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- Herausgeber: LATORRE PRESS
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
“Power, Fear, and Fortune in an Age of Broken Norms” sums up why The Prince still speaks to the United States right now.
Power: how it’s won, kept, and lost when the old unwritten rules—the guardrails—no longer steer behavior. Fear: how leaders balance consent and coercion without tipping into the kind of hatred that corrodes authority. Fortune: how shocks, chance, and timing—pandemics, financial crises, social media frenzies—shape outcomes, and how to prepare when the usual playbook fails. And behind it all: broken norms—the erosion of restraint, custom, and informal bargains that once substituted for brute force.
Machiavelli isn’t a license for cynicism; he’s a reality check. He names things plainly: politics is a regulated struggle, not a seminar in good intentions. His core terms translate cleanly to today’s scene. Virtù isn’t “virtue” but effectiveness—the capacity to read the moment and act decisively. Fortuna is contingency. “One’s own arms” are built capacities (institutions, talent, ground game, data) rather than borrowed strength (mercenaries, or in modern terms, pure media spin and outsourced legitimacy). “The people” and “the great” map to mass coalitions and elite power-brokers whose interests don’t naturally align.
Read this way, The Prince is a field manual for governing amid polarization, permanent campaigns, disinformation, and institutional fatigue. It asks blunt questions: Do you rely on your own capabilities or rent them? Do you avoid being hated more than you chase being loved? Do you adapt your method when the times change—or cling to a style that no longer fits? Do you trade short-term applause for long-term stability?
This edition takes Machiavelli’s hard truths on their own terms and applies them to a landscape where norms are cracked but not gone. The challenge isn’t to abandon principles; it’s to pair principles with power that actually works—to build, defend, and reform institutions in real time, under pressure. In that sense, Machiavelli’s message is less dark than honest: in rough weather, clarity is mercy.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Table of Contents
Instructions for the Reader
Power, Fear, and Fortune in an Age of Broken Norms
THE PRINCE
DEDICATION
— Note to the Dedication
Chapter 1
Quot sint genera principatuum et quibus modis acquirantur.
— Note to Chapter 1
Chapter 2
De principatibus hereditariis.
— Note to Chapter 2
Chapter 3
De principatibus mixtis.
— Note to Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Cur Darii regnum quod Alexander occupaverat a successoribus suis post Alexandri mortem non defecit.
— Note to Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Quomodo administrandae sunt civitates vel principatus, qui, antequam occuparentur suis legibus vivebant.
— Note to Chapter 5
Chapter 6
De principatibus novis qui armis propriis et virtute acquiruntur.
— Note to Chapter 6
Chapter 7
De principatibus novis qui alienis armis et fortuna acquiruntur.
— Note to Chapter 7
Chapter 8
De his qui per scelera ad principatum pervenere.
— Note to Chapter 8
Chapter 9
De principatu civili.
— Note to Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Quomodo omnium principatuum vires perpendi debeant.
— Note to Chapter 10
Chapter 11
De principatibus ecclesiasticis.
— Note to Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Quot sint genera militiae et de mercennariis militibus.
— Note to Chapter 12
Chapter 13
De militibus auxiliariis, mixtis et propriis.
— Note to Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Quod principem deceat circa militiam.
— Note to Chapter 14
Chapter 15
De his rebus quibus homines et praesertim principes laudantur aut vituperantur.
— Note to Chapter 15
Chapter 16
De liberalitate et parsimonia.
— Note to Chapter 16
Chapter 17
De crudelitate et pietate; et an sit melius amari quam timeri, vel e contra.
— Note to Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Quomodo fides a principibus sit servanda.
— Note to Chapter 18
Chapter 19
De contemptu et odio fugiendo.
— Note to Chapter 19
Chapter 20
An arces et multa alia quae cotidie a principibus fiunt utilia an inutilia sint.
— Note to Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Quod principem deceat ut egregius habeatur.
— Note to Chapter 21
Chapter 22
De his quos a secretis principes habent.
— Note to Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Quomodo adulatores sint fugiendi.
— Note to Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Cur Italiae principes regnum amiserunt.
— Note to Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Quantum fortuna in rebus humanis possit, et quomodo illi sit occurrendum.
— Note to Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Exhortatio ad capessendam Italiam in libertatemque a barbaris vindicandam.
— Note to Chapter 26
Quick Timeline (1492–1527)
Key Terms: A Quick Glossary
Discussion Questions
About the Author: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
Pocket Classic for Now 1
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI
THE PRINCE
Power, Fear, and Fortune in an Age of Broken Norms
LATORRE PRESS
THE PRINCE: Power, Fear, and Fortune in an Age of Broken Norms
Niccolò Machiavelli
First Latorre Press edition 2025
Copyright © 2025 by LATORRE PRESS
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in reviews.
Cover design: Nazzareno Luigi Todarello
Interior design: Latorre Press
Publisher: Latorre Press, Viale della Rimembranza 23/2
15067 Novi Ligure AL Italy
www.latorrepress.com
ISBN ebook: 9798267433686
Printed in the United States of America
Instructions for the Reader
Power, Fear, and Fortune in an Age of Broken Norms
THE PRINCE
DEDICATION
— Note to the Dedication
Chapter 1
Quot sint genera principatuum et quibus modis acquirantur.
— Note to Chapter 1
Chapter 2
De principatibus hereditariis.
— Note to Chapter 2
Chapter 3
De principatibus mixtis.
— Note to Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Cur Darii regnum quod Alexander occupaverat a successoribus suis post Alexandri mortem non defecit.
— Note to Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Quomodo administrandae sunt civitates vel principatus, qui, antequam occuparentur suis legibus vivebant.
— Note to Chapter 5
Chapter 6
De principatibus novis qui armis propriis et virtute acquiruntur.
— Note to Chapter 6
Chapter 7
De principatibus novis qui alienis armis et fortuna acquiruntur.
— Note to Chapter 7
Chapter 8
De his qui per scelera ad principatum pervenere.
— Note to Chapter 8
Chapter 9
De principatu civili.
— Note to Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Quomodo omnium principatuum vires perpendi debeant.
— Note to Chapter 10
Chapter 11
De principatibus ecclesiasticis.
— Note to Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Quot sint genera militiae et de mercennariis militibus.
— Note to Chapter 12
Chapter 13
De militibus auxiliariis, mixtis et propriis.
— Note to Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Quod principem deceat circa militiam.
— Note to Chapter 14
Chapter 15
De his rebus quibus homines et praesertim principes laudantur aut vituperantur.
— Note to Chapter 15
Chapter 16
De liberalitate et parsimonia.
— Note to Chapter 16
Chapter 17
De crudelitate et pietate; et an sit melius amari quam timeri, vel e contra.
— Note to Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Quomodo fides a principibus sit servanda.
— Note to Chapter 18
Chapter 19
De contemptu et odio fugiendo.
— Note to Chapter 19
Chapter 20
An arces et multa alia quae cotidie a principibus fiunt utilia an inutilia sint.
— Note to Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Quod principem deceat ut egregius habeatur.
— Note to Chapter 21
Chapter 22
De his quos a secretis principes habent.
— Note to Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Quomodo adulatores sint fugiendi.
— Note to Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Cur Italiae principes regnum amiserunt.
— Note to Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Quantum fortuna in rebus humanis possit, et quomodo illi sit occurrendum.
— Note to Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Exhortatio ad capessendam Italiam in libertatemque a barbaris vindicandam.
— Note to Chapter 26
Quick Timeline (1492–1527)
Key Terms: A Quick Glossary
Discussion Questions
About the Author: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
Instructions for the Reader
(How to use this edition—fast)
What this is. A smart, accessible edition of The Prince built for real-life readers. The text is clean and readable; brief notes clarify names, places, and key terms without academic clutter.
How to start.
Short on time? Read the Introduction (“Power, Fear, and Fortune in an Age of Broken Norms”), then Chapters 15–19 (the core playbook on reputation, money, mercy/cruelty, promises, and avoiding hatred).
Deeper dive? Add Chapters 6–8 (how power is actually won), 12–14 (why “your own arms” matter), and 25 (fortune vs. preparation).
How to read the text.
Chapters are short. Take one or two at a sitting.
Latin tags are translated in-line.
When Machiavelli says virtù, think effectiveness (not morality). When he says fortuna, think contingency.
Use the guide rails.
Notes to Each Chapter (right after every chapter) give context, “why this matters now,” and a single question to carry into discussion.
Glossary of Names & Ideas (back matter) explains people, places, factions, and recurring terms at a glance.
Timeline: Italy & Europe, 1492–1527 (front or back matter) keeps events straight.
Discussion Questions (back matter) are book-club ready and work for class or seminar formats.
About the Author (back matter) gives the life-and-times snapshot you need.
If you’re reading for today.
Map “the people” to broad coalitions and “the great” to concentrated power-brokers.
Translate “one’s own arms” into capacities you own (institutions, teams, data, ground game), not borrowed clout.
Watch how Machiavelli weighs being loved vs. being feared, but always warns against being hated.
Edition choices.
Modern American English throughout; minimal jargon.
Proper names standardized; titles preserved where helpful.
Verses from Petrarch: left in Italian to preserve cadence and force.
Tip. Keep a pencil handy. Mark where Machiavelli makes you uncomfortable—that’s usually where the live questions are.
Power, Fear, and Fortune in an Age of Broken Norms
“Power, Fear, and Fortune in an Age of Broken Norms” sums up why The Prince still speaks to the United States right now.
Power: how it’s won, kept, and lost when the old unwritten rules—the guardrails—no longer steer behavior. Fear: how leaders balance consent and coercion without tipping into the kind of hatred that corrodes authority. Fortune: how shocks, chance, and timing—pandemics, financial crises, social media frenzies—shape outcomes, and how to prepare when the usual playbook fails. And behind it all: broken norms—the erosion of restraint, custom, and informal bargains that once substituted for brute force.
Machiavelli isn’t a license for cynicism; he’s a reality check. He names things plainly: politics is a regulated struggle, not a seminar in good intentions. His core terms translate cleanly to today’s scene. Virtù isn’t “virtue” but effectiveness—the capacity to read the moment and act decisively. Fortuna is contingency. “One’s own arms” are built capacities (institutions, talent, ground game, data) rather than borrowed strength (mercenaries, or in modern terms, pure media spin and outsourced legitimacy). “The people” and “the great” map to mass coalitions and elite power-brokers whose interests don’t naturally align.
Read this way, The Prince is a field manual for governing amid polarization, permanent campaigns, disinformation, and institutional fatigue. It asks blunt questions: Do you rely on your own capabilities or rent them? Do you avoid being hated more than you chase being loved? Do you adapt your method when the times change—or cling to a style that no longer fits? Do you trade short-term applause for long-term stability?
This edition takes Machiavelli’s hard truths on their own terms and applies them to a landscape where norms are cracked but not gone. The challenge isn’t to abandon principles; it’s to pair principles with power that actually works—to build, defend, and reform institutions in real time, under pressure. In that sense, Machiavelli’s message is less dark than honest: in rough weather, clarity is mercy.
THE PRINCE
DEDICATION
NICOLAUS MACLAVELLUS AD MAGNIFICUM
LAURENTIUM MEDICEM.
[Nicolò Machiavelli to the Magnificent Lorenzo de’ Medici]
Those who wish to gain favor with a prince are wont, for the most part, to present themselves to him with those things they hold most dear among their possessions, or with those they see him take greatest delight in; hence one often sees horses, arms, cloth of gold, precious stones, and similar ornaments, worthy of such greatness, being presented to them. Therefore, desiring to present myself to Your Magnificence with some token of my devotion, I have found among my belongings nothing I prize more or esteem so highly as my knowledge of the actions of great men, learned through a long experience of modern affairs and a continual reading of the ancients; which, having long pondered and examined with great diligence, and now reduced to a small volume, I send to Your Magnificence.
And though I judge this work unworthy of your presence, yet I am confident that, out of your kindness, it will be acceptable, considering that I can make you no greater gift than to give you the means to understand, in the briefest time, all that I have come to know over many years and with much hardship and peril. I have not adorned this work or filled it with expansive long sentences, or with grandiloquent and magnificent words, or with any other artifice or extrinsic ornament with which many are accustomed to describe and embellish their works; for I have wished that either nothing at all should adorn it, or that only the variety of the matter and the gravity of the subject should render it pleasing.
Nor do I wish it to be thought presumption if a man of low and humble station dares to discuss and to prescribe the government of princes; for just as those who draw landscapes place themselves down on the plain to consider the nature of mountains and high places, and to consider that of low places set themselves high upon mountains, so, to know well the nature of peoples, one must be a prince, and to know well that of princes, one must be of the people.
Let Your Magnificence, then, take this small gift in the spirit with which I send it; and if you consider and read it diligently, you will find within my utmost desire that you may attain to that greatness which fortune and your other qualities promise you. And if Your Magnificence, from the summit of your height, sometimes turns your eyes to these low places, you will recognize how undeservedly I endure a great and continual malignity of fortune.
—Note to the Dedication
This opening letter frames the whole book as a “gift” to a ruler—and signals Machiavelli’s method, audience, and aim.
Machiavelli follows a common Renaissance topos: those seeking favor bring princes costly presents (horses, jewels); he offers something “more precious”—hard-won political knowledge. The move flatters the addressee while elevating the treatise as a practical tool rather than a literary ornament.
“Magnificum Laurentium Medicem” is Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (1492–1519), later Duke of Urbino—not Lorenzo “il Magnifico,” who died in 1492. By addressing this Lorenzo, Machiavelli makes a concrete bid for Medici patronage after his fall from office.
The author’s promise of plain style (no “grandiloquent” adornment) previews the book’s governing stance: the “effective truth” of politics over elegant fictions. The Dedication is thus a manifesto for brevity, clarity, and utility.
