The Annotated Prince

For works with similar titles, see The Prince.

The Prince  (1513)  by Niccolò Machiavelli, translated by W. K. Marriott

Introduction to the Annotated Version→

"Il Principe (The Prince) is a political treatise by the Florentine public servant and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. Originally called De Principatibus (About Principalities), it was written and circulated in 1513, but not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. The treatise is not representative of the work published during his lifetime, but it is the most remembered, and the work responsible for bringing 'Machiavellian' into usage as a pejorative term." —Excerpted from The Prince on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. This is the W. K. Marriott translation of the book—published by J. M. Dent (London) and E. P. Dutton (New York) 1908—taken from Project Gutenberg. It also includes a translation of A description of the methods adopted by the Duke Valentino when murdering Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, the Signor Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina Orsini and The Life of Castruccio Castracani, as well as an introduction by Herbert Butterfield.

For his contribution to political philosophy, Machiavelli is commemorated by this statue at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

The Annotated The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

A Wikisource annotation project

• Introduction to the Annotated Version

Contents

• Title page
• Preface
• Introduction
• The Man and His Work
  

• I. How many kinds of principalities there are, and by what means they are acquired
• II. Concerning hereditary principalities
• III. Concerning mixed principalities
• IV. Why the kingdom of Darius, conquered by Alexander, did not rebel against the successors of Alexander at his death
• V. Concerning the way to govern cities or principalities which lived under their own laws before they were annexed
• VI. Concerning new principalities which are acquired by one's own arms and ability
• VII. Concerning new principalities which are acquired either by the arms of others or by good fortune
• VIII. Concerning those who have obtained a principality by wickedness
• IX. Concerning a civil principality
• X. Concerning the way in which the strength of all principalities ought to be measured
• XI. Concerning ecclesiastical principalities
• XII How many kinds of soldiery there are, and concerning mercenaries
• XIII. Concerning auxiliaries, mixed soldiery, and one's own
• XIV. That which concerns a prince on the subject of the art of war
• XV. Concerning things for which men, and especially princes, are praised or blamed
• XVI. Concerning liberality and meanness
• XVII. Concerning cruelty and clemency, and whether it is better to be loved than feared
• XVIII. Concerning the way in which princes should keep faith
• XIX. That one should avoid being despised and hated
• XX. Are fortresses, and many other things to which princes often resort, advantageous or hurtful?
• XXI. How a prince should conduct himself so as to gain renown
• XXII. Concerning the secretaries of princes
• XXIII. How flatterers should be avoided
• XXIV. Why the princes of Italy have lost their states
• XXV. What fortune can effect in human affairs and how to withstand her
• XXVI. An exhortation to liberate Italy from the barbarians

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• Glossary of Proper Names

This is a translation and has a separate copyright status from the original text. The license for the translation applies to this edition only.
Original:	This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Translation:	This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923. The author died in 1921, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 80 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.