Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Today's encore selection -- from Niccolo's Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli by Maurizio Viroli.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a statesman, author and source of the term 'machiavellian,' which has come to mean 'unscrupulously cunning, deceptive or expedient' in seeking to achieve some end, and comes from the ideas he put forward in his book, The Prince. Niccolo was an able and eager political functionary renowned for his good humor and wit, but was banished from political life when the Republic of Florence he served fell, and was replaced by the returning Medici and the old form of autocracy. Though he wrote passionately in advocating republics above autocracies, The Prince was his attempt to show that he could nevertheless be a worthy counselor to the Medici—a notably unsuccessful bid to win a job, since the Medici disregarded him. With this book he was saying, 'If you want to be a powerful autocrat here's how to do it right':/.../ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Lembrei-me de um artigo que escrevi em 1993 https://amicore-book.blogspot.com/2016/08/hipocrates-ou-maquiavel.html