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FINALIST--2008 PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE
In The Essential Writings of Machiavelli, Peter Constantine has assembled a comprehensive collection that shows the true depth and breadth of a great Renaissance thinker. Refreshingly accessible, these superb new translations are faithful to Machiavelli’s original, beautifully crafted writings.
The volume features essays that appear in English for the first time, such as “A Caution to the Medici” and “The Persecution of Africa.” Also included are complete versions of the political treatise, The Prince, the comic satire The Mandrake, The Life of Castruccio Castracani, and the classic story “Belfagor”, along with selections from The Discourses, The Art of War, and Florentine Histories. Augmented with useful features–vital and concise annotations and cross-references–this unique compendium is certain to become the standard one-volume reference to this influential, versatile, and ever timely writer.
“Machiavelli's stress on political necessity rather than moral perfection helped inspire the Renaissance by renewing links with Thucydides and other classical thinkers. This new collection provides deeper insight into Machiavelli’s personality as a writer, thus broadening our understanding of him.”
–Robert D. Kaplan, author of Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos
“Constantine’s selection is not only intelligent; his translations are astonishingly good. Thoughtfully introduced by Albert Russell Ascoli, this edition belongs in everyone’s library.”
–John Jeffries Martin, professor and chair, department of history, Trinity University
“If one were to assign a single edition of Machiavelli's works, this most certainly would be it.”
–John P. McCormick, professor, department of political science, University of Chicago
From the Trade Paperback edition.
- Sales Rank: #303643 in eBooks
- Published on: 2009-07-08
- Released on: 2009-07-08
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Booklist
The synonym for political cynicism, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote much more than The Prince, for which he is (in)famous. It leads off this anthology, which both spans his range of compositions--from state papers to histories to personal letters--and imparts a greater complexity to his insights on politics and human nature than his reputation would imply. To be sure, translator-editor Constantine includes Machiavelli's cold-eyed advice on how to plot a conspiracy, but that rumination on assassination is embedded in The Discourses (on ancient Roman historian Livy), which otherwise shows Machiavelli as antityranny and favorable toward liberty and republicanism. Machiavelli was more than a theorist, however. Constantine's healthy representation of Machiavelli's reports as, in effect, the foreign minister of Florence in the early 1500s--until thrown out of office and tortured by the Medici in 1513--illustrates Renaissance Italy's dangerous political environment, on which Machiavelli drew for his insights on political conduct. Since The Prince is a collection standard, you can get more bang for the buck with this fluently translated anthology. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was born in Florence. He served the Florentine republic as secretary and second chancellor, but was expelled from public life when the Medici family returned to power in 1512. His most famous work, The Prince, was a written attempt to reingratiate himself with the Medicis and return to politics.
Peter Constantine is the recipient of a PEN Translation Prize and a National Translation Award. His Modern Library translations include Voltaire’s Canidide, Tolstoy’s The Cossacks, and Gogol’s Taras Bulba. He lives in New York City.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One
Of the kinds of principalities that exist, and how they can be acquired
All states, all dominions that rule or have ruled over men, are or have been either republics or principalities. Principalities are either hereditary, with a long-established bloodline, or new. And the new principalities are either entirely new, as Milan was to Francesco Sforza,2 or are like limbs added to the hereditary state of the prince who acquires them, as the Kingdom of Naples was to the King of Spain.3 States obtained in this way are accustomed either to living under a prince, or to being free. They are acquired either with the arms of others, or with one’s own, either by chance or by skill.
2. Francesco Sforza (1401–66) was a soldier of fortune who became Duke of Milan in 1450.
3. Ferdinand the Catholic (1452–1516), King of Aragon, also became Ferdinand III of Naples in 1504.
chapter two
Of hereditary principalities
I will not discuss republics, as I have already done so at some length elsewhere. I shall only concentrate on principalities, and shall weave together the threads I have already laid out. I will show how these principalities can be governed and maintained.
First, states that are hereditary and tied to the bloodline of their prince are easier to maintain than new ones. It is enough not to diverge from the practices of one’s forebears, and to handle unforeseen issues as they arise. If such a prince is of at least average ability he can retain his position of power, so long as no extraordinary or excessive force deprive him of it. If this prince is deprived of his state, he will find he can reacquire it if any misfortune befalls the usurper.
In Italy we have the example of the Duke of Ferrara, who resisted the assaults of the Venetians in 1484 and of Pope Julius II in 1510, for the simple reason that he had inherited an ancient principality.4 A hereditary prince has less cause to mistreat his subjects, and so is more loved by them. If unusual vices do not make him hated, it is to be expected that he will be loved by his people.
The long continuum of the dominion obliterates the memories and issues that make men yearn for innovation, for one change will inevitably forge a link to another.
4. In fact, Duke Ercole d’Este of Ferrara managed to end the war with Venetians in 1484, while his son Duke Alfonso managed to stay in power despite excommunication and an ongoing war with the papal forces.
chapter three
Of mixed principalities
It is in the new principality that the difficulties lie. First, if the principality is not completely new, but is like a limb or extension added to another principality (in which case we could almost call the whole state a mixed principality), its volatility stems mainly from a difficulty inherent in all new principalities. This is that men will willingly change their ruler in the hope that they will fare better, a hope that leads them to take up arms against their old ruler. But in this they are deceived, because, as they invariably discover, their lot under a new ruler is inevitably worse. This is the result of another natural and basic inevitability: that you cannot avoid offending those whose new ruler you are, both with your armed soldiers and with innumerable other provocations that come in the wake of a conquest. You end up making enemies of all those you have offended during your conquest of the principality, and you find that you cannot keep the friendship of those who helped you to power, since you cannot satisfy them in the way they had envisioned. Furthermore, you cannot take strong measures against them, as you are indebted to them. Even with the most powerful army, if you want to invade a state, you need the support of the people. It was for these reasons that King Louis XII of France was quick to occupy Milan, and just as quick to lose it. Duke Ludovico’s own forces were enough to win Milan back the first time, because the same masses that had opened the gates for Louis, finding themselves misled in their hopes for a better future, could not endure the new prince’s offenses.5
It is a fact that once a prince acquires a rebellious state for the second time, it also proves harder to lose that state a second time.6 This is because the prince who seizes the opportunity of the rebellion has fewer scruples about securing his position by punishing offenders, flushing out suspects, and strengthening all the places where he is weakest. In this sense, it was enough for a Duke Ludovico to make a little noise along the borders for Louis XII to lose Milan the first time. But for him to lose Milan a second time the whole world had to unite against him, defeat his army, and chase it out of Italy.7 This followed from the causes I have already laid out. Nonetheless, both the first and second time, Milan was taken from him.
The general reasons for the first loss have been discussed. It now remains to discuss the second, and to see what recourse someone in Louis’s position could have taken to maintain himself more securely in his new acquisition. I must stress that the states a prince acquires and adds to his own are either of the same country and language, or are not. If they are it is much easier to retain them, particularly if they are not used to freedom. To hold them securely, it is enough to extinguish the line of the previous prince who ruled them. As for the rest, if the new acquisition’s former state of affairs is kept and there is no difference in customs, men will live quite peacefully, as we have seen in Burgundy, Brittany, Gascony, and Normandy, which for a long time now have all belonged to France. Although there is some difference in language, their customs are similar, and their people get along with one another quite easily. He who acquires such states and wishes to retain them has to make sure of two things: that the bloodline of their former princes is extinguished, and that their laws and taxes remain the same. This way, the prince’s new state merges with the old, quickly becoming a single body.
Most helpful customer reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful.
A Worthy Political Scientist
By Retired Reader
This is an excellent edition of the works of Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527 CE) published by Modern Library in 2007. It includes not only a complete translation of his most famous work, "The Prince", but large sections of his less famous "Discourses" and "Florentine Histories." It also provides a good selection of his essays and papers. The quality of the translation work appears quite good and done with a good deal of care. The notes provided are quite helpful as well.
Machiavelli is a name that some consider synonymous with guile, cynicism, and tyranny. In point of fact he was a romantic who was an admirer of the early Roman Republic. He was a supporter of republican principles and a Florentine patriot his entire life. After Lorenzo de Medici overthrew the Florentine Republic in 1513 (CE), he exiled Machiavelli to his estates outside of Florence. Such was Machiavelli's love for his city that he was willing to ignore his republican principals (at least temporarily) and join the Medici administration of the city. "The Prince" his most famous work and the principal source of his reputation as a cynic and ruthless politician was written to ingratiate him with Lorenzo.
Now before adding `hypocrite' to the other characterizations of Machiavelli, one should understand that the book contained the only gift that he could afford to offer Lorenzo, his knowledge based on his analysis of history. Machiavelli was a student of the history of Roman Republic and Empire. He was also a close observer of human behavior both in the past and in his contemporary Renaissance Italy. If his analysis of history and motivation appears cynical, it was also in tune with his times and reflected contemporary attitudes. His interpretation of events and analysis of behavior represent a serious and honest effort to understand a world that was changing even as he wrote this unique book.
In the "Discourses" and his "Art of War" Machiavelli reveals his true republican feelings and distress at the use of Italy as a battle ground by the Holy Roman Empire, France, the Pope, and various home grown Italian tyrants. The other works presented in this edition show him to be a thoughtful and patriotic man.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
The first "Realpolitik" synthesist/expositor
By Daniel Nelson
I firmly believe that most of Machiavelli's works were written with the goal of bettering the position of his beloved Florence in the horribly complex political and cultural milieu in which he was forced to operate, and knew extremely well from his diplomacy on behalf of Florence. Europe was changing more than it ever had. The new world was opening up. The Renaissance was in its infancy, but starting to gather momentum.
What he did was combine the works of Livy with his own observations, which resulted in The Prince. I believe The Prince was written in hopes of obtaining some sort of position with the Medici, and thereby have some sort of influence, even if only minimal, on the diplomatic and political conduct of Florence, in hopes of influencing things to her benefit.
He was the first to dispassionately list the real, sometimes loathsome things even a good ruler was at times forced to resort to in order to secure long term benefit to his political entity. He also said it was better to have a government that was not always forced to resort to these things by dint of its citizens being satisfied with their ruler. A republic was the most stable in his mind.
Machiavelli was the first real political theorist, and if a wise ruler had practiced some of what Machiavelli had concluded, maybe Italy and Florence might not have had the subsequent three hundred years or so of political turmoil and domination by others.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Introduction to Machiavelli
By Amazon Customer
This is not a perfect coverage for all his writings. However, his essential writings were carefully selected by the editors. If you have interests in reneissance politics, this book would be a good introduction. The formatting and footnotes are excellent.
See all 21 customer reviews...
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