Caption:
Cesare Borgia seated with Machiavelli. Cesare Borgia (1475-1507), Duke of Valentinois, was an Italian condottiero, nobleman, politician, and cardinal with Aragonese origin, whose fight for power was a major inspiration for The Prince by Machiavelli. Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469-1527) was an Italian historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He was for many years an official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He was a founder of modern political science, and more specifically political ethics. He was Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. He wrote his masterpiece, The Prince, after the Medici had recovered power and he no longer held a position of responsibility in Florence. Reproduction of painting by Federico Faruffini, 1898.