CLEP Western Civ I

Answer: B - Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian writer and political thinker who wrote the first modern political theory treatise, The Prince. Machiavelli’s masterpiece is often equated with stringent and reactionary policies, yet a more thorough reading would show that the writer himself prefers a republican style of governance, instead of the former. His theories were shaped by his time served in the Florentine government, which at the time was not under the strong influence of the Medicis.