Dedicatory Letter

The cover letter that opens The Prince is addressed to Lorenzo de Medici, a member of the ruling family in Florence. The letter introduces the book as an attempt to gain Lorenzo's favor, referring to the work as "a gift" and promising to show him—through examples of how powerful men have behaved throughout history—the most proven way to govern his people.

Much of language of the "Dedicatory Letter" is meant to assure the prince that Machiavelli is indeed humble; he wants the prince to benefit from his experience while at the same time avoiding the appearance that he knows more than him. These two ideas are contradictory, and so Machiavelli makes a point of downplaying his own qualifications. Historically, this has been read as an attempt to secure a job within Medici's government, although the letter itself emphasizes the point that he was trying...