Audiobook · read by volunteers
Prince
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
Read by Chip, Gesine, Kristin LeMoine, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Hugh McGuire, John Gonzalez, Jim Mowatt · 16 chapters · 5 h 54
About the book
How should a ruler gain power, keep it and lose as little as possible along the way? In the early sixteenth century, Niccolò Machiavelli wrote down his answer in a short, blunt treatise addressed to a prince, and it has shocked and fascinated readers ever since. He analyses different kinds of principalities, the use of armies, the value of reputation and the uncomfortable question of whether it is better to be loved or feared. Drawing on history and on his own experience of Italian politics, he argues with cold clarity and without moral decoration. This edition begins with notes on the translator, the man and his work, then moves through the chapters of the treatise. Seven LibriVox volunteers, among them Chip and Gesine, share the reading across about six hours, giving a lucid and thought-provoking introduction to political realism.
Introduction
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was a Florentine writer and diplomat. Il Principe, or The Prince, is a political treatise that he wrote around 1513, although it was not published until 1532, five years after his death. Its original title was De Principatibus, or About Principalities. It is his most famous work and the one that gave the word Machiavellian to the language, though the treatise is not actually representative of all his thought, and he wrote other works, such as the Discourses, that take a more republican view.
The Prince is a practical guide for rulers, based on his observation of the politics of his day. Machiavelli separates the study of what leaders do from the question of what they ought to do, and this approach is one reason the book is so often called the beginning of modern political science. Readers have argued for centuries about whether it is advice, satire or a work of survival written by a man out of office.
The recording is of an English translation dated 1908. It has 16 chapters, including three introductory sections on the translator, the man and his work, and the author, and runs for about 5.9 hours.
Why listen now? The questions it raises about power, trust and appearances remain urgent, and its brisk style makes it far more approachable than its reputation suggests. Because the chapters are short and focused, the treatise lends itself to listening in sections, perhaps with a pause to reflect on each argument. Many listeners find that it reads less like a manual of cruelty than like an essay about how hard it is to govern, and that the book is full of observations that still ring true.
Public domain
Niccolò Machiavelli died in 1527: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text