman Catholic Church. Powerful landowners with the wealth and influence of the Church behind them exploited the power of the temporal authority of heaven that the Church represented.

    And then there was Florence, Machiavelli’s home and a thriving, business-oriented, mercantile state, which had been dominated by the Medici family until they were expelled by the people and the republic was formed. The Florentine republic was a fast-paced, exciting place, with regular elections. To keep ambitious politicians from accumulating too much personal power, the Florentines kept terms of office very short—some terms were as short as two months. Unfortunately, this lack of continuity hurt the government, as no stable infrastructures could develop under such conditions.

    An uneasy equilibrium existed among the five powers, as none was strong enough to conquer the other four. The balance was precarious. Each state at one point or another desired the wealth of its Italian neighbors. Further jeopardizing the balance of power was the fact that Italy was surrounded by strong, centralized countries with large standing armies—countries such as France, Germany, and Spain. The Italian city-states relied on mercenary armies in their conflicts, which were expensive and often hard to control.

    The Italians all considered themselves Italian. They all spoke the same language, more or less. They were all Roman Catholic (publicly, at least). They recognized the sanctity of the Italian borders. They resented the interference of outside countries. But the Italians could not agree on who should rule over a unified Italy or what type of government an Italian nation should have. This problem would plague Italy for centuries.

    In Machiavelli’s opinion, Italy’s best hope for a unifying leader was Cesare Borgia, a strong, ambitious man who was a capable military commander. Cesare’s father, Alexander VI, was the pope, and together they had plans to unify, and then control, Italy.

    In 1502, King Louis XII of France, at the bidding of Pope Alexander VI, backed Cesare Borgia’s military campaign to unify Italy. Louis owed Alexander a favor because Alexander had granted Louis a divorce in 1498 so he could marry Anne of Brittany and maintain the unity of Brittany and France. At first, Alexander and Cesare’s plan worked; with the French army supporting him, Cesare began accumulating land in the area of Italy known as Romagna. But fortune turned against Cesare, as his father died unexpectedly and Cesare grew sick. The result was a French army, too strong for any individual Italian city-state to defeat, in control of half of Naples and all of Milan. Spain got involved, attacking the French and eventually gaining control of Naples for itself. So Cesare’s attempt to gain control over Italy ended with two foreign armies, and innumerable foreign mercenaries, running rampant up and down the Italian peninsula.

    The Italian Wars—the collective term for the series of campaigns by Spain, France, and the Holy Roman Empire to take over parts of Italy—lasted until 1559. The wars spread the intellectual and artistic advances of the Italian Renaissance throughout the rest of Europe, but they were disastrous for Italy, with a particularly low point in Italian history coming in 1527, the year of Machiavelli’s death. A grumbling army of underpaid mercenaries under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire took control of Rome and spent months sacking the city—plundering, raping, murdering, and maiming—while the defenseless Italian people could only watch in horror. This effectively ended the Italian Renaissance. Italy, the religious, and for a time intellectual, center of the Western world, was utterly devastated. It would be centuries before the country could pull itself back together.

    The Life and Work of Niccolò Machiavelli

    Niccolò de Bernardo Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469, to a middle-class Florentine family. Although his family had a good record with public office, his father was neither successful nor wealthy. Instead, he offered his son a wealth of knowledge in books—an education in the classics that Machiavelli would put to good use.

    In 1498, during the exile of the Medici family from Florence, Machiavelli was elected to the office of Chancellor to the Second Chancery, acting as a mid-level bureaucrat who dealt with correspondence and other matters of state, an office he would hold for fourteen years. During his role as chancellor, he met some important persons of the day, including Pope Julius II and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Machiavelli’s views on governing bodies and municipal politics were thus formed by both his classical education and his experience in the trenches of the Florentine bureaucracy. He saw firsthand the advantages of having a country united behind a strong ruler.

    Early on in his career, he campaigned for the raising of a standing Florentine army. He eventually was given the job of creating a militia, and began gathering an army for the defense of Florence. When the Medicis returned in 1512, backed by the powerful Spanish army, Machiavelli’s troops broke and ran. The Florentine republic was abolished, and Machiavelli was humiliated, both publicly and privately.

    On February 12, 1513, Machiavelli was arrested by the Medicis and tortured for his possible involvement in an anti-Medici plot. He was then forced into retirement, where he lived in the countryside and began composing The

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