The first translation into English of this exhaustive account of the Spinoza-Machiavelli relationship and its relevance for contemporary philosophy. Provides a thorough overview of the Machiavellian texts available to Spinoza in his library, and an analysis of Machiavellian arguments throughout Spinoza's text. Develops the complex relationship between ontology and politics, as distinct from political ontology. Focuses on the concepts of causality, temporality and politics. Leads to an understanding of history as a complex and plural interweaving of necessarily contingent events.