The Prince (Bantam Classics)

Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. 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. In 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. None The Prince The Kinds of Principalities and the Means by Which They Are Acquired Hereditary Principalities Mixed Principalities Why Alexander's Successors Were Able to Keep Possession of Darius' Kingdom after Alexander's Death How to Govern Cities and Principalities That, Prior to Being Occupied, Lived Under Their Own Laws Concerning New Principalities Acquired by One's Own Arms and Ability Concerning New Principalities Acquired with the Arms and Fortunes of Others Concerning Those Who Become Princes by Evil Means Concerning the Civil Principality How the Strength of All Principalities Should Be Measured Concerning Ecclesiastical Principalities Concerning Various Kinds of Troops, and Especially Mercenaries Concerning Auxiliary, Mixed, and Native Forces A Prince's Concern in Military Matters Concerning Things for Which Men, and Princes Especially, Are Praised or Censured Concerning Liberality and Parsimony Concerning Cruelty: Whether It Is Better to Be Loved Than to Be Feared, or the Reverse In What Way Princes Should Keep Their Word How to Avoid Contempt and Hatred Whether Fortresses and Many Other Expedients That Princes Commonly Employ Are Useful or Not What a Prince Must Do to Be Esteemed Concerning the Prince's Ministers How to Avoid Flatterers Why the Princes of Italy Have Lost Their States Concerning the Influence of Fortune in Human Affairs, and the Manner in Which It Is to Be Resisted An Exhortation to Free Italy from the Hands of the Barbarians Discourses Upon the First Ten Books of Titus Livy None 2. Of the Various Kinds of States and of What Kind the Roman Republic Was 3. The Events That Led to the Creation of the Tribunes of the Plebs, by Which the Roman Republic Became More Perfect 4. That the Disorders Between the Plebs and the Senate Made the Roman Republic Strong and Free 10. Founders of Republics and Kingdoms Are As Much to Be Praised As Founders of Tyrannies Are to Be Censured 11. On the Religion of the Romans 12. The Importance with Which Religion Must Be Regarded and How Italy, Lacking It, Thanks to the Church of Rome, Has Been Ruined 58. The Multitude Is Wiser and More Constant Than a Prince None 2. The People the Romans Had to Fight, and How Obstinately They Defended Their Freedom None 21. How It Happened That Hannibal Gained the Same Results in Italy As Scipio Did in Spain by Contrary Means 41. That One's Country Ought to Be Defended, Whether with Shame or Glory, by Whatever Means Possible None None None None The Prince (Italian: Il Principe [il ˈprintʃipe]; Latin: De Principatibus) is a 16th-century political treatise written by Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli as an instruction guide for new princes and royals. The general theme of The Prince is of accepting that the aims of princes – such as glory and survival – can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends. From Machiavelli's correspondence, a version appears to have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, De Principatibus (Of Principalities). However, the printed version was not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. This was carried out with the permission of the Medici pope Clement VII, but "long before then, in fact since the first appearance of The Prince in manuscript, controversy had swirled about his writings". Although The Prince was written as if it were a traditional work in the mirrors for princes style, it was generally agreed as being especially innovative. This is partly because it was written in the vernacular Italian rather than Latin, a practice that had become increasingly popular since the publication of Dante's Divine Comedy and other works of Renaissance literature. The PrinceHere is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power. 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.

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.

The famous treatise on statecraft holds such power to shock 'men of goodwill' that at one time Machiavelli was identified with Satan himself. He was concerned with government that would last. He drew on his own experience of office under the Florentine Republic Those who wish to win favor with a prince customarily offer him those things which they hold most precious or which they see him most delight in.