Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding powre. Astonishing in its candor, THE PRINCE even 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. The prince he 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.

This Bantam Classic edition of THE PRINCE includes selections from Machiavelli's DISCOURSES as well as an introduction and notes by the translator, Daniel Donno.

Living from 1469 to 1527, Niccolo Machiavelli saw what we now consider the height of the Italian Renaissance- a period that produced some of Italy’s greatest achievements in the arts and sciences, but that also produced horrible scandals and the establishment of foreign domination over the peninsula. Brought up while members of the powerful Medici family were masters of Florence, he studied the classics and learned to read and write in Latin. He also showed a keen interest in, and the ability to learn from, the world around him. He was a diplomat, a student of history, and a writer of comedy- and his sharp and unique insights changed the face of political science forever.
Machiavelli was born in Florence on May 3, 1469. We first hear of him playing an active role in the affairs of his native city in 1498, when the government dominated by Girolamo Savonarola, the Dominican friar whose puritanical views had influenced Florence for the preceding four years, fell from power.
One of Savonarola’s supporters who lost his position as a result was Alessandro Braccesi, head of the second chancery, an office responsible for all correspondence related to the administration of Florentine territories. At first the post was left unoccupied, but after a short delay the little known name of Niccolo Machiavelli was put forward as a possible replacement. He was only twenty-nine years old at the time and apparently had no previous administrative experience. His nomination was confirmed, however, and he was appointed second chancellor of the Florentine Republic. It was an enormous opportunity, and the experiences and insights he would gain in the post would be used later in writing The Prince.
At the time Machiavelli entered public service, there were already well-established standards for filling major administrative positions in Florentine government. In addition to exhibiting diplomatic skill, civil servants were expected to display competence in the “humane disciplines.” These disciplines had been derived from ancient Roman sources especially from the orator and statesman Cicero, who had written about the need for formal study of Latin, rhetoric, history, moral philosophy, and politics to prepare a student for professional service to the community. Ultimately, they were the ancestor of the “humanities,” or liberal arts curriculum in contemporary education.
The popularity of the humanistic ideals in Florentine government help explain how Machiavelli came to be appointed to a responsible government post at such an early age. His family, though neither rich nor aristocratic, were closely allied with the city’s leading humanists.
Machiavelli’s father, Bernardo, a lawyer, was friendly with several distinguished humanist scholars, including Bartolomeo Scala, who at one time served as first chancellor of Florence and whose treatise On Laws and Legal Judgments (1483) was dedicated to Bernardo.
We learn from Bernardo’s diary that his son began formal education at the age of seven. Basically, this was the study of Latin, the language that was the passport
to the world of humanistic learning. By the time Machiavelli was twelve he had graduated from primary school and was enrolled in private classes. Later, he was accepted at the University of Florence, where he received training in the humanities, literature, and sciences from Marcello Adriani, who succeeded Scala as first chancellor of Florence.
Do you think these contacts help explain why young Machiavelli suddenly was awarded the government post in 1498? Adriani had taken over as first chancellor earlier in the same year, and it’s reasonable to assume that he remembered the talents of his brilliant student when he was filling vacancies in the chancery. It is also possible that Machiavelli’s father exerted some influence.
Machiavelli’s official position involved him in very important duties. The first and second chanceries both handled official correspondence dealing with Florence’s domestic, foreign, and military affairs. As head of the second chancery, Machiavelli was also soon assigned the further job of secretary to the Ten of War, the committee responsible for Florence’s diplomatic relations. This meant that in addition to his routine office duties, Machiavelli sometimes traveled abroad to act as spokesman for the Ten. In some respects, Machiavelli’s government position resembles that of a modern diplomatic attache: a skilled and reliable official who sends to the home office detailed reports and observations on the affairs of foreign nations.
During the next fourteen years, Machiavelli was sent on numerous diplomatic missions to France, Switzerland, and Germany. His observations abroad resulted
in many of the ideas that form the basis for the major statements found in his political works. In The Prince, for example, Machiavelli comments at length on Germany’s well-fortified cities and evaluates the weak leadership of the French king, Louis XII.
DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS In June 1500, Machiavelli was in France at the court of Louis XII, negotiating for assistance in regaining Pisa, which had asserted its independence from Florence and tried to establish an independent citystate. It was in France that Machiavelli saw first-hand the weak leadership of the king he describes so clearly in The Prince. He also learned about the French Parliament and its difficulties in resolving power struggles between the hereditary nobles and the common people.
When the mission to France ended in December of that year, Machiavelli hurried home. His father had died shortly before his departure, his sister had died while he was away, and his family affairs were in disorder. He spent the next two years mainly in and around Florence. It was during this time that he met Marietta Corsini, whom he married about August, 1501. She remains a shadowy figure in Machiavelli’s life, but his frequent letters to her suggest his genuine fondness for her. For her part, she bore six children and suffered greatly from her husband’s long absences and many infidelities. She outlived Machiavelli by a quarter of a century.
In 1501 Machiavelli met Cesare Borgia, whom he often refers to in The Prince as a model for the political and military leader. Borgia was an illegitimate
son of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia. After the cardinal became Pope Alexander VI in
1492, he tried to use his position to advance the fortunes of his family. He gave Cesare the title of Duke of Romagna (an area in northeastern Italy), and Cesare launched a series of campaigns to carve out a territory to match his new title. He quickly overran nearby areas and then asked that an envoy be sent to hear his terms for a formal alliance with Florence. The man selected for this delicate negotiation was Machiavelli.
Machiavelli’s mission to Borgia’s court lasted four months, during which he had many private discussions with the duke. Machiavelli later reported to his superiors in Florence that Borgia was “superhuman in his courage” and “capable of attaining anything he wants”- someone who “must now be regarded as a new power in Italy.” (These observations, originally sent in a secret dispatch to the Ten of War, appear almost word for word in Machiavelli’s description of Cesare in Chapter 7 of The Prince.) In 1507, Machiavelli arrived at the court of Maximilian I, who was Holy Roman Emperor, but who had not been crowned by the pope in Rome. Machiavelli persuaded the emperor not to march into Italy and have himself crowned in Rome. He considered the emperor to be inept, with scarcely any of the qualifications necessary for conducting effective government. Maximilian’s basic weakness, according to Machiavelli, was a tendency to be “altogether too lax and credulous” and readily “influenced by every different opinion.” (In Chapter 23 of
The Prince, Machiavelli incorporates many of the same phrases to sketch an unflattering portrait of Maximilian as incompetent and indecisive.) When Machiavelli returned to Florence, he received permission from the city’s governing council to create a special military board responsible for recruiting a militia, obtaining arms, and providing for the city’s defense. When Florence was threatened in 1512 by the Spanish, who wished to restore the Medici family to power, Machiavelli mobilized an army of twelve thousand men to repel the invasion. However, his ill-equipped citizen-soldiers were unable to withstand the heavily armed, disciplined, and seasoned Spanish forces.
RETURN OF THE MEDICI The Medici then reentered the city of Florence after an absence of eighteen years. Within weeks the free republic of Florence was dissolved in favor of an oligarchy- a government where ruling power belongs to a few- and the Medici family assumed absolute power. With the downfall of the republic, Machiavelli’s own political career also collapsed. In November 1512, he was dismissed from his government post and forbidden to leave Florentine territory for a year. In February 1513 came another blow: Machiavelli was falsely accused of taking part in an unsuccessful conspiracy against the Medici and was imprisoned. The one responsible for Machiavelli’s imprisonmentLorenzo de’ Medici, grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent- is the same person to whom Machiavelli dedicated The Prince. Do you think this explains why some readers believe the dedication was intended to help Machiavelli win a pardon and regain his position in the new government? Or do you think Machiavelli’s dedication was meant to be ironic and sarcastic? Early in the same year, the Medici family scored its most impressive triumph when Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici was elected pope as Leo X. The election greatly strengthened the new regime in Florence. The city held public celebrations for nearly a week. The election of Leo X also prompted the government to declare an amnesty as part of the rejoicing, and Machiavelli was freed along with many other political prisoners.
As soon as he was released, Machiavelli sought reappointment to his former government post. When his pleas went unanswered, he withdrew to his farm at Sant’ Andrea. At the age of forty-three, he saw little prospect of reversing his fortunes now that the Medici held power. His letters from this period reveal a sense of despair and isolation. He reports that he is pondering the insights he acquired during the fifteen years he served the Florentine government. The outcome, he says, is that “I have composed a little book On Principalities.” This “little book” was Machiavelli’s masterpiece, The Prince. It was started in the second half of 1513 and completed by Christmas of that year.
Machiavelli hoped that The Prince would bring him to the notice of the “Medici lords.” One reason- as the dedication to the treatise makes clear- was his desire to offer the Medici “some proof” that he was still their loyal subject. His other concern was to emphasize that he was a man worth employing, an expert who might prove useful to them.
But Machiavelli never won the trust of the Medici, and he was not restored to his official position. From 1513 to the time of his death in 1525, he wrote historical narratives (The History of Florence, 1525), satirical plays (Mandragola, 1518), political treatises (The Discourses, 1519), military manuals (The Art of War, 1520), biographies of political figures (Life of Castruccio Castracani, 1520), and poems.
On June 21, 1525, Machiavelli fell ill and died. He was buried in the small churchyard at Santa Croce, where other great Florentine artists and thinkers, such as Michelangelo and Galileo, also rest. In the eighteenth century, the citizens of Florence erected a monument to his memory; the inscription is simply, “No praise can enhance such a great name.” One of Machiavelli’s reasons for writing The Prince was to provide an Italian ruler with the skills necessary to unite the fragmented peninsula against foreign domination. Italy’s rulers tended to expend as much effort fighting among themselves as against non-Italian invaders.