The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

The book is composed of 26 chapters which fall into four major sections. In part one Machiavelli discusses the four types of principalities. The first type is hereditary princedoms meaning they are inherited by the ruler. There are also mixed principalities which are seized by force, civic principalities which are acquired by various criminal methods and finally ecclesiastical principalities influenced by the church. Machiavelli outlines how to maintain a newly acquired territory as these various types of principalities.

The author details the characters of a prince for example paying close consideration to the armed forces so that they help him keep his power. There are four types of armies that are identified by the author beginning with mercenaries who are the hired soldiers and tend to be unreliable and dangerous. There are also auxiliaries which are the soldiers lent by other rulers, native troops which are the soldiers in their own country and lastly the mixed troops which will have soldiers from native troops, auxiliaries and mercenaries.

Machiavelli also takes a chapter to put forth the character and behavior of a prince. In an ideal world a virtuous prince would do well. Additionally Machiavelli considers it better to be economical than to be generous, pitiless than amorous and sneaky rather than sincere.

Reading “The Prince” will take you into the ruthless and cunning mind of Machiavelli as he systematically describes how to conquer and rule in the 16th century Italy. The astute reader will find that Machiavelli's principals apply just as much in today's world as they did hundreds of years ago.