The Prince
by Nicolo Machiavelli
Written c. 1505
Table of Contents
Chapter I How Many Kinds Of Principalities There Are
And By What Means They Are Acquired
Chapter II Concerning Hereditary Principalities
Chapter III Concerning Mixed Principalities
Chapter IV Why The Kingdom Of Darius, Conquered By
Alexander, Did Not Rebel Against The
Successors Of Alexander At His Death
Chapter V Concerning The Way To Govern Cities Or
Principalities Which Lived Under Their Own
Laws Before They Were Annexed
Chapter VI Concerning New Principalities Which Are
Acquired By One's Own Arms And Ability
Chapter VII Concerning New Principalities Which Are
Acquired Either By The Arms Of Others Or By
Good Fortune
Chapter VIII Concerning Those Who Have Obtained A
Principality By Wickedness
Chapter IX Concerning A Civil Principality
Chapter X Concerning The Way In Which The Strength
Of All Principalities Ought To Be Measured
Chapter XI Concerning Ecclesiastical Principalities
Chapter XII How Many Kinds Of Soldiery There Are, And
Concerning Mercenaries
Chapter XIII Concerning Auxiliaries, Mixed Soldiery, And
One's Own
Chapter XIV That Which Concerns A Prince On The
Subject Of The Art Of War
Chapter XV Concerning Things For Which Men, And
Especially Princes, Are Praised Or Blamed
Chapter XVI Concerning Liberality And Meanness
Chapter XVII Concerning Cruelty And Clemency, And
Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared
Chapter XVIII Concerning The Way In Which Princes Should
Keep Faith
Chapter XIX That One Should Avoid Being Despised And
Hated
Chapter XX Are Fortresses, And Many Other Things To
Which Princes Often Resort, Advantageous Or
Hurtful?
Chapter XXI How A Prince Should Conduct Himself As To
Gain Renown
Chapter XXII Concerning The Secretaries Of Princes
Chapter XXIII How Flatterers Should Be Avoided
Chapter XXIV The Princes Of Italy Have Lost Their States
Chapter XXV What Fortune Can Effect In Human Affairs,
And How To Withstand Her
Chapter XXVI An Exhortation To Liberate Italy From The
Barbarians
CHAPTER I: How Many Kinds Of
Principalities There Are And By What
Means They Are Acquired
ALL STATES, all powers, that have held and hold
rule over men have been and are either republics
or principalities.
Principalities are either hereditary, in which the
family has been long established; or they are new.
The new are either entirely new, as was Milan to
Francesco Sforza, or they are, as it were,
members annexed to the hereditary state of the
prince who has acquired them, as was the
kingdom of Naples to that of the King of Spain.
Such dominions thus acquired are either
accustomed to live under a prince, or to live in
freedom; and are acquired either by the arms of
the prince himself, or of others, or else by fortune
or by ability.
CHAPTER II: Concerning Hereditary
Principalities
I WILL leave out all discussion on republics,
inasmuch as in another place I have written of
them at length, and will address myself only to
principalities. In doing so I will keep to the order
indicated above, and discuss how such
principalities are to be ruled and preserved.
I say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding
hereditary states, and those long accustomed to
the family of their prince, than new ones; for it is
sufficient only not to transgress the customs of his
ancestors, and to deal prudently with
circumstances as they arise, for a prince of
average powers to maintain himself in his state,
unless he be deprived of it by some extraordinary
and excessive force; and if he should be so
deprived of it, whenever anything sinister happens
to the usurper, he will regain it.
We have in Italy, for example, the Duke of Ferrara,
who could not have withstood the attacks of the
