Real Machiavelli

Real Machiavelli
"Murderous Machiavel" was how Shakespeare referred to him; others in the 16th century used the satanic label "Old Nick" for the crafty philosopher. In 1827, Lord Macaulay, poet and philosopher, wrote that he doubted "whether any name in literary history be so generally odious." In this century, the left-leaning philosopher Bertrand Russell dismissed Machiavelli's masterpiece, The Prince, as "a handbook for gangsters." The 10th edition of Webster's Collegiate Dictionary informs latter-day students that "Machiavellian" means "marked by cunning, duplicity or bad faith." (Cu…