Niccolo Machiavelli (3 May 1469 - 21 June 1527) was an Italian Renaissance diplomat, philosopher and writer, best known for The Prince. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science. For many years he served as a senior official in the Florentine Republic with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is of high importance to historians and scholars. He worked as secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power.

Editorial note; Introduction; Principal events in Machiavelli's life; Bibliographical note; Translator's note; Map: northern and central Italy, c.1500; Dedicatory letter: Niccolò Machiavelli to His Magnificence Lorenzo de' Medici; 1. How many kinds of principality there are, and by what means they are acquired; 2. Hereditary principalities; 3. Mixed principalities; 4. Why the Kingdom of Darius, which Alexander occupied, did not rebel against his successors after Alexander's death; 5. By what means cities or provinces that lived under their own laws before they were occupied ought to be administered; 6. New principalities acquired by one's own arms and ability; 7. New principalities acquired through the arms and fortune of others; 8. Those who become rulers through crime; 9. The civil principality; 10. In what ways the strengths of all principalities should be measured; 11. Ecclesiastical principalities; 12. How many kinds of soldiers there are, and mercenary troops; 13. Auxiliaries, mixed troops and one's own troops; 14. How a ruler should act concerning military matters; 15. The things for which men, and especially rulers, are praised or blamed; 16. Liberality and parsimony; 17. Cruelty and mercifulness; and whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the contrary; 18. In what way rulers should keep their promises; 19. How contempt and hatred should be avoided; 20. Whether building fortresses, and many other things that rulers frequently do, are useful or useless; 21. What a ruler should do in order to be thought outstanding; 22. On those whom rulers employ in secret matters; 23. How flatterers should be shunned; 24. Why the rulers of Italy have lost their states; 25. How much control fortune has over human affairs, and by what means she can be resisted; 26. An exhortation to seize possession of Italy and assert her liberty from the barbarians; Appendix A. Letters relevant to The Prince; Appendix B. Notes on the vocabulary of The Prince; Biographical notes; Index of subjects; Index of proper names.