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03 - The Prince - Machiavelli · Logic Library

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  The author's dedication to the magnificent Lorenzo de Piero de Medici. Those who strive
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  to obtain the good graces of a prince are accustomed to come before him with
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  such things as they hold most precious, or in which they see him take
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  most delight. Whence one often sees horses, arms, cloth of gold,
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  precious stones, and similar ornaments presented to princes worthy of their greatness. Desiring
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  therefore, to present myself to your magnificence with some testimony of my devotion towards
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  you, I have not found among my possessions anything which I hold more dear
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  than or value so much as the knowledge of the actions of great men,
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  acquired by long experience in contemporary affairs, and a continual study of antiquity,
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  which, having reflected upon it with great and prolonged diligence, I now send
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  digest into a little volume to your magnificence. And although I may consider this
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  work unworthy of your countenance, nevertheless I trust much to your madignity that it
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  may be acceptable, Seeing that it is not possible for me to make a
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  better gift than to offer you the opportunity of understanding in the shortest time.
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  All that I have learnt in so many years, and with so many troubles
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  and dangers, which work I have not embellished with the swelling or magnificent words,
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  nor stuffed with rounded periods, nor with any extrinsic allurements or adornments whatever
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  with which so many are accustomed to embellish their works. For I have wished
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  either that no honour should be given it, or else that the truth of
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  the matter and the weightiness of the theme shall make it acceptable. Nor do
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  I hold with those who regard it as a presumption if a man of low
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  and humble condition dare to discourse and settle the concerns of princes, Because just
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  as those who draw landscapes place themselves below in the plain to contemplate the nature
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  of the mountains and of lofty places, and in order to contemplate the plains
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  place themselves upon high mountains, even so as to understand the nature of the
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  people, it needs to be a prince, and to understand that of princes,
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  it needs to be of the people. Take, then, your magnificence,
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  this little gift in the spirit in which I send it, wherein if
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  it be diligently read and considered by you, you will learn my extreme desire
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  that you should attain that greatness which fortune and your other attributes promise. And
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  if your magnificence, from the summit of your greatness, will sometimes turn your
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  eyes to these lower regions, you will see how unmeritedly I suffer a great
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  and continued malignity of fortune. End of the author's dedication.