Niccolò Machiavelli 
The Prince 

‘The Prince’ is a 16th-century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. Although it is relatively short, the treatise is the most remembered of Machiavelli’s works and the one most responsible for bringing the word ‘Machiavellian’ into usage as a pejorative. It also helped make ‘Old Nick’ an English term for the devil, and even contributed to the modern negative connotations of the words ‘politics’ and ‘politician’ in western countries.

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was an Italian Renaissance historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer.

Translator: W. K. Marriott