Niccolò Machiavelli
Italian Renaissance diplomat whose treatise The Prince told rulers when evil is necessary Show bio
Bio
Niccolo Machiavelli saw the violence that followed a failed plot against Florence's rulers when he was eight. He became secretary to Florence's council for war and diplomacy at 29, with no experience in office.
Machiavelli watched Cesare Borgia, the pope's son, take brutal revenge on his rebellious commanders. He was ousted when the Medici family returned to power, then exiled under mistaken suspicion of treason. Machiavelli then became a political writer, and The Prince excused state founders who killed their enemies.
He never saw it in print, since it appeared five years after his death. Machiavelli's name came to stand for the ruthless acts his book recommended.