The Prince
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~50,700 words · 241 passages
Cite this work
- APAMachiavelli. (n.d.). The Prince. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/machiavelli/the-prince
- MLAMachiavelli. The Prince. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/machiavelli/the-prince.
- ChicagoMachiavelli. The Prince. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/machiavelli/the-prince.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
A short manual on how political power is seized and kept, written by looking at what rulers actually do rather than at what they ought to do.
Context and history
Written in 1513, the year the Medici returned to Florence, stripped Machiavelli of every office, imprisoned him and had him tortured. He composed it in forced retirement in the countryside, dedicated to Lorenzo de' Medici, trying to win back a place in politics. It was not published until 1532, five years after his death, and in 1559 it went onto the Index of Forbidden Books. His name became an adjective: few books have been so widely read by those in power and so widely condemned in public.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
necessity, which always causes a new prince to burden those who have submitted to him with his soldiery and with infinite other hardships which he must put upon his new acquisition. In this way you have enemies in all those whom you have injured in seizing that principality, and you are not able to keep those friends who put you there because of your not being able to satisfy them in the way they expected, and you cannot take strong measures against them, feeling bound to them. For, although one may be very strong in armed forces, yet in entering a province one has always need of the goodwill of the natives. For these reasons Louis the Twelfth, King of France, quickly occupied Milan, and as quickly lost it; and to turn him out the first time it only needed Lodovico’s own forces; because those who had opened the gates to him, finding themselves deceived in their hopes of future benefit, would not endure the ill-treatment of the new prince. It is very true that, after acquiring rebellious provinces a second time, they are not so lightly lost afterwards, because the prince, with little reluctance, takes the opportunity of the rebellion to punish the delinquents, to clear out the suspects, and to strengthen himself in the weakest places. Thus to cause France to lose Milan the first time it was enough for the Duke Lodovico[1] to raise insurrections on the borders; but to cause him to lose it a second time it was necessary to bring the whole world against him, and that his armies should be defeated and driven out of Italy; which followed from the causes above mentioned. [1] Duke Lodovico was Lodovico Moro, a son of Francesco Sforza, who married Beatrice d’Este. He ruled over Milan from 1494 to 1500, and died in 1510. Nevertheless Milan was taken from France both the first and the second time.…
Themes in this work
Quotes
“Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.”
“A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline.”
“Men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.”