Machiavelli's The Prince Niccolo` Machiavelli was an Italian born in Florence in 1469, growing up in the ‘golden age’, during the rule of Lorenzo. His father was a Florentine lawyer, coming from a family with old fashioned values and middle class stature. In 1498, at the age of thirty, Machiavelli was appointed secretary and Second Chancellor to the Florentine Republic; working mostly at diplomatic responsibilities, administration and running military errands. Machiavelli felt very strongly that Florence needed a militia of it’s own, rather than rely on mercenary troops or the help of allies. He was allowed to put his plans for a Florentine militia into effect a