The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli (best books to read for beginners .txt) 📖

1506. Machiavelli’s strong condemnation of conspiracies may get its edge from his own very recent experience (February 1513), when he had been arrested and tortured for his alleged complicity in the Boscoli conspiracy. ↩

Catherine Sforza, a daughter of Galeazzo Sforza and Lucrezia Landriani, born 1463, died 1509. It was to the Countess of Forli that Machiavelli was sent as envy on 1499. A letter from Fortunati to the countess announces the appointment: “I have been with the signori,” wrote Fortunati, “to learn whom they would send and when. They tell me that Niccolò Machiavelli, a learned young Florentine noble, secretary to my Lords of the Ten, is to leave with me at once.” Cf. Catherine Sforza, by Count Pasolini, translated by P. Sylvester, 1898. ↩

“Guilds or societies,” in arti o in tribu. Arti were craft or trade guilds, cf. Florio: “Arte⁠ ⁠… a whole company of any trade in any city or corporation town.” The guilds of Florence are most admirably described by Mr. Edgcumbe Staley in his work on the subject (Methuen, 1906). Institutions of a somewhat similar character, called artel, exist in Russia today, cf. Sir Mackenzie Wallace’s Russia, ed. 1905: “The sons⁠ ⁠… were always during the working season members of an artel. In some of the larger towns there are artels of a much more complex kind⁠—permanent associations, possessing large capital, and pecuniarily responsible for the acts of the individual members.” The word “artel,” despite its apparent similarity, has, Mr. Aylmer Maude assures me, no connection with ars or arte. Its root is that of the verb rotisya, to bind oneself by an oath; and it is generally admitted to be only another form of rota, which now signifies a “regimental company.” In both words the underlying idea is that of a body of men united by an oath. Tribu were possibly gentile groups, united by common descent, and included individuals connected by marriage. Perhaps our words “sects” or “clans” would be most appropriate. ↩

Maximilian I, born in 1459, died 1519, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He married, first, Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold; after her death, Bianca Sforza; and thus became involved in Italian politics. ↩

Frederick the Great was accustomed to say: “The older one gets the more convinced one becomes that his Majesty King Chance does three-quarters of the business of this miserable universe.” —⁠Sorel’s Eastern Question ↩

Giuliano de Medici. He had just been created a cardinal by Leo X. In 1523 Giuliano was elected Pope, and took the title of Clement VII. ↩

The battles of Il Taro, 1495; Alessandria, 1499; Capua, 1501; Genoa, 1507; Vaila, 1509; Bologna, 1511; Mestri, 1513. ↩

Colophon

The Prince
was written in 1513 by
Niccolò Machiavelli.
It was translated from Italian in 1908 by
W. K. Marriott.

This ebook was produced for
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Alex Cabal,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2006 by
John Bicker, David Widger, and others
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at the
Internet Archive.

The cover page is adapted from
Niccolò Machiavelli,
a painting completed circa 1550 by
Santi di Tito.
The cover and title pages feature the
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