The Prince
by Nicolo Machiavelli
Dedication
To the Magnificent Lorenzo Di Piero De' Medici:
Those who strive to obtain the good graces of a prince
are accustomed to come before him with such things as they
hold most precious, or in which they see him take most
delight; whence one often sees horses, arms, cloth of gold,
precious stones, and similar ornaments presented to princes,
worthy of their greatness.
Desiring therefore to present myself to your Magnificence
with some testimony of my devotion towards you, I have not
found among my possessions anything which I hold more dear
than, or value so much as, the knowledge of the actions of
great men, acquired by long experience in contemporary
affairs, and a continual study of antiquity; which, having
reflected upon it with great and prolonged diligence, I now
send, digested into a little volume, to your
Magnificence.
And although I may consider this work unworthy of your
countenance, nevertheless I trust much to your benignity
that it may be acceptable, seeing that it is not possible
for me to make a better gift than to offer you the
opportunity of understanding in the shortest time all that I
have learnt in so many years, and with so many troubles and
dangers; which work I have not embellished with swelling or
magnificent words, nor stuffed with rounded periods, nor
with any extrinsic allurements or adornments whatever, with
which so many are accustomed to embellish their works; for I
have wished either that no honour should be given it, or
else that the truth of the matter and the weightiness of the
theme shall make it acceptable.
Nor do I hold with those who regard it as a presumption
if a man of low and humble condition dare to discuss and
settle the concerns of princes; because, just as those who
draw landscapes place themselves below in the plain to
contemplate the nature of the mountains and of lofty places,
and in order to contemplate the plains place themselves upon
high mountains, even so to understand the nature of the
people it needs to be a prince, and to understand that if
princes it needs to be of the people.
Take then, your Magnificence, this little gift in the
spirit in which I send it; wherein, if it be diligently read
and considered by you, you will learn my extreme desire that
you should attain that greatness which fortune and your
other attributes promise. And if your Magnificence from the
summit of your greatness will sometimes turn your eyes to
these lower regions, you will see how unmeritedly I suffer a
great and continued malignity of fortune.
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- The Prince
by Nicolo Machiavelli
Introduction
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