For 14 years Machiavelli was a bureaucrat and diplomat for the city-state of Florence, in Italy. He organized Florence's militia and was sent on diplomatic missions throughout Italy and other parts of Europe.

And at every opportunity he watched great men to see how they kept and extended their power. In 1502 he was sent to Romagna as a representative to Cesare Borgia, whom he admired for his boldness, clever frauds and expert use of cruelty.

But in 1512 the army of Pope Julius II took over Florence and restored the Medici family to its position of authority, and Machiavelli, a republican, was out of work.

He retired to a farm near San Casciano to write letters pleading for a job and suggesting ways his skills could be used.

One of those pleadings was "The Prince," a small book on political science he completed around 1513 and dedicated to Lorenzo Medici. He hoped Lorenzo would be impressed and offer him a job. But Lorenzo ignored it -- and him.

But the world did not long ignore The Prince. It soon became an underground classic in Florence and later was published widely.

The fascinating thing about Machiavelli's works -- particularly The Prince and to a lesser degree his "Discourses" -- are their clear-eyed examination of political power, how it is obtained, maintained and expanded. A reader of his works is bound to think, "Yes, I'll bet that would work!"

The troubling aspect of his writings are their cold-heartedness. Machiavelli is just as willing to help the wicked maintain and expand their power as he is the virtuous.

For example, if you are not sure whether to rise to power by brute force or by deceit, Machiavelli will help you decide. It is the chapter in Discourses entitled, "Cunning and deceit will serve a man better than force to rise from a base condition to great fortune."

Or, if you are having trouble deciding whether to kill the people from whom you have taken political power, Machiavelli would recommend you read the chapter in Discourses titled, "A prince cannot live securely in a state so long as those live whom he has deprived of it."

But let's be fair to the man -- though he might not be fair to us.

First, much of what he taught is good advice. For example: Rulers should avoid being hated by the population; they should shun flatterers; they shouldn't make laws and then disregard them, etc.

Second, during the Renaissance there was an effort to divorce learning from religion and religiously-derived morality, and Machiavelli -- a man of his time -- was simply applying this logic to the study of power.