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The ideal of authenticity is a conscious goal that urges the individual to take off the mask of insincere and hypocritical roles that society, at times, asks them to play. How then can one write on the idea of authenticity and the Florentine political thinker whose name has become synonymous with the employment of cunning, duplicity, and hypocrisy? Niccolò Machiavelli advocates making chameleons out of princes, especially new princes. These aspirants to political power must learn to mask vulnerability and use style, moral flexibility, deceit and overawing strength over rivals and followers alike. While the ideal of authenticity exhorts individuals to be their true selves despite external pressures, The Prince prescribes a situational ethics that is immune to private ethics or religious values. Machiavelli’s blunt proclamations in his most famous work have led to strong responses from critics and admirers since its publication …