In his first work of record, the prince, Niccolo won the respect of the newly returned Medici and thus allowed for the rest of his writings to be equally influential. His fictional work La Mandragola has similar political impetus, but his Discourses written during the year of his consultation on the constitution as requested by the now befriended Medici is a truer insight into the real Niccolo Machiavelli. His two later works The Art of War and the Life of Castruccio Castracane were his first commissioned works which were closely followed by his final piece on record, the History of Florence.
All of his works should be taken into account before caricaturizing the human being Niccolo Machiavelli. As all to often happens, as we will do in the next slide, the author is characterized by only one of his works “The Prince”. I would recommend for a complete study of Niccolo to delve into his works entire.