The most famous book on politics ever written, The Prince remains as lively and shocking today as when it was written almost five hundred years ago. Initially denounced as a collection of sinister maxims and a recommendation of tyranny, it has more recently been defended as the first scientific treatment of politics as it is practiced rather than as it ought to be practiced. Harvey C. Mansfield's brilliant translation of this classic work, along with the new materials added for this edition, make it the definitive version of The Prince, indispensable to scholars, students, and those interested in the dark art of politics.
This revised edition of Mansfield's acclaimed translation features an updated bibliography, a substantial glossary, an analytic introduction, a chronology of Machiavelli's life, and a map of Italy in Machiavelli's time.
""Of the other available [translations], that of Harvey C. Mansfield makes the necessary compromises between exactness and readability, as well as providing an excellent introduction and notes.""—Clifford Orwin, The Wall Street Journal
""Mansfield's work . . . is worth acquiring as the best combination of accuracy and readability.""—Choice
""There is good reason to assert that Machiavelli has met his match in Mansfield. . . . [He] is ready to read Machiavelli as he demands to be read—plainly and boldly, but also cautiously.""—John Gueguen, The Sixteenth Century Journal
Introduction A Note on the Translation Chronology Map The Prince Dedicatory Letter I: How Many Are the Kinds of Principalities and in What Modes They Are Acquired II: Of Hereditary Principalities III: Of Mixed Principalities IV: Why the Kingdom of Darius Which Alexander Seized Did Not Rebel from His Successors after Alexander's Death V: How Cities or Principalities Which Lived by Their Own Laws before They Were Occupied Should Be Administered VI: Of New Principalities That Are Acquired through One's Own Arms and Virtue VII: Of New Principalities That Are Acquired by Others' Arms and Fortune VIII: Of Those Who Have Attained a Principality through Crimes IX: Of the Civil Principality X: In What Mode the Forces of All Principalities Should Be Measured XI: Of Ecclesiastical Principalities XII: How Many Kinds of Military There Are and Concerning Mercenary Soldiers XIII: Of Auxiliary, Mixed, and One's Own Soldiers XIV: What a Prince Should Do Regarding the Military XV: Of Those Things for Which Men and Especially Princes Are Praised or Blamed XVI: Of Liberality and Parsimony XVII: Of Cruelty and Mercy, and Whether It Is Better to Be Loved Than Feared, or the Contrary XVIII: In What Mode Faith Should Be Kept by Princes XIX: Of Avoiding Contempt and Hatred XX: Whether Fortresses and Many Other Things Which Are Made and Done by Princes Every Day Are Useful or Useless XXI: What a Prince Should Do to Be Held in Esteem XXII: Of Those Whom Princes Have as Secretaries XXIII: In What Mode Flatterers Are to Be Avoided XXIV: Why the Princes of Italy Have Lost Their States XXV: How Much Fortune Can Do in Human Affairs, and in What Mode It May Be Opposed XXVI: Exhortation to Seize Italy and to Free Her from the Barbarians App: Machiavelli's Letter of December 10, 1513 Glossary Bibliography Index of Proper Names
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a diplomat, politician, and philosopher of the Italian Renaissance. Modern political philosophy and political science is founded on Machiavelli's writings. He served for many years as a senior official in the Florentine Republic with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. When the Medicis came to power, he was imprisoned and then retired to the writing of his works of political philosophy. Harvey C. Mansfield is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Government at Harvard University. He is the author of Machiavelli's Virtue and has translated The Prince, Discourses on Livy (with Nathan Tarcov), and Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (with Delba Winthrop), all published by the University of Chicago Press.
