The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli Pdf: Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince was originally printed in 1532. The original edition of W. K. Marriott’s translation was released in 1908.
Global Gray produced and released this online edition on September 24, 2021.
It is a political essay sent to the Duke of Urbino Lorenzo de Medici. One of the author’s most well-known pieces, and the one where the word “Machiavellian” was first used.
Description
Written as a guide for new princes, it includes chapters on conquests among and among others, conquered kingdoms, the acquisition of princedom through crimes and misdeeds, and how a prince must do all the bad deeds he has to do at once. do. that their people will eventually forget them, defence and army, reputation and abundance, and more.
At the time of its publication, the book’s immorality was considered shocking, as Machiavelli teaches princes how to tyrannize their subjects. This was, of course, partly due to the times in which he lived, a time of constant political instability and conflict.
The influence the book has had over time cannot be underestimated. People like Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII (in turn against Protestantism) and Charles V, all owned the book.
It’s interesting to note that Machiavelli was supposed to be a member of both the Protestant and Catholic camps. Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams are among the Founding Fathers of the United States who are known to have been affected by the Prince.
It was read by Stalin and Mussolini, the latter of whom wrote a speech about it and annotated his copy.
The prince
May 3, 1469, saw the birth of Nicolo Machiavelli in Florence. He was the second son of Bernardo di Nicolo Machiavelli, a famous lawyer, and aBartolomeodi Stefano Nelli, his wife. Both parents belonged to the old Florentine nobility.
His life is naturally divided into three periods, each of which, singularly, constitutes a different and important epoch in the history of Florence. His youth coincided with the rise of Florence as an Italian power under the leadership of Lorenzo de Medici, Il Magnifico. The fall of the Medici in Florence took place in 1494, the year Machiavelli took office.
During his official career, Florence was free under the rule of a Republic, which lasted until 1512 when the Medici returned to power and Machiavelli lost his post. The Medici ruled Florence again from 1512 to 1527, when they were once again expelled.
This was the period of Machiavelli’s literary activity and his growing influence; but he died, a few weeks after the expulsion of the Medici, on June 22, 1527, at the age of fifty-eight, without regaining office.
Youth — Aet. 1-25—1469-94
Although there are few traces of Machiavelli’s youth, the Florence of that time is so well known that the initial environment of this representative citizen is easy to imagine. Florence has been described as a city with two opposing streams of life, one ruled by the fiery and austere Savonarola, the other by the lover of splendour Lorenzo.
Savonarola’s influence on the young Machiavelli must have been slight, for although he at one time exercised immense power over the fortunes of Florence, he provided Machiavelli with nothing more than a subject of ridicule in “The Prince,” where he is cited as an example. of a disarming prophet gone bad.
While the grandeur of Medici’s rule during Lorenzo’s lifetime seems to have made a strong impression on Machiavelli, as he returns to it frequently in his writings, He dedicates “The Prince” to Lorenzo’s grandchild.
The PDF edition of this book comprises 93 pages, and it was first released in 1532. This translation by W.K. Marriott was first published in 1908.
