The prince / Niccolò Machiavelli ; translated and with an introduction by Harvey C. Mansfield.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. How Many Are the Kinds of Principalities and in What Modes They Are Acquired — II. Of Hereditary Principalities — III. Of Mixed Principalities — IV. Why the Kingdom of Darius Which Alexander Seized Did Not Rebel from His Successors after Alexander's Death — V. How Cities or Principalities Which Lived by Their Own Laws before They Were Occupied Should Be Administered — VI. Of New Principalities That Are Acquired through One's Own Arms and Virtue — VII. Of New Principalities That Are Acquired by Others' Arms and Fortune — VIII. Of Those Who Have Attained a Principality through Crimes — IX. Of the Civil Principality — X. In What Mode the Forces of All Principalities Should Be Measured — XI. Of Ecclesiastical Principalities — XII. How Many Kinds of Military There Are and Concerning Mercenary Soldiers — XIII. Of Auxiliary, Mixed, and One's Own Soldiers — XIV. What a Prince Should Do Regarding the Military — XV. Of Those Things for Which Men and Especially Princes Are Praised or Blamed — XVI. Of Liberality and Parsimony — XVII. Of Cruelty and Mercy, and Whether It Is Better to Be Loved Than Feared, or the Contrary — XVIII. In What Mode Faith Should Be Kept by Princes — XIX. Of Avoiding Contempt and Hatred — XX. Whether Fortresses and Many Other Things Which Are Made and Done by Princes Every Day Are Useful or Useless — XXI. What a Prince Should Do to Be Held in Esteem — XXII. Of Those Whom Princes Have as Secretaries — XXIII. In What Mode Flatterers Are to Be Avoided — XXIV. Why the Princes of Italy Have Lost Their States — XXV. How Much Fortune Can Do in Human Affairs, and in What Mode It May Be Opposed — XXVI. Exhortation to Seize Italy and to Free Her from the Barbarians — App. Machiavelli's Letter of December 10, 1513.

The most famous book on politics ever written, The Prince remains as lively and shocking today as when it was written almost five hundred years ago. Initially denounced as a collection of sinister maxims and a recommendation of tyranny, it has more recently been defended and indeed applauded as the first scientific treatment of politics as it is practiced rather than as it ought to be practiced. A masterpiece of effective prose, The Prince is at once comic and formidable, imaginative and calculating, fascinating and chilling. Its influence in modern history has been profound, and - often considered to be the first modern book - it was surely a primary text for the modern philosophers who challenged the traditions of ancient and medieval thought and morality. Mansfield's translation of this classic work, in combination with the new material added for this edition, makes it the definitive version of The Prince, indispensable to scholars, students, and lovers of the dark art of politics.