- First name
- Niccolò
- Last name
- Machiavelli
- Date of Birth
- 1469
- Date of Death
- 1527
- Born in
- Florence
- Died in
- Florence
Niccolò Machiavelli was a humanist political scientist, best known for his radical ‘Il Principe’ (The Prince, 1532). He had a quick career in the Florentine Republic. After the defeat of Florence (1512) by the Medici family, he left politics and devoted himself to a more intellectual life, authoring drama and maintaining a substantial correspondence. See: Ridolfo, 1963 (biography); Pocock, 2003. Spinoza owned two copies of Machiavelli’s works. The first listed in the inventory of his private library is: Tutte le opere, 5 parts in 1 volume, n. pl., 1550 (Offenberg, Spinoza’s Library, p. 319, no. 38; Musschenga and Van Sluis, p. 33). The second work (‘Machiavell. Basil’ (Offenberg, Spinoza’s Library, p. 320, no. 85; Musschenga and Van Sluis, p. 56) presumably concerns: Princeps. Ex Sylvestri Telii fulginatis traductione diligenter emendata, Basle, 1580. See: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/.