Skinner's particular contribution was to articulate a theory of interpretation which concentrated on recovering the ' speech acts ' embedded in the ' illocutionary ' statements of specific individuals in writing works of political theory ( Machiavelli, Thomas More, and Thomas Hobbes have been continuing preoccupations ).

Machiavelli says that the first book will discuss things that happened inside of Rome as the result of public counsel ( I 1. 6 ), the second, decisions made by the Roman people pertaining to the increase of its empire ( II Pr. 3 ), and the third, how the actions of particular men made Rome great ( III 1. 6 ).

Agathocles was cited as from the lowest, most abject condition of life and as an example of “ those who by their crimes come to be princes ” in Chapter VIII of Niccolò Machiavelli ’ s treatise on politics, The Prince ( 1513 ).

Machiavelli goes on to reason that Agathocles ' success, in contrast to other criminal tyrants, was due to his ability to mitigate his crimes by limiting them to those that " are applied at one blow and are necessary to one's security, and that are not persisted in afterwards unless they can be turned to the advantage of the subjects ".

Machiavelli was at Borgia's court from 7 October 1502 through 18 January 1503.

Machiavelli attributes two episodes to Cesare Borgia that were at least partially executed by his father: the method by which the Romagna was pacified, which Machiavelli describes in chapter VII of The Prince, and the assassination of his captains on New Year's Eve of 1503 in Senigallia.

The Education of a Christian Prince was published in 1516, three years after Niccolò Machiavelli ’ s The Prince.

Furthermore, it has been established that a substantial portion of it was taken, without citation, from a 1864 satire on Napoleon III by one Maurice Joly ( his French language work, The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu )-so that it also constitutes plagiarism.

A second individual of unusually acute insight was Niccolò Machiavelli, whose prescriptions for Florence's regeneration under strong leadership have often been seen as a legitimization of political expediency and even malpractice.

In other words, Machiavelli was a sort of political thinker, perhaps most renowned for his political handbook titled, The Prince, which is about ruling and the exercise of power.

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (, 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527 ) was an Italian historian, diplomat, philosopher, humanist and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance.

Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy, the first son and third child of attorney, Bernardo di Niccolò Machiavelli, and his wife, Bartolomea di Stefano Nelli.

Machiavelli, like many people of Florence, was however not a full citizen of Florence, due to the nature of Florentine citizenship in that time, even under the republican regime.

Machiavelli was born in a tumultuous era — popes waged acquisitive wars against Italian city-states, and people and cities might fall from power at any time.

Machiavelli was taught grammar, rhetoric, and Latin, and became a prolific writer.

In June 1498, shortly after the execution of Savonarola, Machiavelli, at the age of 29, was elected as head of the second chancery.

Between 1503 and 1506 Machiavelli was responsible for the Florentine militia, including the City's defense.

Machiavelli was deprived of office in 1512 by the Medici.

Besides being a statesman and political scientist, Machiavelli also translated classical works, and was a dramaturge ( Clizia, Mandragola ), a poet ( Sonetti, Canzoni, Ottave, Canti carnascialeschi ), and a novelist ( Belfagor arcidiavolo ).

It has been suggested that due to such things as this and his style of writing to his superiors generally, there was very likely some animosity to Machiavelli even before the return of the Medici.

While Gilbert emphasizes the similarities however, he agrees with all other commentators that Machiavelli was particularly novel in the way he used this genre, even when compared to his contemporaries such as Baldassare Castiglione and Erasmus.

One of the major innovations Gilbert noted was that Machiavelli focused upon the " deliberate purpose of dealing with a new ruler who will need to establish himself in defiance of custom ".

Machiavelli was critical of catholic political thinking and may have been influenced by Averroism.

Leo Strauss argued that the strong influence of Xenophon, a student of Socrates more known as an historian, rhetorician and soldier, was a major source of Socratic ideas for Machiavelli, sometimes not in line with Aristotle.

As reports, in the 16th century, Catholic writers " associated Machiavelli with the Protestants, whereas Protestant authors saw him as Italian and Catholic ".

They accepted the need for a prince to be concerned with reputation, and even a need for cunning and deceit, but compared to Machiavelli, and like later modernist writers, they emphasized economic progress much more than the riskier ventures of war.

These writers, such as Machiavelli, also wrote important prescriptive works describing how such governments should function.

These writers included Machiavelli, Milton, Montesquieu, and the founders of the United States of America.

Classical writers like Tacitus, and Renaissance writers like Machiavelli, tried to avoid an outspoken preference for one government system or another.

It should be noted that classical writers such as Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes and Theodore Roosevelt, are often cited as " founding fathers " of realism by contemporary self-described realists.

Concerning the behavior of a prince toward his subjects, Machiavelli announces that he will depart from what other writers say, and writes:

As reports, in the 16th century, Catholic writers " associated Machiavelli with the Protestants, whereas Protestant authors saw him as Italian and Catholic ".

They accepted the need for a prince to be concerned with reputation, and even a need for cunning and deceit, but compared to Machiavelli, and like later modernist writers, they emphasized economic progress much more than the riskier ventures of war.

The theory claims to rely upon an ancient tradition of thought which includes writers such as Thucydides, Machiavelli, and Hobbes.

Ferguson was influenced by classical humanism and such writers as Tacitus, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Thomas Hobbes.

By reputation, at least, Bodin was cited as an unbeliever, deist or atheist by Christian writers who associated him with perceived free-thinking and sceptical tradition of Machiavelli and Pietro Pomponazzi, Lucilio Vanini, Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza: Pierre-Daniel Huet, Nathaniel Falck, Claude-François Houtteville.

A friend and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli, he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance.

The second step of the argument of these neo-Roman writers, like Machiavelli, was that you have to be a member of a free self-governing civil association, a republic, if you are to enjoy individual liberty.

There appear to be only three writers who should be distinguished among the many who wrote comedies: Machiavelli, Ariosto, and Giovan Maria Cecchi.

Although in the seventeenth century changing military methods brought other writers to the fore, Machiavelli was still frequently quoted.

He has written on the early political writers Niccolò Machiavelli and Étienne de La Boétie and explored " the Totalitarian enterprise " in its " denial of social division ... of the difference between the order of power, the order of law and the order of knowledge ".