Translated by W. K. Marriott

Chapters IX-XVIII

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                              CHAPTER IX
                   CONCERNING A CIVIL PRINCIPALITY

  BUT coming to the other point- where a leading citizen becomes the
prince of his country, not by wickedness or any intolerable
violence, but by the favour of his fellow citizens- this may be called
a civil principality: nor is genius or fortune altogether necessary to
attain to it, but rather a happy shrewdness. I say then that such a
principality is obtained either by the favour of the people or by
the favour of the nobles. Because in all cities these two distinct
parties are found, and from this it arises that the people do not wish
to be ruled nor oppressed by the nobles, and the nobles wish to rule
and oppress the people; and from these two opposite desires there
arises in cities one of three results, either a principality,
self-government, or anarchy.
  A principality is created either by the people or by the nobles,
accordingly as one or other of them has the opportunity; for the
nobles, seeing they cannot withstand the people, begin to cry up the
reputation of one of themselves, and they make him a prince, so that
under his shadow they can give vent to their ambitions. The people,
finding they cannot resist the nobles, also cry up the reputation of
one of themselves, and make him a prince so as to be defended by his
authority. He who obtains sovereignty by the assistance of the
nobles maintains himself with more difficulty than he who comes to
it by the aid of the people, because the former finds himself with
many around him who consider themselves his equals, and because of
this he can neither rule nor manage them to his liking. But he who
reaches sovereignty by popular favour finds himself alone, and has
none around him, or few, who are not prepared to obey him.
  Besides this, one cannot by fair dealing, and without injury to
others, satisfy the nobles, but you can satisfy the people, for
their object is more righteous than that of the nobles, the latter
wishing to oppress, whilst the former only desire not to be oppressed.
It is to be added also that a prince can never secure himself
against a hostile people, because of their being too many, whilst from
the nobles he can secure himself, as they are few in number. The worst
that a prince may expect from a hostile people is to be abandoned by
them; but from hostile nobles he has not only to fear abandonment, but
also that they will rise against him; for they, being in these affairs
more far-seeing and astute, always come forward in time to save
themselves, and to obtain favours from him whom they expect to
prevail. Further, the prince is compelled to live always with the same
people, but he can do well without the same nobles, being able to make
and unmake them daily, and to give or take away authority when it
pleases him.
  Therefore, to make this point clearer, I say that the nobles ought
to be looked at mainly in two ways: that is to say, they either
shape their course in such a way as binds them entirely to your
fortune, or they do not. Those who so bind themselves, and are not
rapacious, ought to be honoured and loved; those who do not bind
themselves may be dealt with in two ways; they may fail to do this
through pusillanimity and a natural want of courage, in which case you
ought to make use of them, especially of those who are of good
counsel; and thus, whilst in prosperity you honour yourself, in
adversity you have not to fear them. But when for their own
ambitious ends they shun binding themselves, it is a token that they
are giving more thought to themselves than to you, and a prince
ought to guard against such, and to fear them as if they were open
enemies, because in adversity they always help to ruin him.
  Therefore, one who becomes a prince through the favour of the people
ought to keep them friendly, and this he can easily do seeing they
only ask not to be oppressed by him. But one who, in opposition to the
people, becomes a prince by the favour of the nobles, ought, above
everything, to seek to win the people over to himself, and this he may
easily do if he takes them under his protection. Because men, when
they receive good from him of whom they were expecting evil, are bound
more closely to their benefactor; thus the people quickly become
more devoted to him than if he had been raised to the principality
by their favours; and the prince can win their affections in many
ways, but as these vary according to the circumstances one cannot give
fixed rules, so I omit them; but, I repeat, it is necessary for a
prince to have the people friendly, otherwise he has no security in
adversity.
  Nabis, Prince of the Spartans, sustained the attack of all Greece,
and of a victorious Roman army, and against them he defended his
country and his government; and for the overcoming of this peril it
was only necessary for him to make himself secure against a few, but
this would not have been sufficient if the people had been hostile.
And do not let any one impugn this statement with the trite proverb
that 'He who builds on the people, builds on the mud,' for this is
true when a private citizen makes a foundation there, and persuades
himself that the people will free him when he is oppressed by his
enemies or by the magistrates; wherein he would find himself very
often deceived, as happened to the Gracchi in Rome and to Messer
Giorgio Scali in Florence. But granted a prince who has established
himself as above, who can command, and is a man of courage, undismayed
in adversity, who does not fail in other qualifications, and who, by
his resolution and energy, keeps the whole people encouraged- such a
one will never find himself deceived in them, and it will be shown
that he has laid his foundations well.
  These principalities are liable to danger when they are passing from
the civil to the absolute order of government, for such princes either
rule personally or through magistrates. In the latter case their
government is weaker and more insecure, because it rests entirely on
the goodwill of those citizens who are raised to the magistracy, and
who, especially in troubled times, can destroy the government with
great ease, either by intrigue or open defiance; and the prince has
not the chance amid tumults to exercise absolute authority, because
the citizens and subjects, accustomed to receive orders from
magistrates, are not of a mind to obey him amid these confusions,
and there will always be in doubtful times a scarcity of men whom he
can trust. For such a prince cannot rely upon what he observes in
quiet times, when citizens had need of the state, because then every
one agrees with him; they all promise, and when death is far distant
they all wish to die for him; but in troubled times, when the state
has need of its citizens, then he finds but few. And so much the
more is this experiment dangerous, inasmuch as it can only be tried
once. Therefore a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his
citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have
need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them
faithful.

                              CHAPTER X
               CONCERNING THE WAY IN WHICH THE STRENGTH
              OF ALL PRINCIPALITIES OUGHT TO BE MEASURED

  IT IS necessary to consider another point in examining the character
of these principalities: that is, whether a prince has such power
that, in case of need, he can support himself with his own
resources, or whether he has always need of the assistance of
others. And to make this quite clear I say that I consider those are
able to support themselves by their own resources who can, either by
abundance of men or money, raise a sufficient army to join battle
against any one who comes to attack them; and I consider those
always to have need of others who cannot show themselves against the
enemy in the field, but are forced to defend themselves by
sheltering behind walls. The first case has been discussed, but we
will speak of it again should it recur. In the second case one can say
nothing except to encourage such princes to provision and fortify
their towns, and not on any account to defend the country. And whoever
shall fortify his town well, and shall have managed the other concerns
of his subjects in the way stated above, and to be often repeated,
will never be attacked without great caution, for men are always
adverse to enterprises where difficulties can be seen, and it will
be seen not to be an easy thing to attack one who has his town well
fortified, and is not hated by his people.
  The cities of Germany are absolutely free, they own but little
country around them, and they yield obedience to the emperor when it
suits them, nor do they fear this or any other power they may have
near them, because they are fortified in such a way that every one
thinks the taking of them by assault would be tedious and difficult,
seeing they have proper ditches and walls, they have sufficient
artillery, and they always keep in public depots enough for one year's
eating, drinking, and firing. And beyond this, to keep the people
quiet and without loss to the state, they always have the means of
giving work to the community in those labours that are the life and
strength of the city, and on the pursuit of which the people are
supported; they also hold military exercises in repute, and moreover
have many ordinances to uphold them.
  Therefore, a prince who has a strong city, and had not made
himself odious, will not be attacked, or if any one should attack he
will only be driven off with disgrace; again, because that affairs
of this world are so changeable, it is almost impossible to keep an
army a whole year in the field without being interfered with. And
whoever should reply: If the people have property outside the city,
and see it burnt, they will not remain patient, and the long siege and
self-interest will make them forget their prince; to this I answer
that a powerful and courageous prince will overcome all such
difficulties by giving at one time hope to his subjects that the
evil will not be for long, at another time fear of the cruelty of
the enemy, then preserving himself adroitly from those subjects who
seem to him to be too bold.
  Further, the enemy would naturally on his arrival at once burn and
ruin the country at the time when the spirits of the people are
still hot and ready for the defence; and, therefore, so much the
less ought the prince to hesitate; because after a time, when
spirits have cooled, the damage is already done, the ills are
incurred, and there is no longer any remedy; and therefore they are so
much the more ready to unite with their prince, he appearing to be
under obligations to them now that their houses have been burnt and
their possessions ruined in his defence. For it is the nature of men
to be bound by the benefits they confer as much as by those they
receive. Therefore, if everything is well considered, it wilt not be
difficult for a wise prince to keep the minds of his citizens
steadfast from first to last, when he does not fail to support and
defend them.

                              CHAPTER XI
               CONCERNING ECCLESIASTICAL PRINCIPALITIES

  IT ONLY remains now to speak of ecclesiastical principalities,
touching which all difficulties are prior to getting possession,
because they are acquired either by capacity or good fortune, and they
can be held without either; for they are sustained by the ordinances
of religion, which are so all-powerful, and of such a character that
the principalities may be held no matter how their princes behave
and live. These princes alone have states and do not defend them, they
have subjects and do not rule them; and the states, although
unguarded, are not taken from them, and the subjects, although not
ruled, do not care, and they have neither the desire nor the ability
to alienate themselves. Such principalities only are secure and happy.
But being upheld by powers, to which the human mind cannot reach, I
shall speak no more of them, because, being exalted and maintained
by God, it would be the act of a presumptuous and rash man to
discuss them.
  Nevertheless, if any one should ask of me how comes it that the
Church has attained such greatness in temporal power, seeing that from
Alexander backwards the Italian potentates (not only those who have
been called potentates, but every baron and lord, though the smallest)
have valued the temporal power very slightly- yet now a king of France
trembles before it, and it has been able to drive him from Italy,
and to ruin the Venetians- although this may be very manifest, it does
not appear to me superfluous to recall it in some measure to memory.
  Before Charles, King of France, passed into Italy, this country
was under the dominion of the Pope, the Venetians, the King of Naples,
the Duke of Milan, and the Florentines. These potentates had two
principal anxieties: the one, that no foreigner should enter Italy
under arms; the other, that none of themselves should seize more
territory. Those about whom there was the most anxiety were the Pope
and the Venetians. To restrain the Venetians the union of all the
others was necessary, as it was for the defence of Ferrara; and to
keep down the Pope they made use of the barons of Rome, who, being
divided into two factions, Orsini and Colonna, had always a pretext
for disorder, and, standing with arms in their hands under the eyes of
the Pontiff, kept the pontificate weak and powerless. And although
there might arise sometimes a courageous pope, such as Sixtus [IV],
yet neither fortune nor wisdom could rid him of these annoyances.
And the short life of a pope is also a cause of weakness; for in the
ten years, which is the average life of a pope, he can with difficulty
lower one of the factions; and if, so to speak, one pope should almost
destroy the Colonna, another would arise hostile to the Orsini, who
would support their opponents, and yet would not have time to ruin the
Orsini. This was the reason why the temporal powers of the pope were
little esteemed in Italy.
  Alexander VI arose afterwards, who of all the pontiffs that have
ever been showed how a pope with both money and arms was able to
prevail; and through the instrumentality of the Duke Valentino, and by
reason of the entry of the French, he brought about all those things
which I have discussed above in the actions of the duke. And
although his intention was not to aggrandize the Church, but the duke,
nevertheless, what he did contributed to the greatness of the
Church, which, after his death and the ruin of the duke, became the
heir to all his labours.
  Pope Julius came afterwards and found the Church strong,
possessing all the Romagna, the barons of Rome reduced to impotence,
and, through the chastisements Alexander, the factions wiped out; he
also found the way open to accumulate money in a manner such as had
never been practised before Alexander's time. Such things Julius not
only followed, but improved upon, and he intended to gain Bologna,
to ruin the Venetians, and to drive the French out of Italy. All of
these enterprises prospered with him, and so much the more to his
credit, inasmuch as he did everything to strengthen the Church and not
any private person. He kept also the Orsini and Colonna factions
within the bounds in which he found them; and although there was among
them some mind to make disturbance, nevertheless he held two things
firm: the one, the greatness of the church, with which he terrified
them; and the other, not allowing them to have their own cardinals,
who caused the disorders among them. For whenever these factions
have their cardinals they do not remain quiet for long, because
cardinals foster the factions in Rome and out of it, and the barons
are compelled to support them, and thus from the ambitions of prelates
arise disorders and tumults among the barons. For these reasons his
Holiness Pope Leo found the pontificate most powerful, and it is to be
hoped that, if others made it great in arms, he will make it still
greater and more venerated by his goodness and infinite other virtues.

                             CHAPTER XII
                HOW MANY KINDS OF SOLDIERY THERE ARE,
                      AND CONCERNING MERCENARIES

  HAVING discoursed particularly on the characteristics of such
principalities as in the beginning I proposed to discuss, and having
considered in some degree the causes of their being good or bad, and
having shown the methods by which many have sought to acquire them and
to hold them, it now remains for me to discuss generally the means
of offence and defence which belong to each of them.
  We have seen above how necessary it is for a prince to have his
foundations well laid, otherwise it follows of necessity he will go to
ruin. The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or
composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good
laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are
well armed they have good laws. I shall leave the laws out of the
discussion and shall speak of the arms.
  I say, therefore, that the arms with which a prince defends his
state are either his own, or they are mercenaries, auxiliaries, or
mixed. Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if
one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm
nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious and without discipline,
unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies; they have
neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men, and destruction is
deferred only so long as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed
by them, and in war by the enemy. The fact is, they have no other
attraction or reason for keeping the field than a trifle of stipend,
which is not sufficient to make them willing to die for you. They
are ready enough to be your soldiers whilst you do not make war, but
if war comes they take themselves off or run from the foe; which I
should have little trouble to prove, for the ruin of Italy has been
caused by nothing else than by resting all her hopes for many years on
mercenaries, and although they formerly made some display and appeared
valiant amongst themselves, yet when the foreigners came they showed
what they were. Thus it was that Charles, King of France, was
allowed to seize Italy with chalk in hand;* and he who told us that
our sins were the cause of it told the truth, but they were not the
sins he imagined, but those which I have related. And as they were the
sins of princes, it is the princes who have also suffered the penalty.

  * With which to chalk up the billets for his soldiers.

  I wish to demonstrate further the infelicity of these arms. The
mercenary captains are either capable men or they are not; if they
are, you cannot trust them, because they always aspire to their own
greatness, either by oppressing you, who are their master, or others
contrary to your intentions; but if the captain is not skilful, you
are ruined in the usual way.
  And if it be urged that whoever is armed will act in the same way,
whether mercenary or not, I reply that when arms have to be resorted
to, either by a prince or a republic, then the prince ought to go in
person and perform the duty of captain; the republic has to send its
citizens, and when one is sent who does not turn out satisfactorily,
it ought to recall him, and when one is worthy, to hold him by the
laws so that he does not leave the command. And experience has shown
princes and republics, single-handed, making the greatest progress,
and mercenaries doing nothing except damage; and it is more
difficult to bring a republic, armed with its own arms, under the sway
of one of its citizens than it is to bring one armed with foreign
arms. Rome and Sparta stood for many ages armed and free. The Switzers
are completely armed and quite free.
  Of ancient mercenaries, for example, there are the Carthaginians,
who were oppressed by their mercenary soldiers after the first war
with the Romans, although the Carthaginians had their own citizens for
captains. After the death of Epaminondas, Philip of Macedon was made
captain of their soldiers by the Thebans, and after victory he took
away their liberty.
  Duke Filippo being dead, the Milanese enlisted Francesco Sforza
against the Venetians, and he, having overcome the enemy at
Caravaggio, allied himself with them to crush the Milanese, his
masters. His father, Sforza, having been engaged by Queen Johanna of
Naples, left her unprotected, so that she was forced to throw
herself into the arms of the King of Aragon, in order to save her
kingdom. And if the Venetians and Florentines formerly extended
their dominions by these arms, and yet their captains did not make
themselves princes, but have defended them, I reply that the
Florentines in this case have been favoured by chance, for of the able
captains, of whom they might have stood in fear, some have not
conquered, some have been opposed, and others have turned their
ambitions elsewhere. One who did not conquer was Giovanni Acuto,*
and since he did not conquer his fidelity cannot be proved; but
every one will acknowledge that, had he conquered, the Florentines
would have stood at his discretion. Sforza had the Bracceschi always
against him, so they watched each other. Francesco turned his ambition
to Lombardy; Braccio against the Church and the kingdom of Naples. But
let us come to that which happened a short while ago. The
Florentines appointed as their captain Paolo Vitelli, a most prudent
man, who from a private position had risen to the greatest renown.
If this man had taken Pisa, nobody can deny that it would have been
proper for the Florentines to keep in with him, for if he became the
soldier of their enemies they had no means of resisting, and if they
held to him they must obey him. The Venetians, if their achievements
are considered, will be seen to have acted safely and gloriously so
long as they sent to war their own men, when with armed gentlemen
and plebeians they did valiantly. This was before they turned to
enterprises on land, but when they began to fight on land they forsook
this virtue and followed the custom of Italy. And in the beginning
of their expansion on land, through not having much territory, and
because of their great reputation, they had not much to fear from
their captains; but when they expanded, as under Carmignola, they
had a taste of this mistake; for, having found him a most valiant
man (they beat the Duke of Milan under his leadership), and, on the
other hand, knowing how lukewarm he was in the war, they feared they
would no longer conquer under him, and for this reason they were not
willing, nor were they able, to let him go; and so, not to lose
again that which they had acquired, they were compelled, in order to
secure themselves, to murder him. They had afterwards for their
captains Bartolomeo da Bergamo, Roberto da San Severino, the Count
of Pitigliano, and the like, under whom they had to dread loss and not
gain, as happened afterwards at Vaila, where in one battle they lost
that which in eight hundred years they had acquired with so much
trouble. Because from such arms conquests come but slowly, long
delayed and inconsiderable, but the losses sudden and portentous.

  * As Sir John Hawkwood, the English leader of mercenaries, was
called by the Italians.

  And as with these examples I have reached Italy, which has been
ruled for many years by mercenaries, I wish to discuss them more
seriously, in order that, having seen their rise and progress, one may
be better prepared to counteract them. You must understand that the
empire has recently come to be repudiated in Italy, that the Pope
has acquired more temporal power, and that Italy has been divided up
into more states, for the reason that many of the great cities took up
arms against their nobles, who, formerly favoured by the emperor, were
oppressing them, whilst the Church was favouring them so as to gain
authority in temporal power: in many others their citizens became
princes. From this it came to pass that Italy fell partly into the
hands of the Church and of republics, and, the Church consisting of
priests and the republic of citizens unaccustomed to arms, both
commenced to enlist foreigners.
  The first who gave renown to this soldiery was Alberigo da Conio,
a native of the Romagna. From the school of this man sprang, among
others, Braccio and Sforza, who in their time were the arbiters of
Italy. After these came all the other captains who till now have
directed the arms of Italy; and the end of all their valour has
been, that she has been overrun by Charles, robbed by Louis, ravaged
by Ferdinand, and insulted by the Switzers. The principle that has
guided them has been, first, to lower the credit of infantry so that
they might increase their own. They did this because, subsisting on
their pay and without territory, they were unable to support many
soldiers, and a few infantry did not give them any authority; so
they were led to employ cavalry, with a moderate force of which they
were maintained and honoured; and affairs were brought to such a
pass that, in an army of twenty thousand soldiers, there were not to
be found two thousand foot soldiers. They had, besides this, used
every art to lessen fatigue and danger to themselves and their
soldiers, not killing in the fray, but taking prisoners and liberating
without ransom. They did not attack towns at night, nor did the
garrisons of the towns attack encampments at night; they did not
surround the camp either with stockade or ditch, nor did they campaign
in the winter. All these things were permitted by their military
rules, and devised by them to avoid, as I have said, both fatigue
and dangers; thus they have brought Italy to slavery and contempt.

                             CHAPTER XIII
        CONCERNING AUXILIARIES, MIXED SOLDIERY, AND ONE'S OWN

  AUXILIARIES, which are the other useless arm, are employed when a
prince is called in with his forces to aid and defend, as was done
by Pope Julius in the most recent times; for he, having, in the
enterprise against Ferrara, had poor proof of his mercenaries,
turned to auxiliaries, and stipulated with Ferdinand, King of Spain,
for his assistance with men and arms. These arms may be useful and
good in themselves, but for him who calls them in they are always
disadvantageous; for losing, one is undone, and winning, one is
their captive.
  And although ancient histories may be full of examples, I do not
wish to leave this recent one of Pope Julius II, the peril of which
cannot fall to be perceived; for he, wishing to get Ferrara, threw
himself entirely into the hands of the foreigner. But his good fortune
brought about a third event, so that he did not reap the fruit of
his rash choice; because, having auxiliaries routed at Ravenna, and
the Switzers having risen and driven out the conquerors (against all
expectation, both his and others), it so came to pass that he did
not become prisoner to his enemies, they having fled, nor to his
auxiliaries, he having conquered by other arms than theirs.
  The Florentines, being entirely without arms, sent ten thousand
Frenchmen to take Pisa, whereby they ran more danger than at any other
time of their troubles.
  The Emperor of Constantinople, to oppose his neighbours, sent ten
thousand Turks into Greece, who, on the war being finished, were not
willing to quit; this was the beginning of the servitude of Greece
to the infidels.
  Therefore, let him who has no desire to conquer make use of these
arms, for they are much more hazardous than mercenaries, because
with them the ruin is ready made; they are all united, all yield
obedience to others; but with mercenaries, when they have conquered,
more time and better opportunities are needed to injure you; they
are not all of one community, they are found and paid by you, and a
third party, which you have made their head, is not able all at once
to assume enough authority to injure you. In conclusion, in
mercenaries dastardy is most dangerous; in auxiliaries, valour. The
wise prince, therefore, has always avoided these arms and turned to
his own; and has been willing rather to lose with them than to conquer
with others, not deeming that a real victory which is gained with
the arms of others.
  I shall never hesitate to cite Cesare Borgia and his actions. This
duke entered the Romagna with auxiliaries, taking there only French
soldiers, and with them he captured Imola and Forli; but afterwards,
such forces not appearing to him reliable, he turned to mercenaries,
discerning less danger in them, and enlisted the Orsini and Vitelli;
whom presently, on handling and finding them doubtful, unfaithful, and
dangerous, he destroyed and turned to his own men. And the
difference between one and the other of these forces can easily be
seen when one considers the difference there was in the reputation
of the duke, when he had the French, when he had the Orsini and
Vitelli, and when he relied on his own soldiers, on whose fidelity
he could always count and found it ever increasing; he was never
esteemed more highly than when every one saw that he was complete
master of his own forces.
  I was not intending to go beyond Italian and recent examples, but
I am unwilling to leave out Hiero, the Syracusan, he being one of
those I have named above. This man, as I have said, made head of the
army by the Syracusans, soon found out that a mercenary soldiery,
constituted like our Italian condottieri, was of no use; and it
appearing to him that he could neither keep them nor let them go, he
had them all cut to pieces, and afterwards made war with his own
forces and not with aliens.
  I wish also to recall to memory an instance from the Old Testament
applicable to this subject. David offered himself to Saul to fight
with Goliath, the Philistine champion, and, to give him courage,
Saul armed him with his own weapons; which David rejected as soon as
he had them on his back, saying he could make no use of them, and that
he wished to meet the enemy with his sling and his knife. In
conclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, or they
weigh you down, or they bind you fast.
  Charles VII, the father of King Louis XI, having by good fortune and
valour liberated France from the English, recognized the necessity
of being armed with forces of his own, and he established in his
kingdom ordinances concerning men-at-arms and infantry. Afterwards his
son, King Louis, abolished the infantry and began to enlist the
Switzers, which mistake, followed by others, is, as is now seen, a
source of peril to that kingdom; because, having raised the reputation
of the Switzers, he has entirely diminished the value of his own arms,
for he has destroyed the infantry altogether; and his men-at-arms he
has subordinated to others, for, being as they are so accustomed to
fight along with Switzers, it does not appear that they can now
conquer without them. Hence it arises that the French cannot stand
against the Switzers, and without the Switzers they do not come off
well against others. The armies of the French have thus become
mixed, partly mercenary and partly national, both of which arms
together are much better than mercenaries alone or auxiliaries
alone, yet much inferior to one's own forces. And this example
proves it, the kingdom of France would be unconquerable if the
ordinance of Charles had been enlarged or maintained.
  But the scanty wisdom of man, on entering into an affair which looks
well at first, cannot discern the poison that is hidden in it, as I
have said above of hectic fevers. Therefore, if he who rules a
principality cannot recognize evils until they are upon him, he is not
truly wise; and this insight is given to few. And if the first
disaster to the Roman Empire should be examined, it will be found to
have commenced only with the enlisting of the Goths; because from that
time the vigour of the Roman Empire began to decline, and all that
valour which had raised it passed away to others.
  I conclude, therefore, that no principality is secure without having
its own forces; on the contrary, it is entirely dependent on good
fortune, not having the valour which in adversity would defend it. And
it has always been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing
can be so uncertain or unstable as fame or power not founded on its
own strength. And one's own forces  are those which are composed
either of subjects, citizens, or dependants; all others are
mercenaries or auxiliaries. And the way to take ready one's own forces
will be easily found if the rules suggested by me shall be reflected
upon, and if one will consider how Philip, the father of Alexander the
Great, and many republics and princes have armed and organized
themselves, to which rules I entirely commit myself.

                             CHAPTER XIV
                     THAT WHICH CONCERNS A PRINCE
                   ON THE SUBJECT OF THE ART OF WAR

  A PRINCE ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select
anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline;
for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of
such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it
often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank. And, on
the contrary, it is seen that when princes have thought more of ease
than of arms they have lost their states. And the first cause of
your losing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquire
a state is to be master of the art. Francesco Sforza, through being
martial, from a private person became Duke of Milan; and the sons,
through avoiding the hardships and troubles of arms, from dukes became
private persons. For among other evils which being unarmed brings you,
it causes you to be despised, and this is one of those ignominies
against which a prince ought to guard himself, as is shown later on.
Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the
unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield
obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man
should be secure among armed servants. Because, there being in the one
disdain and in the other suspicion, it is not possible for them to
work well together. And therefore a prince who does not understand the
art of war, over and above the other misfortunes already mentioned,
cannot be respected by his soldiers, nor can he rely on them. He ought
never, therefore, to have out of his thoughts this subject of war, and
in peace he should addict himself more to its exercise than in war;
this he can do in two ways, the one by action, the other by study.
  As regards action, he ought above all things to keep his men well
organized and drilled, to follow incessantly the chase, by which he
accustoms his body to hardships, and learns something of the nature of
localities, and gets to find out how the mountains rise, how the
valleys open out, how the plains lie, and to understand the nature
of rivers and marshes, and in all this to take the greatest care.
Which knowledge is useful in two ways. Firstly, he learns to know
his country, and is better able to undertake its defence;
afterwards, by means of the knowledge and observation of that
locality, he understands with ease any other which it may be necessary
for him to study hereafter; because the hills, valleys, and plains,
and rivers and marshes that are, for instance, in Tuscany, have a
certain resemblance to those of other countries, so that with a
knowledge of the aspect of one country one can easily arrive at a
knowledge of others. And the prince that lacks this skill lacks the
essential which it is desirable that a captain should possess, for
it teaches him to surprise his enemy, to select quarters, to lead
armies, to array the battle, to besiege towns to advantage.
  Philopoemen, Prince of the Achaeans, among other praises which
writers have bestowed on him, is commended because in time of peace he
never had anything in his mind but the rules of war; and when he was
in the country with friends, he often stopped and reasoned with
them: "If the enemy should be upon that hill, and we should find
ourselves here with our army, with whom would be the advantage? How
should one best advance to meet him, keeping the ranks? If we should
wish to retreat, how ought we to set about it? If they should retreat,
how ought we to pursue?" And he would set forth to them, as he went,
all the chances that could befall an army; he would listen to their
opinion and state his, confirming it with reasons, so that by these
continual discussions there could never arise, in time of war, any
unexpected circumstances that he could deal with.
  But to exercise the intellect the prince should read histories,
and study there the actions of illustrious men, to see how they have
borne themselves in war, to examine the causes of their victories
and defeat, so as to avoid the latter and imitate the former; and
above all do as an illustrious man did, who took as an exemplar one
who had been praised and famous before him, and whose achievements and
deeds he always kept in his mind, as it is said Alexander the Great
imitated Achilles, Caesar Alexander, Scipio Cyrus. And whoever reads
the life of Cyrus, written by Xenophon, will recognize afterwards in
the life of Scipio how that imitation was his glory, and how in
chastity, affability, humanity, and liberality Scipio conformed to
those things which have been written of Cyrus by Xenophon. A wise
prince ought to observe some such rules, and never in peaceful times
stand idle, but increase his resources with industry in such a way
that they may be available to him in adversity, so that if fortune
changes it may find him prepared to resist her blows.

                              CHAPTER XV
       CONCERNING THINGS FOR WHICH MEN, AND ESPECIALLY PRINCES,
                        ARE PRAISED OR BLAMED

  IT REMAINS now to see what ought to be the rules of conduct for a
prince towards subject and friends. And as I know that many have
written on this point, I expect I shall be considered presumptuous
in mentioning it again, especially as in discussing it I shall
depart from the methods of other people. But, it being my intention to
write a thing which shall be useful to him who apprehends it, it
appears to me more appropriate to follow up the real truth of a matter
than the imagination of it; for many have pictured republics and
principalities which in fact have never been known or seen, because
how one lives is so far distant from how one ought to live, that he
who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects
his ruin than his preservation; for a man who wishes to act entirely
up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him
among so much that is evil.
  Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know
how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to
necessity. Therefore, putting on one side imaginary things
concerning a prince, and discussing those which are real, I say that
all men when they are spoken of, and chiefly princes for being more
highly placed, are remarkable for some of those qualities which
bring them either blame or praise; and thus it is that one is
reputed liberal, another miserly, using a Tuscan term (because an
avaricious person in our language is still he who desires to possess
by robbery, whilst we call one miserly who deprives himself too much
of the use of his own); one is reputed generous, one rapacious; one
cruel, one compassionate; one faithless, another faithful; one
effeminate and cowardly, another bold and brave; one affable,
another haughty; one lascivious, another chaste; one sincere,
another cunning; one hard, another easy; one grave, another frivolous;
one religious, another unbelieving, and the like. And I know that
every one will confess that it would be most praiseworthy in a
prince to exhibit all the above qualities that are considered good;
but because they can neither be entirely possessed nor observed, for
human conditions do not permit it, it is necessary for him to be
sufficiently prudent that he may know how to avoid the reproach of
those vices which would lose him his state; and also to keep
himself, if it be possible, from those which would not lose him it;
but this not being possible, he may with less hesitation abandon
himself to them. And again, he need not make himself uneasy at
incurring a reproach for those vices without which the state can
only be saved with difficulty, for if everything is considered
carefully, it will be found that something which looks like virtue, if
followed, would be his ruin; whilst something else, which looks like
vice, yet followed brings him security and prosperity.

                             CHAPTER XVI
                  CONCERNING LIBERALITY AND MEANNESS

  COMMENCING then with the first of the above-named characteristics, I
say that it would be well to be reputed liberal. Nevertheless,
liberality exercised in a way that does not bring you the reputation
for it, injures you; for if one exercises it honestly and as it should
be exercised, it may not become known, and you will not avoid the
reproach of its opposite. Therefore, any one wishing to maintain among
men the name of liberal is obliged to avoid no attribute of
magnificence; so that a prince thus inclined will consume in such acts
all his property, and will be compelled in the end, if he wish to
maintain the name of liberal, to unduly weigh down his people, and tax
them, and do everything he can to get money. This will soon make him
odious to his subjects, and becoming poor he will be little valued
by any one; thus, with his liberality, having offended many and
rewarded few, he is affected by the very first trouble and
imperilled by whatever may be the first danger; recognizing this
himself, and wishing to draw back from it, he runs at once into the
reproach of being miserly.
  Therefore, a prince, not being able to exercise this virtue of
liberality in such a way that it is recognized, except to his cost, if
he is wise he ought not to fear the reputation of being mean, for in
time he will come to be more considered than if liberal, seeing that
with his economy his revenues are enough, that he can defend himself
against all attacks, and is able to engage in enterprises without
burdening his people; thus it comes to pass that he exercises
liberality towards all from whom he does not take, who are numberless,
and meanness towards those to whom he does not give, who are few.
  We have not seen great things done in our time except by those who
have been considered mean; the rest have failed. Pope Julius the
Second was assisted in reaching the papacy by a reputation for
liberality, yet he did not strive afterwards to keep it up, when he
made war on the King of France; and he made many wars without imposing
any extraordinary tax on his subjects, for he supplied his
additional expenses out of his long thriftiness. The present King of
Spain would not have undertaken or conquered in so many enterprises if
he had been reputed liberal. A prince, therefore, provided that he has
not to rob his subjects, that he can defend himself, that he does
not become poor and abject, that he is not forced to become rapacious,
ought to hold of little account a reputation for being mean, for it is
one of those vices which will enable him to govern.
  And if any one should say: Caesar obtained empire by liberality, and
many others have reached the highest positions by having been liberal,
and by being considered so, I answer: Either you are a prince in fact,
or in a way to become one. In the first case this liberality is
dangerous, in the second it is very necessary to be considered
liberal; and Caesar was one of those who wished to become
pre-eminent in Rome; but if he had survived after becoming so, and had
not moderated his expenses, he would have destroyed his government.
And if any one should reply: Many have been princes, and have done
great things with armies, who have been considered very liberal, I
reply: Either a prince spends that which is his own or his subjects'
or else that of others. In the first case he ought to be sparing, in
the second he ought not to neglect any opportunity for liberality. And
to the price who goes forth with his army, supporting it by pillage,
sack, and extortion, handling that which belongs to others, this
liberality is necessary, otherwise he would not be followed by
soldiers. And of that which is neither yours nor your subjects' you
can be a ready giver, as were Cyrus, Caesar, and Alexander; because it
does not take away your reputation if you squander that of others, but
adds to it; it is only squandering your own that injures you.
  And there is nothing wastes so rapidly as liberality, for even
whilst you exercise it you lose the power to do so, and so become
either poor or despised, or else, in avoiding poverty, rapacious and
hated. And a prince should guard himself, above all things, against
being despised and hated; and liberality leads you to both.
Therefore it is wiser to have a reputation for meanness which brings
reproach without hatred, than to be compelled through seeking a
reputation for liberality to incur a name for rapacity which begets
reproach with hatred.

                             CHAPTER XVII
                 CONCERNING CRUELTY AND CLEMENCY, AND
             WHETHER IT IS BETTER TO BE LOVED THAN FEARED

  COMING now to the other qualities mentioned above, I say that
every prince ought to desire to be considered clement and not cruel.
Nevertheless he ought to take care not to misuse this clemency. Cesare
Borgia was considered cruel; notwithstanding, his cruelty reconciled
the Romagna, unified it, and restored it to peace and loyalty. And
if this be rightly considered, he will be seen to have been much
more merciful than the Florentine people, who, to avoid a reputation
for cruelty, permitted Pistoia to be destroyed. Therefore a prince, so
long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal, ought not to mind
the reproach of cruelty; because with a few examples he will be more
merciful than those who, through too much mercy, allow disorders to
arise, from which follow murders or robberies; for these are wont to
injure the whole people, whilst those executions which originate
with a prince offend the individual only.
  And of all princes, it is impossible for the new prince to avoid the
imputation of cruelty, owing to new states being full of dangers.
Hence Virgil, through the mouth of Dido, excuses the inhumanity of her
reign owing to its being new, saying:

              Res dura, et regni novitas me talia cogunt
              Moliri, et late fines custode tueri.*

  * ...against my will, my fate,
    A throne unsettled, and an infant state,
    Bid me defend my realms with all my pow'rs,
    And guard with these severities my shores.

  Nevertheless he ought to be slow to believe and to act, nor should
he himself show fear, but proceed in a temperate manner with
prudence and humanity, so that too much confidence may not make him
incautious and too much distrust render him intolerable.
  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, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two,
either must be dispensed with. Because this is to be asserted in
general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly,
covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they
will offer you their blood, property, life and children, as is said
above, when the need is far distant; but when it approaches they
turn against you. And that prince who, relying entirely on their
promises, has neglected other precautions, is ruined; because
friendships that are obtained by payments, and not by greatness or
nobility of mind, may indeed be earned, but they are not secured,
and in time of need cannot be relied upon; and men have less scruple
in offending one who is beloved than one who is feared, for love is
preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of
men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear
preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.
  Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if
he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very
well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long
as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from
their women. But when it is necessary for him to proceed against the
life of someone, he must do it on proper justification and for
manifest cause, but above all things he must keep his hands off the
property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their
father than the loss of their patrimony. Besides, pretexts for
taking away the property are never wanting; for he who has once
begun to live by robbery will always find pretexts for seizing what
belongs to others; but reasons for taking life, on the contrary, are
more difficult to find and sooner lapse. But when a prince is with his
army, and has under control a multitude of soldiers, then it is
quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty, for
without it he would never hold his army united or disposed to its
duties.
  Among the wonderful deeds of Hannibal this one is enumerated: that
having led an enormous army, composed of many various races of men, to
fight in foreign lands, no dissensions arose either among them or
against the prince, whether in his bad or in his good fortune. This
arose from nothing else than his inhuman cruelty, which, with his
boundless valour, made him revered and terrible in the sight of his
soldiers, but without that cruelty, his other virtues were not
sufficient to produce this effect. And shortsighted writers admire his
deeds from one point of view and from another condemn the principal
cause of them. That it is true his other virtues would not have been
sufficient for him may be proved by the case of Scipio, that most
excellent man, not of his own times but within the memory of man,
against whom, nevertheless, his army rebelled in Spain; this arose
from nothing but his too great forbearance, which gave his soldiers
more licence than is consistent with military discipline. For this
he was upbraided in the Senate by Fabius Maximus, and called the
corrupter of the Roman soldiery. The Locrians were laid waste by a
legate of Scipio, yet they were not avenged by him, nor was the
insolence of the legate punished, owing entirely to his easy nature.
Insomuch that someone in the Senate, wishing to excuse him, said there
were many men who knew much better how not to err than to correct
the errors of others. This disposition, if he had been continued in
the command, would have destroyed in time the fame and glory of
Scipio; but, he being under the control of the Senate, this
injurious characteristic not only concealed itself, but contributed to
his glory.
  Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I come to the
conclusion that, men loving according to their own will and fearing
according to that of the prince, a wise prince should establish
himself on that which is in his own control and not in that of others;
he must endeavour only to avoid hatred, as is noted.

                            CHAPTER XVIII
        CONCERNING THE WAY IN WHICH PRINCES SHOULD KEEP FAITH

  EVERY one admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith,
and to live with integrity and not with craft. Nevertheless our
experience has been that those princes who have done great things have
held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent
the intellect of men by craft, and in the end have overcome those
who have relied on their word. You must know there are two ways of
contesting, the one by the law, the other by force; the first method
is proper to men, the second to beasts; but because the first is
frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have recourse to the
second. Therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to
avail himself of the beast and the man. This has been figuratively
taught to princes by ancient writers, who describe how Achilles and
many other princes of old were given to the Centaur Chiron to nurse,
who brought them up in his discipline; which means solely that, as
they had for a teacher one who was half beast and half man, so it is
necessary for a prince to know how to make use of both natures, and
that one without the other is not durable. A prince, therefore,
being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the
fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against
snares and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves. Therefore, it
is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to
terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not
understand what they are about. Therefore a wise lord cannot, nor
ought he to, keep faith when such observance may be turned against
him, and when the reasons that caused him to pledge it exist no
longer. If men were entirely good this precept would not hold, but
because they are bad, and will not keep faith with you, you too are
not bound to observe it with them. Nor will there ever be wanting to a
prince legitimate reasons to excuse this nonobservance. Of this
endless modern examples could be given, showing how many treaties
and engagements have been made void and of no effect through the
faithlessness of princes; and he who has known best how to employ
the fox has succeeded best.
  But it is necessary to know well how to disguise this
characteristic, and to be a great pretender and dissembler; and men
are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who
seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be
deceived. One recent example I cannot pass over in silence.
Alexander VI did nothing else but deceive men, nor ever thought of
doing otherwise, and he always found victims; for there never was a
man who had greater power in asserting, or who with greater oaths
would affirm a thing, yet would observe it less; nevertheless his
deceits always succeeded according to his wishes, because he well
understood this side of mankind.
  Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good
qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to
have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and
always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them
is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright,
and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to
be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.
  And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new
one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being
often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to
faith, friendship, humanity, and religion. Therefore it is necessary
for him to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds
and variations of fortune force it, yet, as I have said above, not
to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing so, but, if
compelled, then to know how to set about it.
  For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets
anything slip from his lips that is not replete with the above-named
five qualities, that he may appear to him who sees and hears him
altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and religious. There
is nothing more necessary to appear to have than this last quality,
inasmuch as men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand,
because it belongs to everybody to see you, to few to come in touch
with you. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what
you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of
the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the
actions of all men, and especially of princes, which it is not prudent
to challenge, one judges by the result.
  For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering and
holding his state, the means will always be considered honest, and
he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar are always taken by
what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it; and in the world
there are only the vulgar, for the few find a place there only when
the many have no ground to rest on.
  One prince* of the present time, whom it is not well to name,
never preaches anything else but peace and good faith, and to both
he is most hostile, and either, if he had kept it, would have deprived
him of reputation and kingdom many a time.

  * Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.