The Prince

Nicolo Machiavelli, 1532

Considering the difficulties which men have had to hold to a newly acquired state, some might wonder how, seeing that Alexander the Great became the master of Asia in a few years, and died whilst it was scarcely settled (whence it might appear reasonable that the whole empire would have rebelled), nevertheless his successors maintained themselves, and had to meet no other difficulty than that which arose among themselves from their own ambitions.

I answer that the principalities of which one has record are found to be governed in two different ways; either by a prince, with a body of servants, who assist him to govern the kingdom as ministers by his favour and permission; or by a prince and barons, who hold that dignity by antiquity of blood and not by the grace of the prince. Such barons have states and their own subjects, who recognize them as lords and hold them in natural affection. Those states that are governed by a prince and his servants hold their prince in more consideration, because in all the country there is no one who is recognized as superior to him, and if they yield obedience to another they do it as to a minister and official, and they do not bear him any particular affection.

The examples of these two governments in our time are the Turk and the King of France. The entire monarchy of the Turk is governed by one lord, the others are his servants; and, dividing his kingdom into sanjaks, he sends there different administrators, and shifts and changes them as he chooses. But the King of France is …

1984
George Orwell
Get your free eBook now!
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Get your free eBook now!
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
Get your free eBook now!
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Get your free eBook now!
Grimms’ Fairy Tales
The Brothers Grimm
Get your free eBook now!
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens
Get your free eBook now!
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
Get your free eBook now!
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë
Get your free eBook now!
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad
Get your free eBook now!
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
Get your free eBook now!
Tender is the Night
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Get your free eBook now!