One of the claims Dietz makes is that Machiavelli made no attempt at all to publicize The Prince; he wrote & delivered it to the respective palace, and that was it.
Added: note that the Discourses were also banned. Subtracted: actually, that might have been a blanket ban, providing no evidence.
It seems entirely plausible to me that it was written with no other goal than gaining patronage. I’ll update the post.
One of the claims Dietz makes is that Machiavelli made no attempt at all to publicize The Prince; he wrote & delivered it to the respective palace, and that was it.
So what if he meant to do it gently in the Discourses on Livy rather than brazenly in the Prince?
Added: note that the Discourses were also banned. Subtracted: actually, that might have been a blanket ban, providing no evidence.
It seems entirely plausible to me that it was written with no other goal than gaining patronage. I’ll update the post.