Machiavelli used the Persian empire of Darius III, conquered by Alexander the Great, to illustrate this point and then noted that the Medici, if they think about it, will find this historical example similar to the " kingdom of the Turk " ( Ottoman Empire ) in their time-making this a potentially easier conquest to hold than France would be.

Machiavelli advises that a prince should carefully calculate all the wicked deeds he needs to do to secure his power, and then execute them all in one stroke, such that he need not commit any more wickedness for the rest of his reign.

Machiavelli then provides the following reasons why:

On the one hand, then, Machiavelli erred by assigning too great a value on princely machinations that, Frederick claims, ended in disaster, as the king's evil actions are taken up by his subjects.

A broad overview would then have Erasmus, Francis Bacon, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Galileo Galilei represent the rise of empiricism and humanism in place of scholastic tradition.

* As Machiavelli described the start of the “ Italian Wars ”, Charles VIII, hoping to capture the Kingdom of Naples, invaded Italy at the head of a 30, 000 man force, one of the first armed with modern artillery, and on October 29th 1494 the French king breached Fivizzano ’ s defensive walls with an artillery assault and then sacked the city on the way to Florence where Savonarola praised the French monarch as a savior who would cleanse the city of decadent corruption.

Pitti was then ennobled and very wealthy indeed, Niccolò Machiavelli in his History of Florence estimates no less a sum than twenty thousand ducats was presented to him.

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.

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.

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

Machiavelli died in 1527 at the age of 58.

In any case Machiavelli presented himself at various times as someone reminding Italians of the old virtues of the Romans and Greeks, and other times as someone promoting a completely new approach to politics.

He accused Machiavelli of being an atheist and accused politicians of his time by saying that his works were the " Koran of the courtiers ", that " he is of no reputation in the court of France which hath not Machiavel's writings at the fingers ends ".

* Machiavelli at the Marxists Internet Archive, including some of his works

* Machiavelli and the Italian City on the BBC's In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg ; with Quentin Skinner, Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge ; Evelyn Welch, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London ; Lisa Jardine, Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London

Bolingbroke seems to be a leader coming into power at a time England is in turmoil, and follows closely the formula stated by Machiavelli.

Machiavelli took it for granted that would-be leaders naturally aim at glory or honor.

16th century France, or in other words France as it was at the time of writing of the Prince, is given by Machiavelli as an example of such a kingdom.

Fortune, Machiavelli argues, seems to strike at the places where no resistance is offered, as had recently been the case in Italy.

Machiavelli would have granted the sovereign the right to act for the benefit of his state without moral consideration, and Protestant theorists advocated a popular government, or at least an elective monarchy.

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.

It was at this time that Machiavelli introduced a standing army in Florence, replacing the traditional use of hired mercenaries.

Further, it is not at all clear that Machiavelli himself was the apologist for immorality as whom he is often portrayed: the basic problem is the apparent contradiction between the monarchism of The Prince and the republicanism of the Discourses.

The Swiss, with their head-down attack in huge columns with the long pike, refusal to take prisoners, and consistent record of victory, were greatly feared and admired — for instance, Machiavelli addresses their system of combat at length in The Prince.

A critical period in the history of this work's influence is at the end of the Middle Ages, and beginning of modernity, when several authors such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes, argued forcefully and largely successfully that the medieval Aristotelian tradition in practical thinking had become a great impediment to practical political thinking in their time.

The term is sometimes used more broadly and considered to have begun in the 1500s with Niccolò Machiavelli, Martin Luther and John Calvin ; to have also included Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Francis Bacon, Giambattista Vico, Voltaire and Thomas Paine ; and to have ended at the latest in 1804 with the death of Immanuel Kant.

The manner in which he was caught at Castel Sant ' Angelo in Rome by its castellan, Antonio Rido of Padua, is recounted by Machiavelli

In its use of near contemporary Italians as examples of people who perpetrated criminal deeds for politics, another lesser-known work by Machiavelli which The Prince has been compared to is the Life of Castruccio Castracani.

* The clurichauns appear in the popular children's book The Warlock: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott as one of the creatures planned to be loosed on the city of San Francisco by Niccolò Machiavelli and Billy the Kid.

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.

* Martelli, Mario ( 2004 ), “ Tracce d ` una preistoria dell ` Arte della Guerra di Niccolò Machiavelli ”, Interpres, XXIII, pp. 256 – 8.

* Martelli, Mario ( 1998a ), Machiavelli e gli storici antichi, osservazioni su alcuni luoghi dei discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio, Quaderni di Filologia e critica, 13, Salerno Editrice, Roma.

* Martelli, Mario ( 1985 – 1986 ), “ Schede sulla cultura di Machiavelli ”, Interpres VI, pp. 283 – 330.

* Martelli, Mario ( 1974 ), “ L ´ altro Niccolò di Bernardo Machiavelli ”, Rinascimento, XIV, pp. 39 – 100.

* Martelli, Mario ( 1971 ), “ Preistoria ( medicea ) di Machiavelli ”, Studi di Filologia Italiana, XXIX, pp. 377 – 405.

by Mario Martelli and Nicoletta Marcelli, Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Niccolò Machiavelli, Salerno Editrice, Roma.

by Francesco Bausi, Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Niccolò Machiavelli, II vol.

Though the work was written for the di Medici family in order to perhaps influence them to free him from exile, Machiavelli supported the Republic of Florence rather than the oligarchy of the di Medici family.

** Niccolò Machiavelli – Discorso sopra le cose di Pisa

* Late 15th century In the late 15th century, a dove with an olive branch was used on the seal of Dieci di Balia, the Florentine committee known as The Ten of Liberty and Peace, whose secretary was Machiavelli ; it bore the motto, " Pax et Defencio Libertatis " ( Peace and the Defence of Liberty ).

* Considerazioni intorno ai " Discorsi " del Machiavelli sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio (" Observations on Machiavelli's Discourses "; 1528, or possibly 1530 )

Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli by Santi di Tito.

Louise is buried in the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence ( in the Castellani Chapel ); Alfieri is also buried in the basilica ( between the tombs of Machiavelli and Michelangelo ).

* Niccolò Machiavelli: Vita di Castruccio