Il Principe / The Prince
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Autor:
Niccolò Machiavelli
Country:
Italy (IT)
Book Theme:
Classic novels and Authors representing your country culture
Publisher:
ET Classici
Publishing Year:
2014
Niccolò Machiavelli was born in Florence on May 3, 1469, to Bernardo and Bartolomea. Though the family had formerly enjoyed prestige and financial success, in Niccolò’s youth his father struggled with debt.His father was actively interested in education and provided young Niccolò with access to books. The world of Machiavelli’s youth was one of great ferment in matters political and ecclesiastical. Although the Church had always been important politically in Europe, in Machiavelli’s time the Church’s involvement in worldly politics included its direct participation in wars of acquisition.It was under Soderini’s republic that Machiavelli became Second Chancellor of the Florentine Republic.Machiavelli was married from 1501 till his death, with his wife Marietta bearing seven children.
National Award for Children’s and Young People’s
Abstract
Machiavelli sarcastically dedicated the book to de Medici and wrote it as something of a how-to
guide for being a prince (or monarch). The book’s tone is harsh and cold. It describes the duties of a prince as being controlling and dictatorial. The Prince starts with a preface, which is, in this case, a letter to Lorenzo de Medici, the Lord of Florence from 1516-1519. The “Lorenzo the Magnificent” of this dedication is not to be confused with Lorenzo’s grandfather, the celebrated Lorenzo who ruled Florence in the late 15th century. Machiavelli calls Lorenzo “magnificent”only to flatter him with an accolade more habitually bestowed on his grandfather. Machiavelli was exiled from Florence in 1512, but one year later, longing for a return to public service, he made an appeal to the new ruler, Lorenzo II de Medici, for a pardon. He claimed to have an answer for the political problems plaguing Italy and presented his solution in The Prince as a gift to Lorenzo who he saw as the possible savior of Italy-a man who could unify the Italian city-states into a strong nation-state. Lorenzo did not pardon Machiavelli and the Italians had neither the power, nor the desire to follow the system for unity against foreigners outlined in The Prince. The first section of the book is entitled Monarchies, in the first chapter, called, “Different Kinds of States, and the Different Ways to Get Them” Machiavelli does a brief run down of the different types of states. He points out that there are two basic forms of government: republics and monarchies. A republic is a government in which supreme authority rest with it’s citizens, who are represented by a group that exercises power. A monarchy is a government in which supreme authority rests with one ruler, called a king or a prince;Machiavelli uses prince to mean monarch. It does not have the usual meaning of son of the king. Since the government has been in the hands of the same family for years, the people don’t have changes of policy.
