Description
The Prince, or, Il Principe is a 16th-century political treatise written by Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli as an instruction guide for new princes and royals. The general theme of The Prince is to accept that the aims of princes – such as glory and survival – can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends. The text was likely written around 1513 but was not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli’s death. It was controversial when first published and was banned by the Catholic Church and denounced by prominent Humanists. Written in vernacular Italian, it has been translated and edited numerous times. The text is the best known of Machiavelli’s writings and has had enormous influence on literature and politics; it is the text most responsible for bringing the term Machiavellian into popular usage as a pejorative.
