Was The Prince by Machiavelli intended as satire?
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The Prince was not meant as satire but rather as a proffered training manual on how to be an effective ruler in a monarchy. It was specifically intended for Lorenzo de'Medici by Niccolo Macchiavelli because he hoped that the book would be reviewed favorably enough that the de'Medici's would recall him from the exile he had been assigned to. Several have suggested that the book was satirical in nature. Rousseau has made this claim frequently. I tend to think that it was what it was. He used the life of Cesare Borgia as a model for the young de' Medici in hopes that it would put him back in the good graces of that ruling family. Recall that he had actually been imprisoned and tortured by the de'Medici's for a short time after the fall of Florence. I suspect that he was very earnestly trying to avoid a repetition of that unpleasant experience. Whether he might have written the book as an allegory or double entendre is something Macchiavelli never said or wrote about himself so it will always be conjecture.
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