The Prince edited by E. R. P. VINCENT
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| The prince by NICCOLO Machiavelli |
The publication of a new edition of Luigi Ricci’s translation of II Principe has given opportunity for a complete revision.
Over thirty years have passed since its first appearance and during that time the text of the Italian original has been the subject of research which has resulted in a definitive edition.
This text, on which the present revision is based, is derived from a col- lation ofthe Gotha MS. with nine others identified as belonging to two distinct groups, and varies in important respects from that originally used by Ricci.
As far as we are aware no translation has appeared in England since the publication of the revised text in 1929. The fortune of II Principe in this country has been a curious one. The book was written in 1513 and first published in 1532, but no English translation is known before that of Edward Dacres in 1640.
The existence of a French version (1553) and a Latin translation (1566) is not sufficient to explain the familiarity of the Elizabethans with the Machiavelli of II Prin- cipe, a Machiavelli distorted into a monster of iniquity, if not into the devil himself.
Manuscript translations of the Principe undoubtedly existed long before Dacres’ publication, and it is par- ticularly interesting to record a Scots transla- tion by William Fowler (probably written 1580- 1 59°) seeing that Machiavelli was early known 1 Niccolo Machiavelli, Tutte le Opere, a cura di Guido Mazzoni e Mario Casella, Firenze, Barbera, 1929.in Scotland as is proved by the references in the
Sempill ballads.
Excerpt
CHAPTER II OF HEREDITARY MONARCHIES
I will not here speak of republics, having already treated of them fully in another place. Rwill deal only with monarchies, and will^dis- cuss how the various kinds described above cap be governed and maintained. In th ffirst place, the 'difficulty of maintaining hereditary states accustomed to a reigning family is far less than in new monarchies; for it is sufficient not to transgress ancestral usages, and to adapt one’s self to unforeseen circumstances; in this way such a prince, if of ordinary assiduity, will always be able to maintain his position, unless some very exceptional and excessive force deprives him of it; and even if he be thus deprived, on the slightest mischance happening to the new occupier, he will be able to regain it.
We have in Italy the example of the Duke of Ferrara, who was able to withstand the assaults of the Venetians in 1484 and of Pope Julius in 1510, for no other reason than because of the antiquity of his iamily in that dominion. In as much as the legitimate prince has less cause and less necessity to give offence, it is only natural that he should be more loved; and, if no extra- ordinary vices make him hated, it is only reason- able for his subjects to be naturally attached to him, the memories and causes ofinnovations being forgotten in the long period over which his rule has extended; whereas one change always leaves the way prepared for the introduction of another.