Machiavelli opens The Prince describing the two principal types of governments: monarchies and republics. His focus in The Prince is on monarchies. Machiavelli notes that monarchs have either just recently come to power, or else they are rulers from a long hereditary line. Thus a state is either ruled by a prince or it is simply a free state and when a prince annexes them, he wins them either by force, luck or special ability. …showed first 75 words of 1111 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1111 total…his policies, but the! y did not fear him for he was not cruel. Had Machiavelli been alive before the Peloponnesian War, I am convinced that the Athenians would have been ahead of their times. The Athenian leaders lacked much of what Machiavelli considers necessity for princes. Although one can argue that it did not have been a direct effect of the fall of Athens, the Athenians' did lack of ideal Machiavellian leaders. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**