When Niccolò Machiavelli penned The Prince—a heartless guide to creating and retaining autocratic political power that makes no place for idealism and lofty virtues—he came to be widely regarded as the Devil’s servant. Over the centuries, though, The Prince has come to be viewed as a classic text of political theory, a manifesto of bare-knuckles business management, and a significant piece of Renaissance literature. This program, made up of 26 one-to-five-minute segments, combines audio narration and simple animations to provide an easy-to-understand introduction to every chapter of Machiavelli’s controversial masterwork.
Segments include:
• Chapter 1: How Many Kinds of Principalities There Are, and by What Means They Are Acquired
• Chapter 2: Concerning Hereditary Principalities
• Chapter 3: Concerning Mixed Principalities
• Chapter 4: Why the Kingdom of Darius, Conquered by Alexander, Did Not Rebel Against the Successors of Alexander at His Death
• Chapter 5: Concerning the Way to Govern Cities or Principalities Which Lived Under Their Own Laws Before They Were Annexed
• Chapter 6: Concerning New Principalities Which Are Acquired by One’s Own Arms and Ability
• Chapter 7: Concerning New Principalities Which Are Acquired Either by the Arms of Others or by Good Fortune
• Chapter 8: Concerning Those Who Have Obtained a Principality by Wickedness
• Chapter 9: Concerning a Civil Principality
• Chapter 10: Concerning the Way in Which the Strength of All Principalities Ought to Be Measured
• Chapter 11: Concerning Ecclesiastical Principalities
• Chapter 12: How Many Kinds of Soldiery There Are, and Concerning Mercenaries
• Chapter 13: Concerning Auxiliaries, Mixed Soldiery, and One’s Own
• Chapter 14: That Which Concerns a Prince on the Subject of the Art of War
• Chapter 15: Concerning Things for Which Men, and Especially Princes, Are Praised or Blamed
• Chapter 16: Concerning Liberality and Meanness
• Chapter 17: Concerning Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether It Is Better to be Loved than Feared
• Chapter 18: Concerning the Way in Which Princes Should Keep Faith
• Chapter 19: That One Should Avoid Being Despised and Hated
• Chapter 20: Are Fortresses, and Many Other Things to Which Princes Often Resort, Advantageous or Hurtful?
• Chapter 21: How a Prince Should Conduct Himself So As to Gain Renown
• Chapter 22: Concerning the Secretaries of Princes
• Chapter 23: How Flatterers Should Be Avoided
• Chapter 24: The Princes of Italy Have Lost Their States
• Chapter 25: What Fortune Can Effect in Human Affairs, and How to Withstand Her
• Chapter 26: An Exhortation to Liberate Italy from the Barbarians
(79 minutes)