The Prince

“It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.” How can a prince rise to power? What must he do to remain in it? What is expected of a good ruler? Which is better—to be feared or to be loved? Offering an explicit insight into the minds of a ruler, here is a practical handbook and a political treatise exploring the attainment, maintenance and utilization of political power in the Western world. It warns that if a state is not governed properly it shall collapse on the ruler. It describes the art and craft of war. It elaborates on the qualities of a prince and his prudence. It gives lessons in statesmanship and on judging the strength of principalities. One of the first works of modern political philosophy, Niccolò Machiavelli’s the Prince expounds on why the princes of Italy lost their states. He dedicates the book to Lorenzo de’ Medici, believing that it is he who can bring salvation for Italy. Full of historical references, the book continues to influence its readers and the hidden ruler in them. Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy, on 3rd May 1469. He was the second son of Bernardo di Niccolò Machiavelli, a lawyer of some repute and of Bartolommea di Stefano Nelli, his wife. Both parents were members of the old Florentine nobility. His life falls naturally into three periods, each of which singularly enough constitutes a distinct and important era in the history of Florence. No one can say where the bones of Machiavelli rest, but modern Florence has decreed him a stately cenotaph in Santa Croce, by the side of her most famous sons; recognizing that, whatever other nations may have found in his works, Italy found in them the idea of her unity and the germs of her renaissance among the nations of Europe.