The Prince

A political treatise by Niccolò Machiavelli, written around 1513 and published in 1532, that examines how rulers acquire, maintain, and use power.

Niccolò Machiavelli: An Italian political thinker, diplomat, and historian whose writings include The Prince and Discourses on Livy. He wrote the treatise from experience in Florentine diplomacy and politics.
Machiavellianism: A political outlook associated with strategic manipulation and the pursuit of power without regard to conventional morality. The label grew from later readings of the treatise’s advice about deception and necessity.
Florentine Republic: The republican government that ruled Florence during several periods, including Machiavelli’s public career. Machiavelli served its government before the Medici returned and removed him from office.
Christian political ethics: Approaches to political conduct grounded in Christian moral teachings and obligations. The Prince’s approval of necessary deception and force challenges ideals of Christian rulership.
Virtù: Machiavelli’s term for the qualities that let a ruler act effectively amid political uncertainty. The treatise measures rulers by their capacity to shape events, not by conventional moral virtue.
It is better to be feared than loved: A claim in The Prince that fear is more reliable than affection for maintaining obedience, provided it does not become hatred. This maxim condenses Machiavelli’s practical account of how a ruler secures loyalty.
House of Medici: A Florentine family that dominated the city’s politics and produced rulers, popes, and patrons. Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to Lorenzo de’ Medici while seeking renewed political employment.
Utopia: Thomas More’s 1516 work depicting an imagined society organized around communal institutions. More’s idealized commonwealth offers a striking contrast to Machiavelli’s analysis of existing power.
Fortuna: In Machiavelli’s political thought, the unpredictable force of circumstance that can disrupt human plans. The Prince asks how a ruler’s skill can constrain fortune’s effects.
Political cruelty: The deliberate use of violence or harsh punishment to achieve political ends. Machiavelli distinguishes force used decisively to stabilize rule from cruelty that breeds lasting resentment.

Linked from 24 pages