Maxcey, J. W.

Niccolo Machiavelli was a historian, diplomat, philosopher, humanist and writer of 15th Century Renaissance Italy. An emissary for the Florentine Republic, he was jailed by the Medici ruling family when they returned to power. To assuage the Medici patriarch, Lorenzo d'Medici, into possibly letting him out of prison, Machiavelli wrote and dedicated this work of stunning political reality. Categorizing and analyzing the duties of a contemporary Prince, Machiavelli excuses the worst of crimes and promotes questionable virtues in hopes of placating that which a Prince needs to survive: Power.