Widely read for its insights into history and politics, The Prince is one of the most provocative works of the Italian Renaissance. Based on Niccolò Machiavelli’s observations of the effectiveness of both ancient and contemporary statesmen, the rules for governing set forth in his manual were considered radical and harsh by his contemporaries and shocking to many since then. This major new edition combines an accurate and accessible new translation with important related documents, many of which appear here in English for the first time. In his lucid introductory essay, William J. Connell offers fresh insights into Machiavelli’s life, the meaning of his work, the context in which it was written, and its influence over time. Document headnotes, maps, a chronology of Machiavelli’s life, questions for consideration, a selected bibliography, and index provide further pedagogical support.

WILLIAM J. CONNELL, professor of history, holds the Joseph M. and Geraldine C. La Motta Chair in Italian Studies at Seton Hall University. He has also taught at Reed College and Rutgers University. A specialist in late medieval and early modern European history, he is the author of La città dei crucci: fazioni e clientele in uno stato repubblicano del ‘400 (2000), editor of Society and Individual in Renaissance Florence (2002), and coeditor of Florentine Tuscany: Structures and Practices of Power (2000). He has been a Fulbright Scholar, an I Tatti Fellow, and a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and since 1992 secretary of the Journal of the History of Ideas.

    Foreword

    Preface

    

PART ONE

  Introduction: The Puzzle of The Prince

    An Extreme Book for Extreme Times

    Humanists and Heretics

    Machiavelli Before The Prince

    The Prince's Prolonged and Difficult Birth

    Dueling Machiavellis in Early Modern Europe: The Counselor to Tyrants and the Republican Conspirator

    The Prince and the Autonomy of Politics: A Blessing and a Curse

    

PART TWO

  The Document

    The Prince

    

PART THREE

  Related Documents

    1. Niccolò Machiavelli, Letter to Giovan Battista Soderini, circa September 13-27, 1506

    2. Francesco Vettori, Letter to Niccolò Machiavelli, November 23, 1513

    3. Niccolò Machiavelli, Letter to Francesco Vettori, December 10, 1513

    4. Niccolò Machiavelli, The Thrushes: A Sonnet, 1513

    5. Riccardo Riccardi, Machiavelli's Presentation of The Prince, circa 1580

    6. Niccolò Guicciardini, From a Letter to Luigi Guicciardini, July 29, 1517

    7. Early Prefaces of The Prince

       Biagio Buonaccorsi, Prefatory Letter to Pandolfo Bellacci, circa 1516-17

       Teofilo Mochi, Prefatory Letter, circa 1530

       Antonio Blado, Dedicatory Letter to Filippo Strozzi, January 4, 1532

       Bernardo Giunta, Dedicatory Letter to Giovanni Gaddi, May 8, 1532

    8. Agostino Nifo, From On Skill in Ruling. 1523

    9. Giovan Battista Busini, From a Letter to Benedetto Varchi, January 23, 1549

    10. Benedetto Varchi, From the Florentine History, 1565

    11. Étienne Binet, From Machiavelli's Dream, 1629

    12. Reginald Pole, From the Apology to Charles V, 1534

    13. Innocent Gentillet, From the Discourses Against Machiavelli, 1576

    14. Christopher Marlowe, From The Jew of Malta, circa 1590

    15. Frederick the Great, From The Refutation of Machiavelli's "Prince," 1740

    16. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, From On the Social Contract, After 1762

    17. Benito Mussolini, "A Prelude to Machiavelli," 1924

    18. Antonio Gramsci, From the Prison Notebooks, 1932-34

    

    Appendixes

       Maps

       A Machiavelli Chronology (1469-1527)

       Questions for Consideration

       Selected Bibliography

    Index