Niccolò Machiavelli as Machiavelli had himself done, despite also explaining how they could sometimes work). This became the theme of much future political discourse in Europe during the 17th century. This includes the Catholic Counter Reformation writers summarised by Bireley: Giovanni Botero, Justus Lipsius, Carlo Scribani, Adam Contzen, Pedro de Ribadeneira, and Diego Saavedra Fajardo. These authors criticized Machiavelli, but also followed him in many ways. They accepted the need for a prince to be concerned with reputation, and even a need for cunning and deceit, but compared to Machiavelli, and like later modernist writers, they emphasized economic progress much more than
Machiavelli as a dramatist means. "The Prince" was originally dedicated to Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici. The Medicis, however, did not accept Machiavelli into their favor. According to The Prince's translator, Robert M. Adams, "…he was an instinctive dramatist, and one of the dramatic effects he most enjoyed producing was shock and outrage." The Prince offended the Medicis and once again Machiavelli had no job. Taking this in stride, he turned to drama in order to convey his messages. Machiavelli wrote "Mandragola" after "The Prince" to rehash his political commentary for the upperclass. Theatre is a cautious means of exposing truths because the audience