Niccolo Machiavelli
            
             Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian politician and political philosopher
            
             who is thought to be the founder of modern political science. He is most
            
             popular for his work The Prince in which he explains that the route to a
            
             successful reign is through deception or to whatever means to get the job
            
             done. Machiavelli's concepts were considered amoral but he believed that
            
             these rules could be portrayed by the political practices of his time and those
            
             of the earlier ruling periods.
            
             Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy on May 3, 1469. He was
            
             raised in a family of nobility and received good education in Latin classics. In
            
             1494, Machiavelli became a clerk under Marcello Virgillo Adriani and in 1498,
            
             he succeeded him and became a secretary when the Florentine Republic was
            
             proclaimed. He served on 30 diplomatic missions while reorganizing and
            
             supervising the military operations of the republic. In 1512, when the republic
            
             collapsed and the Medici ruling family regained power. Machiavelli was
            
             suspected of plotting a conspiracy against them. Thus, he was tortured and
            
             sentenced to prison. After his release, he became indigent and devoted his
            
             time to writing where some of his most important works were written but did
            
             not receive fame until they were published posthumously. These works were
            
             his attempts to gain favor with the Medici rulers for a favorable and eminent
            
             government position, but his attempts failed. On June 21, 1527, Machiavelli
            
             died in Florence during the time when the republic was temporarily put back in
            
             position.
            
             Machiavelli's works included Vita di Castruccio Castracani (1520), Dell'
            
             arte della guerra (Oh the Art of War, 1521), Mandragola (The Mandrake,
            
             1524), Istoria Fiorentine (History Of Florentine, 1525), Discourses Upon Livy
            
             (1531), and his most famous work Il principe (The Prince, 1532).
            
             Throughout his life, Machiavelli questioned the rel...