​ PRINCIPE (prē̇n′chē̇-pe), Il (It., the Prince). A celebrated short political treatise by Niccoli Machiavelli (1513) showing how a ruler might gain and extend absolute power. Cesare Borgia was presumably the model for the prince, and the dissimulation and treachery advocated to attain success made Machiavelli's principles synonymous with political infamy. A modern view has credited him with ardent longing for Italian unity and with the purpose of portraying merely the methods of his day.