The Prince
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Niccolò Machiavelli; Translated by Angelo Codevilla; Commentary by William B. Allen, Hadley Arkes, Carnes Lord
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A classic of the Western tradition, Machiavelli’s The Prince has influenced political and philosophical thought since its publication four centuries ago. Political power, Machiavelli taught, has no limits. It leaves no room for the sacred, and it subordinates right and wrong to success. In this edition of Machiavelli’s momentous book, Angelo M. Codevilla provides a translation uniquely faithful to the original, and especially sensitive to the author’s use of verbal imprecision, including puns, double meanings, and the subjunctive mood.
The volume includes an introduction by Codevilla that places Machiavelli in the context of his own times, demonstrates his relevance to the history of political thought, and inquires into the place of Machiavelli’s ideas in modern debates. This edition also contains three essays that explore some of the most important ways The Prince clashes with the other main branch of Western civilization—the Socratic and Judeo-Christian traditions: "Machiavelli’s Realism" by Carnes Lord, "Machiavelli and Modernity" by W. B. Allen, and "Machiavelli and America" by Hadley Arkes.
"Codevilla has the ability to convey in a straightforward and accessible style what is important about the Western Tradition and about Machiavelli’s contribution to it."—Larry Peterman, University of California, Davis
"Codevilla is a penetrating scholar of Machiavelli. The style of his translation may surprise some readers, but that is because it is faithful to the stylistic convolution of the original."—Harry V. Jaffa
"The true highlight of the volume, are the critical essays that accompany the translation."—Washington Times
"Of the essays I particularly admired Carnes Lord’s "Machiavelli’s Realism," which is as good and as clear an introduction to Machiavelli’s thought as can be found anywhere."—Clifford Orvin, Wall Street Journal
"Codevilla . . . has taken great pains to bring into English much of the shiftiness and multivalence of Machiavelli’s Italian. . . . The true highlight of the volume, though, are the critical essays that accompany the translation. . . . Students of contemporary politics will find them enormously edifying."—Washington Times
Publication Date: July 21, 1997
