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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   26797 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026

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Which translation of The Prince is this? I want to know so I can [fedpost] the translator.

I am pretty sure that the translator is Tim Parks. More out of curiosity than anything else, what is your objection to the translation?

Aesthetically, I can't stand it when translators use colloquial English to seem accessible , it reads like a dumbing-down. Specifically to Machiavelli, he is an extremely clear and precise prose stylist; his writing is a succession of syllogisms, whose clarity is heightened by a more formal and precise style. Compare George Bull, I don't know if it's the best but it's the one I happen to have to hand:

From this arises the following question: whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. The answer is that one would like to be both one and the other; but because it is difficult to combine them, it is far better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.

One reads like a tossed-off piece of advice in a conversation, one like a carefully considered thought.

Aesthetically, I can't stand it when translators use colloquial English to seem accessible ,

I understand. I tend to agree with you although it doesn't bother me too much either way.

Project Gutenberg has two different English translations, W. K. Marriott (no date given) and Luigi Ricci (1909). Both of them seem similar to the one that you give.

Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.

From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved more than feared, or feared more than loved. The reply is, that one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one of the two has to be wanting.

Wikisource has what appears to be the original Italian (republished in 1814):

Nasce da questo una disputa: s’egli è meglio essere amato che temuto, o temuto che amato. Rispondesi, che si vorrebbe essere l’uno e l’altro; ma perchè egli è difficile, che e’ stiano insieme, è molto più sicuro l’esser temuto che amato, quando s’abbi a mancare dell’un de’ duoi.

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