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Under close scrutiny, The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is seen to be a mind-baffling construct of many levels of meaning, and, many might say, enigmatically so. It is hard to determine where Machiavelli is writing in earnest and where in sarcasm or self-condemnation. As John Plamenatz says, the perverse Machiavelli "likes to make himself out worse than he is. He likes at times to shock his contemporaries..." No doubt he succeeds. The important message here, though, is that the reader can never be positive of Machiavelli's real views. The same is true in considering the significance of the terms virtu and fortuna (and their several translations), so often used by Machiavelli to drive home his points. But by looking at many possibilities for their frequent and seemingly suggestive usages, and at some of the ancient thought with which Machiavelli was supremely familiar, we can arrive at a satisfactory speculation, we can discuss the web weaved by Machiavelli in his profes! sions. The first, most obvious purpose of The Prince is stated by the author himself, addressing Lorenzo de' Medici: If you will read [this book] over and study it carefully, you will recognize in it my most earnest desire that you may achieve that sum