Children
Penguin Classics
Spinebreakers
Five Dials
Penguin Dating
Blog
Podcast
The Prince
Translator - George Bull
Introduction by - Anthony Grafton
Notes by - George Bull
Penguin Classic
Paperback : 30 Jan 2003
£5.99
Introduction by Anthony Grafton
Extensive bibliography and notes
Synopsis
‘One must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves’
The Prince shocked Europe on publication with its ruthless tactics for gaining absolute power and its abandonment of conventional morality. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) came to be regarded by some as an agent of the Devil and his name taken for the intriguer ‘Machevill’ of Jacobean tragedy. For his treatise on statecraft Machiavelli drew upon his own experience of office under the turbulent Florentine republic, rejecting traditional values of political theory and recognizing the complicated, transient nature of political life. Concerned not with lofty ideals, but with a regime that would last, The Prince has become the Bible of realpolitik, and still retains its power to alarm and to instruct.
In this edition Machiavelli’s tough-minded and pragmatic Italian is preserved in George Bull’s clear, unambiguous translation, while Anthony Grafton’s introduction depicts his world of power struggles and intrigue, and discusses his role as political teacher of Europe.
Customer Review: 02 October 2006Table of contents
| 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 |
