Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/10/2013,SPi
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MACHIAVELLI S PRINCE
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Machiavelli s Prince
A New Reading
ERICA BENNER
1
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3
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Quantopiúmiècresciutolasperanza,tantomiècresciutoeltimore...Oimé,
cheionontruovorequieinalcunoloco!Talvoltaiocercodivinceremestesso,
riprendomidiquestomiofurore,edicomeco:Chefaitu?Se’tuimpazzato?
Quandotul’ottenga,chefia?...Nonsaituquantopocobenesitruovanella
cosechel’uomodesidera,rispettoaquellochel’uomohapresuppostotrovarvi?
Themoremyhopehasgrown,themoremyfearhasgrown...Woeisme!
Ican’tfindrestanywhere!SometimesItrytoconquermyself,reproaching
myselffor thisfuryofmine,and saytomyself: Whatareyoudoing? Are
youcrazy?Whenyougether,what’llitamountto?...Don’tyouknowhow
littlegoodamanfindsinthethingshehaslongedfor,comparedwithwhat
heexpectedtofind?
(Mandragola,ActIV,scene1)
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Acknowledgements
Ihavebeeninspiredandchallengedbydiscussionswithotherscholars,some
at early stages of writing and others when the manuscript was more or less
complete. I regret that I had too little time and space to address all their
suggestionsinthetext.Nondimanco,Ithankthefollowingfortheircontribu-
tions to my thinking on the Prince, and hope for future opportunities to
continueourdiscussions:AdrianBlau,GuillaumeBogiaris,DirkBrantl,Dallas
Denery, DenisFachard,BenedettoFontana,Tankred Freiberger, RolfGeiger,
Michael Gillespie, Giovanni Giorgini, Anthony Grafton, Ruth Grant, Otfried
Höffe, Andreas Kablitz, George Kateb, Daniel Stein Kokin, Robyn Marasco,
John McCormick, David Miller, Cary Nederman, Luis Javier Orjuela, Gio-
vanni Panno, Zbigniew Pelczynski, Mark Philp, Alessandro Pinzani, Ema-
nuele Cutinelli Rendina, JorgeAndres López Rivera, Rodrigo Romero, Rahul
Sagar, Peter Schröder, Quentin Skinner, Peter Stacey, Vickie Sullivan, Diego
von Vacano, Ever Eduardo Velazco, Armando Villegas, Maurizio Viroli,
Daniel Weinstock, Will Wittels, and Catherine Zuckert. Special thanks are
due to John Najemy for his prudentissimo advice on my original book
proposal.
SomeoftheideasinthisbookwerepresentedattheGroupedeRecherche
Interuniversitaire en Philosophie Politique, Montreal; Philosophisches
Seminar, Tübingen University; Oriel College, Oxford; the Center for Human
Values, Princeton; Duke University; Universidad Javeriana, Cali, Colombia;
and Renaissance Studies Association conferences in Montreal and Washing-
ton, D.C. I thank the organizers for their invitations, and the audiences and
otherparticipantsfortheircomments.
IalsothankAndrewHurrell,CatherineClarke,andtheanonymousreaders
for OUP for their valuable suggestions; and Dominic Byatt, Aimee Wright,
CarlaHodge,andMandiGomezatOUPforalltheireditorialsupport.
I am grateful above all to Patrick and to my mother, to whom I dedicate
thisbook.Sincewordscannotexpressthedepthofmygratitude,Ishallleave
themout.
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Contents
Detailedcontents xi
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction xix
Machiavelli’sironictechniques xlv
Codedwords liii
Dedication:princesandpeoples 1
States
1. Statesandmodes 9
2. Maintainingstates 23
3. Empire 31
4. Absolutegovernment 53
5. Freecities 61
Modes
6. Virtú 69
7. Fortune 89
8. Crimes 111
9. Fortunateastuteness 123
Foundations
10. Abundanceandnecessity 139
11. Popes 149
12. Armsandlaws 155
13. Armsandvirtú 163
14. Knowledgeanddiscipline 169
Virtuesandvices
15. Praiseandblame 179
16. Givingandspending 185
17. Fearandpunishment 197
18. Deceptionandgoodfaith 213
19. Whatprincesshouldfear 225
Description:Why did Machiavelli write the Prince - and why did religious and political authorities find it so threatening? Five hundred years on, this book tries to answer these questions.In the first detailed, chapter-by-chapter reading of the Prince in any language, Erica Benner shows that the book is a maste
