The Prince

The Prince is a short political treatise cast as an instruction manual for new rulers. Machiavelli sets aside the tradition of describing the ideal regime and asks instead how power is actually taken, held and lost. The central and most argued-over claim of the book is that immoral acts are sometimes necessary if a ruler is to secure the state and win lasting standing, and that a prince who insists on behaving well among people who do not will be destroyed. He distinguishes hereditary princedoms, which he treats briefly as easy to govern because subjects are accustomed to the line, from new and mixed princedoms, where a ruler must establish himself against custom and where the real difficulties lie. Arguments are carried by comparison rather than abstraction, drawing on classical, biblical and medieval examples, including notably approving references to the career of Cesare Borgia, whom Machiavelli had observed during his own diplomatic service. The work is often described as an early text of modern political philosophy because it privileges practical effect over moral ideal, a stance that put it in direct conflict with the Catholic and scholastic teaching of its day and gave the word Machiavellian its lasting sting.

Written from the encyclopaedia article on The Prince at Wikipedia.

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