This is a major new English-language edition of one of the central texts in the history of political thought, presenting students with the most accurate and accessible translation yet of Machiavelli’s famous treatise. In his introduction to Russell Price’s translation, Quentin Skinner presents a lucid analysis of The Prince, seeing the text both as a commentary upon the immediate world of Florentine politics, and as a response to the genre of advice-books for princes published by a number of Machiavelli’s contemporaries. Emphasising the specific message of warning beneath its surface generalities, Professor Skinner examines the intellectual context of The Prince, and highlights Machialvelli’s repudiation of Renaissance moralism and its classical antecedents Numerous aids for the student reader are provided, including brief biographies of persons mentioned in the text and notes on Machiavelli’s sometimes problematic vocabulary, as well as a chronology of important events and a guide to further reading.