WI death of a prince

The title "death of a prince" is misleading. As for the actual POD, it is worth pointing out that the book "The Prince" would have a significant effect on later history.
 
I'm not sure The Prince has that much of an effect, really. It was good reading, but the philosophy it espouses was already around - sort of like Adam Smith didn't invent the market economy, he just made it accessible to the average reader.

But on the positive side, we wouldn't have a poloitical adjective that gets forever misspelled. Who'ds qualify for the dubious honour of naming ruthless politics then? Would we be calling it Bodinesque? Cromwellian?
 
Someone else would've come up with his work, yes. It wasn't like Niccolo was the only person to dig deep into the dark nature of the human soul and ambition.
 
Niccolo Machiavelli is murdered instead of being let go. Political effects? Effects on policy?

Does he need to be murdered? He was tortured while imprisoned. If they made it a little harder . . . (That might be called "murder" by some, though.)

I'm not sure The Prince has that much of an effect, really. It was good reading, but the philosophy it espouses was already around - sort of like Adam Smith didn't invent the market economy, he just made it accessible to the average reader.

But on the positive side, we wouldn't have a poloitical adjective that gets forever misspelled. Who'ds qualify for the dubious honour of naming ruthless politics then? Would we be calling it Bodinesque? Cromwellian?

Well, Maurice Joly would have to find someone else to have discourse with Montesquieu. Perhaps there would be no Dialogue in Hell between Whatsisname and Montesquieu.

And then what would the little Russian punk steal from to produce the Protocols . . .

Why, anti-Semitism would lose one of its key works!
 
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