The Prince and the Utopia were both written in the second decade of the sixteenth century, a time when those various influences which made the Renaissance period in history were being most completely exemplified in art, education, morals, and virtually every field of human activity and aspiration. While presenting strikingly different attitudes and conclusions, Machiavelli and More exhibit in preeminent measure the working of the Renaissance Spirit -- subjecting political and social arrangements to philosophic analysis and empirical investigation unrestrained by ancient concepts.

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