INTRODUCTION

More Books

The following is a list of the works of Machiavelli:

Principal works. Discorso sopra le cose di Pisa, 1499; Del modo di trattare i popoli della Valdichiana ribellati, 1502; Del modo tenuto dal duca Valentino nell' ammazzare Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, etc., 1502; Discorso sopra la provisione del danaro, 1502; Decennale primo (poem in terza rima), 1506; Ritratti delle cose dell' Alemagna, 1508-12; Decennale secondo, 1509; Ritratti delle cose di Francia, 1510; Discorsi sopra la prima deca di T. Livio, 3 vols., 1512-17; Il Principe, 1513; Andria, comedy translated from Terence, 1513 (?); Mandragola, prose comedy in five acts, with prologue in verse, 1513; Della lingua (dialogue), 1514; Clizia, comedy in prose, 1515 (?); Belfagor arcidiavolo (novel), 1515; Asino d'oro (poem in terza rima), 1517; Dell' arte della guerra, 1519-20; Discorso sopra il riformare lo stato di Firenze, 1520; Sommario delle cose della citta di Lucca, 1520; Vita di Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, 1520; Istorie fiorentine, 8 books, 1521-5; Frammenti storici, 1525.

Other poems include Sonetti, Canzoni, Ottave, and Canti carnascialeschi.

Editions. Aldo, Venice, 1546; della Tertina, 1550; Cambiagi, Florence, 6 vols., 1782-5; dei Classici, Milan, 10 1813; Silvestri, 9 vols., 1820-2; Passerini, Fanfani, Milanesi, 6 vols. only published, 1873-7.

Minor works. Ed. F. L. Polidori, 1852; Lettere familiari, ed. E. Alvisi, 1883, 2 editions, one with excisions; Credited Writings, ed. G. Canestrini, 1857; Letters to F. Vettori, see A. Ridolfi, Pensieri intorno allo scopo di N. Machiavelli nel libro Il Principe, etc.; D. Ferrara, The Private Correspondence of Nicolo Machiavelli, 1929.

DEDICATION

To the Magnificent Lorenzo Di Piero De' Medici:

    Those who strive to obtain the good graces of a prince are
    accustomed to come before him with such things as they hold most
    precious, or in which they see him take most delight; whence one
    often sees horses, arms, cloth of gold, precious stones, and
    similar ornaments presented to princes, worthy of their greatness.

    Desiring therefore to present myself to your Magnificence with
    some testimony of my devotion towards you, I have not found among
    my possessions anything which I hold more dear than, or value so
    much as, the knowledge of the actions of great men, acquired by
    long experience in contemporary affairs, and a continual study of
    antiquity; which, having reflected upon it with great and
    prolonged diligence, I now send, digested into a little volume, to
    your Magnificence.

    And although I may consider this work unworthy of your
    countenance, nevertheless I trust much to your benignity that it
    may be acceptable, seeing that it is not possible for me to make a
    better gift than to offer you the opportunity of understanding in
    the shortest time all that I have learnt in so many years, and
    with so many troubles and dangers; which work I have not
    embellished with swelling or magnificent words, nor stuffed with
    rounded periods, nor with any extrinsic allurements or adornments
    whatever, with which so many are accustomed to embellish their
    works; for I have wished either that no honour should be given it,
    or else that the truth of the matter and the weightiness of the
    theme shall make it acceptable.