The Prince

by Nicolo Machiavelli

Styled by LimpidSoft

Contents

INTRODUCTION 4

DEDICATION 16

CHAPTER I 18

CHAPTER II 19

CHAPTER III 21

CHAPTER IV 30

CHAPTER V 33

CHAPTER VI 35

CHAPTER VII 39

CHAPTER VIII 47

CHAPTER IX 52

CHAPTER X 56

CHAPTER XI 59

CHAPTER XII 62

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIII 68

CHAPTER XIV 73

CHAPTER XV 76

CHAPTER XVI 78

CHAPTER XVII 81

CHAPTER XVIII 85

CHAPTER XIX 89

CHAPTER XX 99

CHAPTER XXI 104

CHAPTER XXII 109

CHAPTER XXIII 111

CHAPTER XXIV 114

CHAPTER XXV 116

CHAPTER XXVI 120

APPENDIX 125

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The present document was derived from textprovided by Project Gutenberg (document 1232)which was made available free of charge. Thisdocument is also free of charge.

INTRODUCTION1

Nicolo Machiavelli was born at Florence on 3rd May 1469.He was the second son of Bernardo di Nicolo Machiavelli,a lawyer of some repute, and of Bartolommea di StefanoNelli, his wife. Both parents were members of the old Flo-rentine nobility.

His life falls naturally into three periods, each of whichsingularly enough constitutes a distinct and important erain the history of Florence. His youth was concurrent withthe greatness of Florence as an Italian power under theguidance of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Il Magnifico. The downfallof the Medici in Florence occurred in 1494, in which yearMachiavelli entered the public service. During his officialcareer Florence was free under the government of a Repub-lic, which lasted until 1512, when the Medici returned topower, and Machiavelli lost his office. The Medici againruled Florence from 1512 until 1527, when they were oncemore driven out. This was the period of Machiavelli’s lit-erary activity and increasing influence; but he died, withina few weeks of the expulsion of the Medici, on 22nd June1527, in his fifty-eighth year, without having regained of-fice.

YOUTH Aet. 1-25–1469-94Although there is little recorded of the youth of Machi-

avelli, the Florence of those days is so well known that the1“The present chapter has given greater offence than any other

portion of Machiavelli’s writings." Burd, “Il Principe," p. 297.

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INTRODUCTION

early environment of this representative citizen may be eas-ily imagined. Florence has been described as a city withtwo opposite currents of life, one directed by the ferventand austere Savonarola, the other by the splendour-lovingLorenzo. Savonarola’s influence upon the young Machi-avelli must have been slight, for although at one time hewielded immense power over the fortunes of Florence, heonly furnished Machiavelli with a subject of a gibe in “ThePrince," where he is cited as an example of an unarmedprophet who came to a bad end. Whereas the magnificenceof the Medicean rule during the life of Lorenzo appearedto have impressed Machiavelli strongly, for he frequentlyrecurs to it in his writings, and it is to Lorenzo’s grandsonthat he dedicates “The Prince."

Machiavelli, in his “History of Florence," gives us a pic-ture of the young men among whom his youth was passed.He writes: “They were freer than their forefathers in dressand living, and spent more in other kinds of excesses, con-suming their time and money in idleness, gaming, andwomen; their chief aim was to appear well dressed and tospeak with wit and acuteness, whilst he who could woundothers the most cleverly was thought the wisest." In a let-ter to his son Guido, Machiavelli shows why youth shouldavail itself of its opportunities for study, and leads us to in-fer that his own youth had been so occupied. He writes: “Ihave received your letter, which has given me the greatestpleasure, especially because you tell me you are quite re-stored in health, than which I could have no better news;for if God grant life to you, and to me, I hope to make agood man of you if you are willing to do your share." Then,writing of a new patron, he continues: “This will turn outwell for you, but it is necessary for you to study; since, then,you have no longer the excuse of illness, take pains to studyletters and music, for you see what honour is done to mefor the little skill I have. Therefore, my son, if you wish toplease me, and to bring success and honour to yourself, doright and study, because others will help you if you helpyourself."

OFFICE–Aet. 25-43–1494-1512

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INTRODUCTION

The second period of Machiavelli’s life was spent in theservice of the free Republic of Florence, which flourished, asstated above, from the expulsion of the Medici in 1494 untiltheir return in 1512. After serving four years in one of thepublic offices he was appointed Chancellor and Secretary tothe Second Chancery, the Ten of Liberty and Peace. Here weare on firm ground when dealing with the events of Machi-avelli’s life, for during this time he took a leading part in theaffairs of the Republic, and we have its decrees, records, anddispatches to guide us, as well as his own writings. A mererecapitulation of a few of his transactions with the states-men and soldiers of his time gives a fair indication of hisactivities, and supplies the sources from which he drew theexperiences and characters which illustrate “The Prince."

His first mission was in 1499 to Catherina Sforza, "mylady of Forli" of “The Prince," from whose conduct and fatehe drew the moral that it is far better to earn the confidenceof the people than to rely on fortresses. This is a very notice-able principle in Machiavelli, and is urged by him in manyways as a matter of vital importance to princes.

In 1500 he was sent to France to obtain terms from LouisXII for continuing the war against Pisa: this king it was who,in his conduct of affairs in Italy, committed the five capitalerrors in statecraft summarized in “The Prince," and wasconsequently driven out. He, also, it was who made thedissolution of his marriage a condition of support to PopeAlexander VI; which leads Machiavelli to refer those whourge that such promises should be kept to what he has writ-ten concerning the faith of princes.

Machiavelli’s public life was largely occupied with eventsarising out of the ambitions of Pope Alexander VI and hisson, Cesare Borgia, the Duke Valentino, and these charac-ters fill a large space of “The Prince." Machiavelli neverhesitates to cite the actions of the duke for the benefit ofusurpers who wish to keep the states they have seized; hecan, indeed, find no precepts to offer so good as the pat-tern of Cesare Borgia’s conduct, insomuch that Cesare is ac-claimed by some critics as the "hero" of “The Prince." Yet in

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INTRODUCTION

“The Prince" the duke is in point of fact cited as a type ofthe man who rises on the fortune of others, and falls withthem; who takes every course that might be expected froma prudent man but the course which will save him; who isprepared for all eventualities but the one which happens;and who, when all his abilities fail to carry him through,exclaims that it was not his fault, but an extraordinary andunforeseen fatality.

On the death of Pius III, in 1503, Machiavelli was sent toRome to watch the election of his successor, and there hesaw Cesare Borgia cheated into allowing the choice of theCollege to fall on Giuliano delle Rovere (Julius II), who wasone of the cardinals that had most reason to fear the duke.Machiavelli, when commenting on this election, says thathe who thinks new favours will cause great personages toforget old injuries deceives himself. Julius did not rest untilhe had ruined Cesare.

It was to Julius II that Machiavelli was sent in 1506,when that pontiff was commencing his enterprise againstBologna; which he brought to a successful issue, as he didmany of his other adventures, owing chiefly to his impetu-ous character. It is in reference to Pope Julius that Machi-avelli moralizes on the resemblance between Fortune andwomen, and concludes that it is the bold rather than thecautious man that will win and hold them both.

It is impossible to follow here the varying fortunes ofthe Italian states, which in 1507 were controlled by France,Spain, and Germany, with results that have lasted to ourday; we are concerned with those events, and with the threegreat actors in them, so far only as they impinge on the per-sonality of Machiavelli. He had several meetings with LouisXII of France, and his estimate of that monarch’s charac-ter has already been alluded to. Machiavelli has paintedFerdinand of Aragon as the man who accomplished greatthings under the cloak of religion, but who in reality hadno mercy, faith, humanity, or integrity; and who, had heallowed himself to be influenced by such motives, wouldhave been ruined. The Emperor Maximilian was one of the

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INTRODUCTION

most interesting men of the age, and his character has beendrawn by many hands; but Machiavelli, who was an envoyat his court in 1507-8, reveals the secret of his many failureswhen he describes him as a secretive man, without force ofcharacter–ignoring the human agencies necessary to carryhis schemes into effect, and never insisting on the fulfilmentof his wishes.

The remaining years of Machiavelli’s official career werefilled with events arising out of the League of Cambrai,made in 1508 between the three great European powers al-ready mentioned and the pope, with the object of crushingthe Venetian Republic. This result was attained in the battleof Vaila, when Venice lost in one day all that she had wonin eight hundred years. Florence had a difficult part to playduring these events, complicated as they were by the feudwhich broke out between the pope and the French, becausefriendship with France had dictated the entire policy of theRepublic. When, in 1511, Julius II finally formed the HolyLeague against France, and with the assistance of the Swissdrove the French out of Italy, Florence lay at the mercy of thePope, and had to submit to his terms, one of which was thatthe Medici should be restored. The return of the Medici toFlorence on 1st September 1512, and the consequent fall ofthe Republic, was the signal for the dismissal of Machiavelliand his friends, and thus put an end to his public career, for,as we have seen, he died without regaining office.

LITERATURE AND DEATH–Aet. 43-58–1512-27

On the return of the Medici, Machiavelli, who for a fewweeks had vainly hoped to retain his office under the newmasters of Florence, was dismissed by decree dated 7thNovember 1512. Shortly after this he was accused of com-plicity in an abortive conspiracy against the Medici, impris-oned, and put to the question by torture. The new Mediceanpope, Leo X, procured his release, and he retired to hissmall property at San Casciano, near Florence, where hedevoted himself to literature. In a letter to Francesco Vet-tori, dated 13th December 1513, he has left a very interest-ing description of his life at this period, which elucidates

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INTRODUCTION

his methods and his motives in writing “The Prince." Afterdescribing his daily occupations with his family and neigh-bours, he writes: “The evening being come, I return homeand go to my study; at the entrance I pull off my peasant-clothes, covered with dust and dirt, and put on my noblecourt dress, and thus becomingly re-clothed I pass into theancient courts of the men of old, where, being lovingly re-ceived by them, I am fed with that food which is mine alone;where I do not hesitate to speak with them, and to ask forthe reason of their actions, and they in their benignity an-swer me; and for four hours I feel no weariness, I forgetevery trouble, poverty does not dismay, death does not ter-rify me; I am possessed entirely by those great men. Andbecause Dante says:

Knowledge doth come of learning well retained,Unfruitful else,

I have noted down what I have gained from their conver-sation, and have composed a small work on ’Principalities,’where I pour myself out as fully as I can in meditation on thesubject, discussing what a principality is, what kinds thereare, how they can be acquired, how they can be kept, whythey are lost: and if any of my fancies ever pleased you, thisought not to displease you: and to a prince, especially to anew one, it should be welcome: therefore I dedicate it to hisMagnificence Giuliano. Filippo Casavecchio has seen it; hewill be able to tell you what is in it, and of the discoursesI have had with him; nevertheless, I am still enriching andpolishing it."

The "little book" suffered many vicissitudes before attain-ing the form in which it has reached us. Various mentalinfluences were at work during its composition; its title andpatron were changed; and for some unknown reason it wasfinally dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici. Although Machi-avelli discussed with Casavecchio whether it should be sentor presented in person to the patron, there is no evidencethat Lorenzo ever received or even read it: he certainlynever gave Machiavelli any employment. Although it was

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INTRODUCTION

plagiarized during Machiavelli’s lifetime, “The Prince" wasnever published by him, and its text is still disputable.

Machiavelli concludes his letter to Vettori thus: “And asto this little thing [his book], when it has been read it will beseen that during the fifteen years I have given to the study ofstatecraft I have neither slept nor idled; and men ought everto desire to be served by one who has reaped experience atthe expense of others. And of my loyalty none could doubt,because having always kept faith I could not now learn howto break it; for he who has been faithful and honest, as Ihave, cannot change his nature; and my poverty is a witnessto my honesty."

Before Machiavelli had got “The Prince" off his handshe commenced his “Discourse on the First Decade of Ti-tus Livius," which should be read concurrently with “ThePrince." These and several minor works occupied him untilthe year 1518, when he accepted a small commission to lookafter the affairs of some Florentine merchants at Genoa. In1519 the Medicean rulers of Florence granted a few politicalconcessions to her citizens, and Machiavelli with others wasconsulted upon a new constitution under which the GreatCouncil was to be restored; but on one pretext or another itwas not promulgated.

In 1520 the Florentine merchants again had recourse toMachiavelli to settle their difficulties with Lucca, but thisyear was chiefly remarkable for his re-entry into Floren-tine literary society, where he was much sought after, andalso for the production of his “Art of War." It was in thesame year that he received a commission at the instanceof Cardinal de’ Medici to write the “History of Florence,"a task which occupied him until 1525. His return to pop-ular favour may have determined the Medici to give himthis employment, for an old writer observes that "an ablestatesman out of work, like a huge whale, will endeavourto overturn the ship unless he has an empty cask to playwith."

When the “History of Florence" was finished, Machiavellitook it to Rome for presentation to his patron, Giuliano de’

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INTRODUCTION

Medici, who had in the meanwhile become pope under thetitle of Clement VII. It is somewhat remarkable that, as, in1513, Machiavelli had written “The Prince" for the instruc-tion of the Medici after they had just regained power in Flo-rence, so, in 1525, he dedicated the “History of Florence"to the head of the family when its ruin was now at hand.In that year the battle of Pavia destroyed the French rule inItaly, and left Francis I a prisoner in the hands of his great ri-val, Charles V. This was followed by the sack of Rome, uponthe news of which the popular party at Florence threw offthe yoke of the Medici, who were once more banished.

Machiavelli was absent from Florence at this time, buthastened his return, hoping to secure his former office ofsecretary to the “Ten of Liberty and Peace." Unhappily hewas taken ill soon after he reached Florence, where he diedon 22nd June 1527.=THE MAN AND HIS WORKS

No one can say where the bones of Machiavelli rest,but modern Florence has decreed him a stately cenotaphin Santa Croce, by the side of her most famous sons; rec-ognizing that, whatever other nations may have found inhis works, Italy found in them the idea of her unity andthe germs of her renaissance among the nations of Europe.Whilst it is idle to protest against the world-wide and evilsignification of his name, it may be pointed out that theharsh construction of his doctrine which this sinister rep-utation implies was unknown to his own day, and that theresearches of recent times have enabled us to interpret himmore reasonably. It is due to these inquiries that the shapeof an "unholy necromancer," which so long haunted men’svision, has begun to fade.

Machiavelli was undoubtedly a man of great observation,acuteness, and industry; noting with appreciative eye what-ever passed before him, and with his supreme literary giftturning it to account in his enforced retirement from affairs.He does not present himself, nor is he depicted by his con-temporaries, as a type of that rare combination, the success-ful statesman and author, for he appears to have been onlymoderately prosperous in his several embassies and polit-

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INTRODUCTION

ical employments. He was misled by Catherina Sforza, ig-nored by Louis XII, overawed by Cesare Borgia; several ofhis embassies were quite barren of results; his attempts tofortify Florence failed, and the soldiery that he raised as-tonished everybody by their cowardice. In the conduct ofhis own affairs he was timid and time-serving; he dared notappear by the side of Soderini, to whom he owed so much,for fear of compromising himself; his connection with theMedici was open to suspicion, and Giuliano appears to haverecognized his real forte when he set him to write the “His-tory of Florence," rather than employ him in the state. Andit is on the literary side of his character, and there alone, thatwe find no weakness and no failure.

Although the light of almost four centuries has been fo-cused on “The Prince," its problems are still debatable andinteresting, because they are the eternal problems betweenthe ruled and their rulers. Such as they are, its ethics arethose of Machiavelli’s contemporaries; yet they cannot besaid to be out of date so long as the governments of Europerely on material rather than on moral forces. Its historicalincidents and personages become interesting by reason ofthe uses which Machiavelli makes of them to illustrate histheories of government and conduct.

Leaving out of consideration those maxims of state whichstill furnish some European and eastern statesmen withprinciples of action, “The Prince" is bestrewn with truthsthat can be proved at every turn. Men are still the dupesof their simplicity and greed, as they were in the days ofAlexander VI. The cloak of religion still conceals the viceswhich Machiavelli laid bare in the character of Ferdinand ofAragon. Men will not look at things as they really are, butas they wish them to be–and are ruined. In politics thereare no perfectly safe courses; prudence consists in choosingthe least dangerous ones. Then–to pass to a higher plane–Machiavelli reiterates that, although crimes may win an em-pire, they do not win glory. Necessary wars are just wars,and the arms of a nation are hallowed when it has no otherresource but to fight.

It is the cry of a far later day than Machiavelli’s that gov-

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INTRODUCTION

ernment should be elevated into a living moral force, ca-pable of inspiring the people with a just recognition of thefundamental principles of society; to this "high argument"“The Prince" contributes but little. Machiavelli always re-fused to write either of men or of governments otherwisethan as he found them, and he writes with such skill andinsight that his work is of abiding value. But what invests“The Prince" with more than a merely artistic or historicalinterest is the incontrovertible truth that it deals with thegreat principles which still guide nations and rulers in theirrelationship with each other and their neighbours.

In translating “The Prince" my aim has been to achieveat all costs an exact literal rendering of the original, ratherthan a fluent paraphrase adapted to the modern notionsof style and expression. Machiavelli was no facile phrase-monger; the conditions under which he wrote obliged himto weigh every word; his themes were lofty, his substancegrave, his manner nobly plain and serious. “Quis eo fuitunquam in partiundis rebus, in definiendis, in explanandispressior?" In “The Prince," it may be truly said, there is rea-son assignable, not only for every word, but for the positionof every word. To an Englishman of Shakespeare’s time thetranslation of such a treatise was in some ways a compar-atively easy task, for in those times the genius of the En-glish more nearly resembled that of the Italian language; tothe Englishman of to-day it is not so simple. To take a sin-gle example: the word "intrattenere," employed by Machi-avelli to indicate the policy adopted by the Roman Senatetowards the weaker states of Greece, would by an Eliza-bethan be correctly rendered "entertain," and every contem-porary reader would understand what was meant by say-ing that “Rome entertained the Aetolians and the Achaeanswithout augmenting their power." But to-day such a phrasewould seem obsolete and ambiguous, if not unmeaning: weare compelled to say that “Rome maintained friendly rela-tions with the Aetolians," etc., using four words to do thework of one. I have tried to preserve the pithy brevity ofthe Italian so far as was consistent with an absolute fidelityto the sense. If the result be an occasional asperity I can only

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INTRODUCTION

hope that the reader, in his eagerness to reach the author’smeaning, may overlook the roughness of the road that leadshim to it.

The following is a list of the works of Machiavelli:

Principal works. Discorso sopra le cose diPisa, 1499; Del modo di trattare i popoli dellaValdichiana ribellati, 1502; Del modo tenutodal duca Valentino nell’ ammazzare VitellozzoVitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, etc., 1502; Discorsosopra la provisione del danaro, 1502; Decen-nale primo (poem in terza rima), 1506; Ritrattidelle cose dell’ Alemagna, 1508-12; Decennalesecondo, 1509; Ritratti delle cose di Francia,1510; Discorsi sopra la prima deca di T. Livio, 3vols., 1512-17; Il Principe, 1513; Andria, comedytranslated from Terence, 1513 (?); Mandragola,prose comedy in five acts, with prologue inverse, 1513; Della lingua (dialogue), 1514; Clizia,comedy in prose, 1515 (?); Belfagor arcidiavolo(novel), 1515; Asino d’oro (poem in terza rima),1517; Dell’ arte della guerra, 1519-20; Discorsosopra il riformare lo stato di Firenze, 1520; Som-mario delle cose della citta di Lucca, 1520; Vitadi Castruccio Castracani da Lucca, 1520; Istoriefiorentine, 8 books, 1521-5; Frammenti storici,1525.

Other poems include Sonetti, Canzoni, Ottave,and Canti carnascialeschi.

Editions. Aldo, Venice, 1546; della Tertina, 1550;Cambiagi, Florence, 6 vols., 1782-5; dei Clas-sici, Milan, 10 1813; Silvestri, 9 vols., 1820-2;Passerini, Fanfani, Milanesi, 6 vols. only pub-lished, 1873-7.

Minor works. Ed. F. L. Polidori, 1852; Lettere fa-miliari, ed. E. Alvisi, 1883, 2 editions, one withexcisions; Credited Writings, ed. G. Canestrini,

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INTRODUCTION

1857; Letters to F. Vettori, see A. Ridolfi, Pen-sieri intorno allo scopo di N. Machiavelli nel li-bro Il Principe, etc.; D. Ferrara, The Private Cor-respondence of Nicolo Machiavelli, 1929.

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DEDICATION

To the Magnificent Lorenzo Di Piero De’ Medici:Those who strive to obtain the good graces ofa prince are accustomed to come before himwith such things as they hold most precious,or in which they see him take most delight;whence one often sees horses, arms, cloth ofgold, precious stones, and similar ornamentspresented to princes, worthy of their greatness.Desiring therefore to present myself to yourMagnificence with some testimony of mydevotion towards you, I have not foundamong my possessions anything which I holdmore dear than, or value so much as, theknowledge of the actions of great men, acquiredby long experience in contemporary affairs,and a continual study of antiquity; which,having reflected upon it with great and pro-longed diligence, I now send, digested into a lit-tle volume, to your Magnificence.And although I may consider this work unwor-thy of your countenance, nevertheless I trustmuch to your benignity that it may be accept-able, seeing that it is not possible for me tomake a better gift than to offer you the oppor-tunity of understanding in the shortest time allthat I have learnt in so many years, and with

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DEDICATION

so many troubles and dangers; which work Ihave not embellished with swelling or mag-nificent words, nor stuffed with rounded pe-riods, nor with any extrinsic allurements oradornments whatever, with which so manyare accustomed to embellish their works; forI have wished either that no honour should begiven it, or else that the truth of the matter andthe weightiness of the theme shall make it ac-ceptable.Nor do I hold with those who regard it asa presumption if a man of low and humblecondition dare to discuss and settle the con-cerns of princes; because, just as those whodraw landscapes place themselves below inthe plain to contemplate the nature of themountains and of lofty places, and in order tocontemplate the plains place themselves uponhigh mountains, even so to understand the na-ture of the people it needs to be a prince, andto understand that of princes it needs to be ofthe people.Take then, your Magnificence, this little gift inthe spirit in which I send it; wherein, if it bediligently read and considered by you, youwill learn my extreme desire that you shouldattain that greatness which fortune and yourother attributes promise. And if your Mag-nificence from the summit of your greatnesswill sometimes turn your eyes to these lowerregions, you will see how unmeritedly I suffera great and continued malignity of fortune.

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CHAPTER I

HOW MANY KINDS OF PRINCIPALITIESTHERE ARE, AND BY WHAT MEANS

THEY ARE ACQUIRED

All states, all powers, that have held and hold rule overmen have been and are either republics or principalities.

Principalities are either hereditary, in which the familyhas been long established; or they are new.

The new are either entirely new, as was Milan toFrancesco Sforza, or they are, as it were, members annexedto the hereditary state of the prince who has acquired them,as was the kingdom of Naples to that of the King of Spain.

Such dominions thus acquired are either accustomed tolive under a prince, or to live in freedom; and are acquiredeither by the arms of the prince himself, or of others, or elseby fortune or by ability.

CHAPTER II

CONCERNING HEREDITARYPRINCIPALITIES

I will leave out all discussion on republics, inasmuch asin another place I have written of them at length, and willaddress myself only to principalities. In doing so I will keepto the order indicated above, and discuss how such princi-palities are to be ruled and preserved.

I say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding hered-itary states, and those long accustomed to the family oftheir prince, than new ones; for it is sufficient only not totransgress the customs of his ancestors, and to deal pru-dently with circumstances as they arise, for a prince of av-erage powers to maintain himself in his state, unless he bedeprived of it by some extraordinary and excessive force;and if he should be so deprived of it, whenever anythingsinister happens to the usurper, he will regain it.

We have in Italy, for example, the Duke of Ferrara, whocould not have withstood the attacks of the Venetians in ’84,nor those of Pope Julius in ’10, unless he had been long es-tablished in his dominions. For the hereditary prince hasless cause and less necessity to offend; hence it happens thathe will be more loved; and unless extraordinary vices causehim to be hated, it is reasonable to expect that his subjectswill be naturally well disposed towards him; and in the an-tiquity and duration of his rule the memories and motives

CHAPTER II

that make for change are lost, for one change always leavesthe toothing for another.

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CHAPTER III

CONCERNING MIXED PRINCIPALITIES

But the difficulties occur in a new principality. And firstly,if it be not entirely new, but is, as it were, a member of astate which, taken collectively, may be called composite, thechanges arise chiefly from an inherent difficulty which thereis in all new principalities; for men change their rulers will-ingly, hoping to better themselves, and this hope inducesthem to take up arms against him who rules: wherein theyare deceived, because they afterwards find by experiencethey have gone from bad to worse. This follows also on an-other natural and common necessity, which always causesa new prince to burden those who have submitted to himwith his soldiery and with infinite other hardships whichhe must put upon his new acquisition.

In this way you have enemies in all those whom you haveinjured in seizing that principality, and you are not able tokeep those friends who put you there because of your notbeing able to satisfy them in the way they expected, and youcannot take strong measures against them, feeling boundto them. For, although one may be very strong in armedforces, yet in entering a province one has always need ofthe goodwill of the natives.

For these reasons Louis the Twelfth, King of France,quickly occupied Milan, and as quickly lost it; and to turnhim out the first time it only needed Lodovico’s own forces;

CHAPTER III

because those who had opened the gates to him, findingthemselves deceived in their hopes of future benefit, wouldnot endure the ill-treatment of the new prince. It is verytrue that, after acquiring rebellious provinces a second time,they are not so lightly lost afterwards, because the prince,with little reluctance, takes the opportunity of the rebellionto punish the delinquents, to clear out the suspects, and tostrengthen himself in the weakest places. Thus to causeFrance to lose Milan the first time it was enough for theDuke Lodovico2 to raise insurrections on the borders; but tocause him to lose it a second time it was necessary to bringthe whole world against him, and that his armies should bedefeated and driven out of Italy; which followed from thecauses above mentioned.

Nevertheless Milan was taken from France both the firstand the second time. The general reasons for the first havebeen discussed; it remains to name those for the second, andto see what resources he had, and what any one in his situa-tion would have had for maintaining himself more securelyin his acquisition than did the King of France.

Now I say that those dominions which, when acquired,are added to an ancient state by him who acquires them, areeither of the same country and language, or they are not.When they are, it is easier to hold them, especially whenthey have not been accustomed to self-government; and tohold them securely it is enough to have destroyed the fam-ily of the prince who was ruling them; because the two peo-ples, preserving in other things the old conditions, and notbeing unlike in customs, will live quietly together, as onehas seen in Brittany, Burgundy, Gascony, and Normandy,which have been bound to France for so long a time: and,although there may be some difference in language, never-theless the customs are alike, and the people will easily beable to get on amongst themselves. He who has annexedthem, if he wishes to hold them, has only to bear in mind

2Duke Lodovico was Lodovico Moro, a son of Francesco Sforza,who married Beatrice d’Este. He ruled over Milan from 1494 to 1500,and died in 1510.

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CHAPTER III

two considerations: the one, that the family of their formerlord is extinguished; the other, that neither their laws northeir taxes are altered, so that in a very short time they willbecome entirely one body with the old principality.

But when states are acquired in a country differing in lan-guage, customs, or laws, there are difficulties, and good for-tune and great energy are needed to hold them, and one ofthe greatest and most real helps would be that he who hasacquired them should go and reside there. This would makehis position more secure and durable, as it has made thatof the Turk in Greece, who, notwithstanding all the othermeasures taken by him for holding that state, if he had notsettled there, would not have been able to keep it. Because,if one is on the spot, disorders are seen as they spring up,and one can quickly remedy them; but if one is not at hand,they are heard of only when they are great, and then one canno longer remedy them. Besides this, the country is not pil-laged by your officials; the subjects are satisfied by promptrecourse to the prince; thus, wishing to be good, they havemore cause to love him, and wishing to be otherwise, to fearhim. He who would attack that state from the outside musthave the utmost caution; as long as the prince resides thereit can only be wrested from him with the greatest difficulty.

The other and better course is to send colonies to one ortwo places, which may be as keys to that state, for it is nec-essary either to do this or else to keep there a great num-ber of cavalry and infantry. A prince does not spend muchon colonies, for with little or no expense he can send themout and keep them there, and he offends a minority only ofthe citizens from whom he takes lands and houses to givethem to the new inhabitants; and those whom he offends,remaining poor and scattered, are never able to injure him;whilst the rest being uninjured are easily kept quiet, and atthe same time are anxious not to err for fear it should hap-pen to them as it has to those who have been despoiled. Inconclusion, I say that these colonies are not costly, they aremore faithful, they injure less, and the injured, as has beensaid, being poor and scattered, cannot hurt. Upon this, onehas to remark that men ought either to be well treated or

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crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter in-juries, of more serious ones they cannot; therefore the injurythat is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind thatone does not stand in fear of revenge.

But in maintaining armed men there in place of coloniesone spends much more, having to consume on the garrisonall the income from the state, so that the acquisition turnsinto a loss, and many more are exasperated, because thewhole state is injured; through the shifting of the garrisonup and down all become acquainted with hardship, and allbecome hostile, and they are enemies who, whilst beaten ontheir own ground, are yet able to do hurt. For every reason,therefore, such guards are as useless as a colony is useful.

Again, the prince who holds a country differing in theabove respects ought to make himself the head and de-fender of his less powerful neighbours, and to weaken themore powerful amongst them, taking care that no foreigneras powerful as himself shall, by any accident, get a foot-ing there; for it will always happen that such a one will beintroduced by those who are discontented, either throughexcess of ambition or through fear, as one has seen already.The Romans were brought into Greece by the Aetolians; andin every other country where they obtained a footing theywere brought in by the inhabitants. And the usual course ofaffairs is that, as soon as a powerful foreigner enters a coun-try, all the subject states are drawn to him, moved by thehatred which they feel against the ruling power. So that inrespect to those subject states he has not to take any troubleto gain them over to himself, for the whole of them quicklyrally to the state which he has acquired there. He has onlyto take care that they do not get hold of too much powerand too much authority, and then with his own forces, andwith their goodwill, he can easily keep down the more pow-erful of them, so as to remain entirely master in the country.And he who does not properly manage this business willsoon lose what he has acquired, and whilst he does hold ithe will have endless difficulties and troubles.

The Romans, in the countries which they annexed, ob-served closely these measures; they sent colonies and main-

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CHAPTER III

tained friendly relations with3 the minor powers, with-out increasing their strength; they kept down the greater,and did not allow any strong foreign powers to gain au-thority. Greece appears to me sufficient for an example.The Achaeans and Aetolians were kept friendly by them,the kingdom of Macedonia was humbled, Antiochus wasdriven out; yet the merits of the Achaeans and Aetoliansnever secured for them permission to increase their power,nor did the persuasions of Philip ever induce the Romansto be his friends without first humbling him, nor did the in-fluence of Antiochus make them agree that he should retainany lordship over the country. Because the Romans did inthese instances what all prudent princes ought to do, whohave to regard not only present troubles, but also futureones, for which they must prepare with every energy, be-cause, when foreseen, it is easy to remedy them; but if youwait until they approach, the medicine is no longer in timebecause the malady has become incurable; for it happens inthis, as the physicians say it happens in hectic fever, that inthe beginning of the malady it is easy to cure but difficultto detect, but in the course of time, not having been eitherdetected or treated in the beginning, it becomes easy to de-tect but difficult to cure. This it happens in affairs of state,for when the evils that arise have been foreseen (which itis only given to a wise man to see), they can be quickly re-dressed, but when, through not having been foreseen, theyhave been permitted to grow in a way that every one can seethem, there is no longer a remedy. Therefore, the Romans,foreseeing troubles, dealt with them at once, and, even toavoid a war, would not let them come to a head, for theyknew that war is not to be avoided, but is only to be put offto the advantage of others; moreover they wished to fightwith Philip and Antiochus in Greece so as not to have to doit in Italy; they could have avoided both, but this they didnot wish; nor did that ever please them which is for ever inthe mouths of the wise ones of our time:–Let us enjoy thebenefits of the time–but rather the benefits of their own val-our and prudence, for time drives everything before it, and

3See remark in the introduction on the word "intrattenere."

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is able to bring with it good as well as evil, and evil as wellas good.

But let us turn to France and inquire whether shehas done any of the things mentioned. I will speak ofLouis@@Louis XII, King of France, “The Father of the Peo-ple," born 1462, died 1515 (and not of Charles)4 as the onewhose conduct is the better to be observed, he having heldpossession of Italy for the longest period; and you will seethat he has done the opposite to those things which oughtto be done to retain a state composed of divers elements.

King Louis was brought into Italy by the ambition of theVenetians, who desired to obtain half the state of Lombardyby his intervention. I will not blame the course taken by theking, because, wishing to get a foothold in Italy, and hav-ing no friends there–seeing rather that every door was shutto him owing to the conduct of Charles–he was forced toaccept those friendships which he could get, and he wouldhave succeeded very quickly in his design if in other mat-ters he had not made some mistakes. The king, however,having acquired Lombardy, regained at once the authoritywhich Charles had lost: Genoa yielded; the Florentines be-came his friends; the Marquess of Mantua, the Duke of Fer-rara, the Bentivogli, my lady of Forli, the Lords of Faenza, ofPesaro, of Rimini, of Camerino, of Piombino, the Lucchese,the Pisans, the Sienese–everybody made advances to himto become his friend. Then could the Venetians realize therashness of the course taken by them, which, in order thatthey might secure two towns in Lombardy, had made theking master of two-thirds of Italy.

Let any one now consider with what little difficulty theking could have maintained his position in Italy had he ob-served the rules above laid down, and kept all his friendssecure and protected; for although they were numerousthey were both weak and timid, some afraid of the Church,some of the Venetians, and thus they would always havebeen forced to stand in with him, and by their means hecould easily have made himself secure against those who

4Charles VIII, King of France, born 1470, died 1498.

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remained powerful. But he was no sooner in Milan than hedid the contrary by assisting Pope Alexander to occupy theRomagna. It never occurred to him that by this action hewas weakening himself, depriving himself of friends and ofthose who had thrown themselves into his lap, whilst he ag-grandized the Church by adding much temporal power tothe spiritual, thus giving it greater authority. And havingcommitted this prime error, he was obliged to follow it up,so much so that, to put an end to the ambition of Alexander,and to prevent his becoming the master of Tuscany, he washimself forced to come into Italy.

And as if it were not enough to have aggrandized theChurch, and deprived himself of friends, he, wishing tohave the kingdom of Naples, divides it with the King ofSpain, and where he was the prime arbiter in Italy he takesan associate, so that the ambitious of that country and themalcontents of his own should have somewhere to shelter;and whereas he could have left in the kingdom his own pen-sioner as king, he drove him out, to put one there who wasable to drive him, Louis, out in turn.

The wish to acquire is in truth very natural and common,and men always do so when they can, and for this they willbe praised not blamed; but when they cannot do so, yetwish to do so by any means, then there is folly and blame.Therefore, if France could have attacked Naples with herown forces she ought to have done so; if she could not, thenshe ought not to have divided it. And if the partition whichshe made with the Venetians in Lombardy was justified bythe excuse that by it she got a foothold in Italy, this otherpartition merited blame, for it had not the excuse of that ne-cessity.

Therefore Louis made these five errors: he destroyedthe minor powers, he increased the strength of one of thegreater powers in Italy, he brought in a foreign power, hedid not settle in the country, he did not send colonies.Which errors, had he lived, were not enough to injure himhad he not made a sixth by taking away their dominionsfrom the Venetians; because, had he not aggrandized the

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Church, nor brought Spain into Italy, it would have beenvery reasonable and necessary to humble them; but havingfirst taken these steps, he ought never to have consented totheir ruin, for they, being powerful, would always have keptoff others from designs on Lombardy, to which the Vene-tians would never have consented except to become mastersthemselves there; also because the others would not wish totake Lombardy from France in order to give it to the Vene-tians, and to run counter to both they would not have hadthe courage.

And if any one should say: “King Louis yielded the Ro-magna to Alexander and the kingdom to Spain to avoidwar," I answer for the reasons given above that a blunderought never to be perpetrated to avoid war, because it isnot to be avoided, but is only deferred to your disadvan-tage. And if another should allege the pledge which theking had given to the Pope that he would assist him in theenterprise, in exchange for the dissolution of his marriage5

and for the cap to Rouen,6 to that I reply what I shall writelater on concerning the faith of princes, and how it ought tobe kept.

Thus King Louis lost Lombardy by not having followedany of the conditions observed by those who have takenpossession of countries and wished to retain them. Nor isthere any miracle in this, but much that is reasonable andquite natural. And on these matters I spoke at Nantes withRouen, when Valentino, as Cesare Borgia, the son of PopeAlexander, was usually called, occupied the Romagna, andon Cardinal Rouen observing to me that the Italians did notunderstand war, I replied to him that the French did notunderstand statecraft, meaning that otherwise they wouldnot have allowed the Church to reach such greatness. Andin fact is has been seen that the greatness of the Church

5Louis XII divorced his wife, Jeanne, daughter of Louis XI, andmarried in 1499 Anne of Brittany, widow of Charles VIII, in order toretain the Duchy of Brittany for the crown.

6The Archbishop of Rouen. He was Georges d’Amboise, created acardinal by Alexander VI. Born 1460, died 1510.

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and of Spain in Italy has been caused by France, and herruin may be attributed to them. From this a general rule isdrawn which never or rarely fails: that he who is the causeof another becoming powerful is ruined; because that pre-dominancy has been brought about either by astuteness orelse by force, and both are distrusted by him who has beenraised to power.

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CHAPTER IV

WHY THE KINGDOM OF DARIUS,CONQUERED BY ALEXANDER, DID NOTREBEL AGAINST THE SUCCESSORS OF

ALEXANDER AT HIS DEATH

Considering the difficulties which men have had to holdto a newly acquired state, some might wonder how, see-ing that Alexander the Great became the master of Asiain a few years, and died whilst it was scarcely settled(whence it might appear reasonable that the whole empirewould have rebelled), nevertheless his successors main-tained themselves, and had to meet no other difficulty thanthat which arose among themselves from their own ambi-tions.

I answer that the principalities of which one has recordare found to be governed in two different ways; either by aprince, with a body of servants, who assist him to governthe kingdom as ministers by his favour and permission; orby a prince and barons, who hold that dignity by antiquityof blood and not by the grace of the prince. Such baronshave states and their own subjects, who recognize them aslords and hold them in natural affection. Those states thatare governed by a prince and his servants hold their princein more consideration, because in all the country there is noone who is recognized as superior to him, and if they yield

CHAPTER IV

obedience to another they do it as to a minister and official,and they do not bear him any particular affection.

The examples of these two governments in our time arethe Turk and the King of France. The entire monarchy of theTurk is governed by one lord, the others are his servants;and, dividing his kingdom into sanjaks, he sends there dif-ferent administrators, and shifts and changes them as hechooses. But the King of France is placed in the midst ofan ancient body of lords, acknowledged by their own sub-jects, and beloved by them; they have their own preroga-tives, nor can the king take these away except at his peril.Therefore, he who considers both of these states will recog-nize great difficulties in seizing the state of the Turk, but,once it is conquered, great ease in holding it. The causes ofthe difficulties in seizing the kingdom of the Turk are thatthe usurper cannot be called in by the princes of the king-dom, nor can he hope to be assisted in his designs by therevolt of those whom the lord has around him. This arisesfrom the reasons given above; for his ministers, being allslaves and bondmen, can only be corrupted with great dif-ficulty, and one can expect little advantage from them whenthey have been corrupted, as they cannot carry the peoplewith them, for the reasons assigned. Hence, he who attacksthe Turk must bear in mind that he will find him united, andhe will have to rely more on his own strength than on the re-volt of others; but, if once the Turk has been conquered, androuted in the field in such a way that he cannot replace hisarmies, there is nothing to fear but the family of this prince,and, this being exterminated, there remains no one to fear,the others having no credit with the people; and as the con-queror did not rely on them before his victory, so he oughtnot to fear them after it.

The contrary happens in kingdoms governed like that ofFrance, because one can easily enter there by gaining oversome baron of the kingdom, for one always finds malcon-tents and such as desire a change. Such men, for the rea-sons given, can open the way into the state and render thevictory easy; but if you wish to hold it afterwards, you meetwith infinite difficulties, both from those who have assisted

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you and from those you have crushed. Nor is it enoughfor you to have exterminated the family of the prince, be-cause the lords that remain make themselves the heads offresh movements against you, and as you are unable eitherto satisfy or exterminate them, that state is lost whenevertime brings the opportunity.

Now if you will consider what was the nature of the gov-ernment of Darius, you will find it similar to the kingdomof the Turk, and therefore it was only necessary for Alexan-der, first to overthrow him in the field, and then to take thecountry from him. After which victory, Darius being killed,the state remained secure to Alexander, for the above rea-sons. And if his successors had been united they wouldhave enjoyed it securely and at their ease, for there were notumults raised in the kingdom except those they provokedthemselves.

But it is impossible to hold with such tranquillity statesconstituted like that of France. Hence arose those frequentrebellions against the Romans in Spain, France, and Greece,owing to the many principalities there were in these states,of which, as long as the memory of them endured, theRomans always held an insecure possession; but with thepower and long continuance of the empire the memory ofthem passed away, and the Romans then became securepossessors. And when fighting afterwards amongst them-selves, each one was able to attach to himself his own partsof the country, according to the authority he had assumedthere; and the family of the former lord being exterminated,none other than the Romans were acknowledged.

When these things are remembered no one will marvel atthe ease with which Alexander held the Empire of Asia, orat the difficulties which others have had to keep an acquisi-tion, such as Pyrrhus and many more; this is not occasionedby the little or abundance of ability in the conqueror, but bythe want of uniformity in the subject state.

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CHAPTER V

CONCERNING THE WAY TO GOVERNCITIES OR PRINCIPALITIES WHICH

LIVED UNDER THEIR OWN LAWSBEFORE THEY WERE ANNEXED

Whenever those states which have been acquired asstated have been accustomed to live under their own lawsand in freedom, there are three courses for those who wishto hold them: the first is to ruin them, the next is to residethere in person, the third is to permit them to live undertheir own laws, drawing a tribute, and establishing withinit an oligarchy which will keep it friendly to you. Becausesuch a government, being created by the prince, knows thatit cannot stand without his friendship and interest, and doesit utmost to support him; and therefore he who would keepa city accustomed to freedom will hold it more easily by themeans of its own citizens than in any other way.

There are, for example, the Spartans and the Romans. TheSpartans held Athens and Thebes, establishing there an oli-garchy, nevertheless they lost them. The Romans, in orderto hold Capua, Carthage, and Numantia, dismantled them,and did not lose them. They wished to hold Greece as theSpartans held it, making it free and permitting its laws, anddid not succeed. So to hold it they were compelled to dis-mantle many cities in the country, for in truth there is no

CHAPTER V

safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them.And he who becomes master of a city accustomed to free-dom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyedby it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of libertyand its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neithertime nor benefits will ever cause it to forget. And whateveryou may do or provide against, they never forget that nameor their privileges unless they are disunited or dispersed,but at every chance they immediately rally to them, as Pisaafter the hundred years she had been held in bondage bythe Florentines.

But when cities or countries are accustomed to live un-der a prince, and his family is exterminated, they, being onthe one hand accustomed to obey and on the other handnot having the old prince, cannot agree in making one fromamongst themselves, and they do not know how to gov-ern themselves. For this reason they are very slow to takeup arms, and a prince can gain them to himself and securethem much more easily. But in republics there is more vi-tality, greater hatred, and more desire for vengeance, whichwill never permit them to allow the memory of their formerliberty to rest; so that the safest way is to destroy them or toreside there.

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CHAPTER VI

CONCERNING NEW PRINCIPALITIESWHICH ARE ACQUIRED BY ONE’S OWN

ARMS AND ABILITY

Let no one be surprised if, in speaking of entirely newprincipalities as I shall do, I adduce the highest examplesboth of prince and of state; because men, walking almostalways in paths beaten by others, and following by imita-tion their deeds, are yet unable to keep entirely to the waysof others or attain to the power of those they imitate. Awise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by greatmen, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so thatif his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it.Let him act like the clever archers who, designing to hit themark which yet appears too far distant, and knowing thelimits to which the strength of their bow attains, take aimmuch higher than the mark, not to reach by their strengthor arrow to so great a height, but to be able with the aid ofso high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach.

I say, therefore, that in entirely new principalities, wherethere is a new prince, more or less difficulty is found inkeeping them, accordingly as there is more or less abilityin him who has acquired the state. Now, as the fact of be-coming a prince from a private station presupposes eitherability or fortune, it is clear that one or other of these things

CHAPTER VI

will mitigate in some degree many difficulties. Neverthe-less, he who has relied least on fortune is established thestrongest. Further, it facilitates matters when the prince,having no other state, is compelled to reside there in per-son.

But to come to those who, by their own ability and notthrough fortune, have risen to be princes, I say that Moses,Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus, and such like are the most excel-lent examples. And although one may not discuss Moses,he having been a mere executor of the will of God, yet heought to be admired, if only for that favour which madehim worthy to speak with God. But in considering Cyrusand others who have acquired or founded kingdoms, allwill be found admirable; and if their particular deeds andconduct shall be considered, they will not be found infe-rior to those of Moses, although he had so great a preceptor.And in examining their actions and lives one cannot see thatthey owed anything to fortune beyond opportunity, whichbrought them the material to mould into the form whichseemed best to them. Without that opportunity their pow-ers of mind would have been extinguished, and withoutthose powers the opportunity would have come in vain.

It was necessary, therefore, to Moses that he should findthe people of Israel in Egypt enslaved and oppressed by theEgyptians, in order that they should be disposed to followhim so as to be delivered out of bondage. It was necessarythat Romulus should not remain in Alba, and that he shouldbe abandoned at his birth, in order that he should becomeKing of Rome and founder of the fatherland. It was neces-sary that Cyrus should find the Persians discontented withthe government of the Medes, and the Medes soft and ef-feminate through their long peace. Theseus could not haveshown his ability had he not found the Athenians dispersed.These opportunities, therefore, made those men fortunate,and their high ability enabled them to recognize the oppor-tunity whereby their country was ennobled and made fa-mous.

Those who by valorous ways become princes, like thesemen, acquire a principality with difficulty, but they keep it

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with ease. The difficulties they have in acquiring it rise inpart from the new rules and methods which they are forcedto introduce to establish their government and its security.And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing moredifficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or moreuncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the intro-duction of a new order of things, because the innovator hasfor enemies all those who have done well under the old con-ditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do wellunder the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of theopponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly fromthe incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in newthings until they have had a long experience of them. Thusit happens that whenever those who are hostile have theopportunity to attack they do it like partisans, whilst theothers defend lukewarmly, in such wise that the prince isendangered along with them.

It is necessary, therefore, if we desire to discuss this mat-ter thoroughly, to inquire whether these innovators canrely on themselves or have to depend on others: that isto say, whether, to consummate their enterprise, have theyto use prayers or can they use force? In the first instancethey always succeed badly, and never compass anything;but when they can rely on themselves and use force, thenthey are rarely endangered. Hence it is that all armedprophets have conquered, and the unarmed ones have beendestroyed. Besides the reasons mentioned, the nature of thepeople is variable, and whilst it is easy to persuade them,it is difficult to fix them in that persuasion. And thus it isnecessary to take such measures that, when they believe nolonger, it may be possible to make them believe by force.

If Moses, Cyrus, Theseus, and Romulus had been un-armed they could not have enforced their constitutions forlong–as happened in our time to Fra Girolamo Savonarola,who was ruined with his new order of things immediatelythe multitude believed in him no longer, and he had nomeans of keeping steadfast those who believed or of mak-ing the unbelievers to believe. Therefore such as these havegreat difficulties in consummating their enterprise, for all

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their dangers are in the ascent, yet with ability they willovercome them; but when these are overcome, and thosewho envied them their success are exterminated, they willbegin to be respected, and they will continue afterwardspowerful, secure, honoured, and happy.

To these great examples I wish to add a lesser one; still itbears some resemblance to them, and I wish it to suffice mefor all of a like kind: it is Hiero the Syracusan.7 This manrose from a private station to be Prince of Syracuse, nor didhe, either, owe anything to fortune but opportunity; for theSyracusans, being oppressed, chose him for their captain,afterwards he was rewarded by being made their prince.He was of so great ability, even as a private citizen, that onewho writes of him says he wanted nothing but a kingdomto be a king. This man abolished the old soldiery, organizedthe new, gave up old alliances, made new ones; and as hehad his own soldiers and allies, on such foundations he wasable to build any edifice: thus, whilst he had endured muchtrouble in acquiring, he had but little in keeping.

7Hiero II, born about 307 B.C., died 216 B.C.

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CONCERNING NEW PRINCIPALITIESWHICH ARE ACQUIRED EITHER BY THE

ARMS OF OTHERS OR BY GOODFORTUNE

Those who solely by good fortune become princes frombeing private citizens have little trouble in rising, but muchin keeping atop; they have not any difficulties on the wayup, because they fly, but they have many when they reachthe summit. Such are those to whom some state is giveneither for money or by the favour of him who bestows it;as happened to many in Greece, in the cities of Ionia andof the Hellespont, where princes were made by Darius, inorder that they might hold the cities both for his securityand his glory; as also were those emperors who, by the cor-ruption of the soldiers, from being citizens came to empire.Such stand simply elevated upon the goodwill and the for-tune of him who has elevated them–two most inconstantand unstable things. Neither have they the knowledge req-uisite for the position; because, unless they are men of greatworth and ability, it is not reasonable to expect that theyshould know how to command, having always lived in aprivate condition; besides, they cannot hold it because theyhave not forces which they can keep friendly and faithful.

States that rise unexpectedly, then, like all other thingsin nature which are born and grow rapidly, cannot leave

CHAPTER VII

their foundations and correspondencies fixed in such a waythat the first storm will not overthrow them; unless, as issaid, those who unexpectedly become princes are men ofso much ability that they know they have to be prepared atonce to hold that which fortune has thrown into their laps,and that those foundations, which others have laid BEFOREthey became princes, they must lay AFTERWARDS.

Concerning these two methods of rising to be a prince byability or fortune, I wish to adduce two examples withinour own recollection, and these are Francesco Sforza8 andCesare Borgia. Francesco, by proper means and with greatability, from being a private person rose to be Duke of Mi-lan, and that which he had acquired with a thousand anxi-eties he kept with little trouble. On the other hand, CesareBorgia, called by the people Duke Valentino, acquired hisstate during the ascendancy of his father, and on its declinehe lost it, notwithstanding that he had taken every measureand done all that ought to be done by a wise and able manto fix firmly his roots in the states which the arms and for-tunes of others had bestowed on him.

Because, as is stated above, he who has not first laid hisfoundations may be able with great ability to lay them af-terwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architectand danger to the building. If, therefore, all the steps takenby the duke be considered, it will be seen that he laid solidfoundations for his future power, and I do not consider itsuperfluous to discuss them, because I do not know whatbetter precepts to give a new prince than the example of hisactions; and if his dispositions were of no avail, that was

8Francesco Sforza, born 1401, died 1466. He married Bianca MariaVisconti, a natural daughter of Filippo Visconti, the Duke of Milan, onwhose death he procured his own elevation to the duchy. Machiavelliwas the accredited agent of the Florentine Republic to Cesare Borgia(1478- 1507) during the transactions which led up to the assassinationsof the Orsini and Vitelli at Sinigalia, and along with his letters to hischiefs in Florence he has left an account, written ten years before “ThePrince," of the proceedings of the duke in his “Descritione del modotenuto dal duca Valentino nello ammazzare Vitellozzo Vitelli," etc., atranslation of which is appended to the present work.

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not his fault, but the extraordinary and extreme malignityof fortune.

Alexander the Sixth, in wishing to aggrandize the duke,his son, had many immediate and prospective difficulties.Firstly, he did not see his way to make him master of anystate that was not a state of the Church; and if he was will-ing to rob the Church he knew that the Duke of Milan andthe Venetians would not consent, because Faenza and Ri-mini were already under the protection of the Venetians.Besides this, he saw the arms of Italy, especially those bywhich he might have been assisted, in hands that wouldfear the aggrandizement of the Pope, namely, the Orsini andthe Colonnesi and their following. It behoved him, there-fore, to upset this state of affairs and embroil the powers,so as to make himself securely master of part of their states.This was easy for him to do, because he found the Vene-tians, moved by other reasons, inclined to bring back theFrench into Italy; he would not only not oppose this, but hewould render it more easy by dissolving the former mar-riage of King Louis. Therefore the king came into Italy withthe assistance of the Venetians and the consent of Alexan-der. He was no sooner in Milan than the Pope had soldiersfrom him for the attempt on the Romagna, which yielded tohim on the reputation of the king. The duke, therefore, hav-ing acquired the Romagna and beaten the Colonnesi, whilewishing to hold that and to advance further, was hinderedby two things: the one, his forces did not appear loyal tohim, the other, the goodwill of France: that is to say, hefeared that the forces of the Orsini, which he was using,would not stand to him, that not only might they hinderhim from winning more, but might themselves seize whathe had won, and that the king might also do the same. Ofthe Orsini he had a warning when, after taking Faenza andattacking Bologna, he saw them go very unwillingly to thatattack. And as to the king, he learned his mind when hehimself, after taking the Duchy of Urbino, attacked Tuscany,and the king made him desist from that undertaking; hencethe duke decided to depend no more upon the arms and theluck of others.

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For the first thing he weakened the Orsini and Colon-nesi parties in Rome, by gaining to himself all their adher-ents who were gentlemen, making them his gentlemen, giv-ing them good pay, and, according to their rank, honour-ing them with office and command in such a way that ina few months all attachment to the factions was destroyedand turned entirely to the duke. After this he awaited anopportunity to crush the Orsini, having scattered the ad-herents of the Colonna house. This came to him soon andhe used it well; for the Orsini, perceiving at length that theaggrandizement of the duke and the Church was ruin tothem, called a meeting of the Magione in Perugia. Fromthis sprung the rebellion at Urbino and the tumults in theRomagna, with endless dangers to the duke, all of whichhe overcame with the help of the French. Having restoredhis authority, not to leave it at risk by trusting either to theFrench or other outside forces, he had recourse to his wiles,and he knew so well how to conceal his mind that, by themediation of Signor Pagolo–whom the duke did not fail tosecure with all kinds of attention, giving him money, ap-parel, and horses–the Orsini were reconciled, so that theirsimplicity brought them into his power at Sinigalia.9 Hav-ing exterminated the leaders, and turned their partisansinto his friends, the duke laid sufficiently good foundationsto his power, having all the Romagna and the Duchy ofUrbino; and the people now beginning to appreciate theirprosperity, he gained them all over to himself. And as thispoint is worthy of notice, and to be imitated by others, I amnot willing to leave it out.

When the duke occupied the Romagna he found it underthe rule of weak masters, who rather plundered their sub-jects than ruled them, and gave them more cause for dis-union than for union, so that the country was full of rob-bery, quarrels, and every kind of violence; and so, wishingto bring back peace and obedience to authority, he consid-ered it necessary to give it a good governor. Thereupon he

9Sinigalia, 31st December 1502.

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promoted Messer Ramiro d’Orco,10 a swift and cruel man,to whom he gave the fullest power. This man in a short timerestored peace and unity with the greatest success. After-wards the duke considered that it was not advisable to con-fer such excessive authority, for he had no doubt but that hewould become odious, so he set up a court of judgment inthe country, under a most excellent president, wherein allcities had their advocates. And because he knew that thepast severity had caused some hatred against himself, so,to clear himself in the minds of the people, and gain thementirely to himself, he desired to show that, if any crueltyhad been practised, it had not originated with him, but inthe natural sternness of the minister. Under this pretence hetook Ramiro, and one morning caused him to be executedand left on the piazza at Cesena with the block and a bloodyknife at his side. The barbarity of this spectacle caused thepeople to be at once satisfied and dismayed.

But let us return whence we started. I say that the duke,finding himself now sufficiently powerful and partly se-cured from immediate dangers by having armed himself inhis own way, and having in a great measure crushed thoseforces in his vicinity that could injure him if he wished toproceed with his conquest, had next to consider France, forhe knew that the king, who too late was aware of his mis-take, would not support him. And from this time he beganto seek new alliances and to temporize with France in theexpedition which she was making towards the kingdom ofNaples against the Spaniards who were besieging Gaeta. Itwas his intention to secure himself against them, and thishe would have quickly accomplished had Alexander lived.

Such was his line of action as to present affairs. But as tothe future he had to fear, in the first place, that a new suc-cessor to the Church might not be friendly to him and mightseek to take from him that which Alexander had given him,so he decided to act in four ways. Firstly, by exterminatingthe families of those lords whom he had despoiled, so as totake away that pretext from the Pope. Secondly, by winning

10Ramiro d’Orco. Ramiro de Lorqua.

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to himself all the gentlemen of Rome, so as to be able tocurb the Pope with their aid, as has been observed. Thirdly,by converting the college more to himself. Fourthly, by ac-quiring so much power before the Pope should die that hecould by his own measures resist the first shock. Of thesefour things, at the death of Alexander, he had accomplishedthree. For he had killed as many of the dispossessed lordsas he could lay hands on, and few had escaped; he had wonover the Roman gentlemen, and he had the most numer-ous party in the college. And as to any fresh acquisition, heintended to become master of Tuscany, for he already pos-sessed Perugia and Piombino, and Pisa was under his pro-tection. And as he had no longer to study France (for theFrench were already driven out of the kingdom of Naplesby the Spaniards, and in this way both were compelled tobuy his goodwill), he pounced down upon Pisa. After this,Lucca and Siena yielded at once, partly through hatred andpartly through fear of the Florentines; and the Florentineswould have had no remedy had he continued to prosper, ashe was prospering the year that Alexander died, for he hadacquired so much power and reputation that he would havestood by himself, and no longer have depended on the luckand the forces of others, but solely on his own power andability.

But Alexander died five years after he had first drawnthe sword. He left the duke with the state of Romagnaalone consolidated, with the rest in the air, between twomost powerful hostile armies, and sick unto death. Yet therewere in the duke such boldness and ability, and he knew sowell how men are to be won or lost, and so firm were thefoundations which in so short a time he had laid, that if hehad not had those armies on his back, or if he had been ingood health, he would have overcome all difficulties. Andit is seen that his foundations were good, for the Romagnaawaited him for more than a month. In Rome, althoughbut half alive, he remained secure; and whilst the Baglioni,the Vitelli, and the Orsini might come to Rome, they couldnot effect anything against him. If he could not have madePope him whom he wished, at least the one whom he did

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not wish would not have been elected. But if he had been insound health at the death of Alexander,11 everything wouldhave been different to him. On the day that Julius the Sec-ond12 was elected, he told me that he had thought of every-thing that might occur at the death of his father, and hadprovided a remedy for all, except that he had never antici-pated that, when the death did happen, he himself wouldbe on the point to die.

When all the actions of the duke are recalled, I do notknow how to blame him, but rather it appears to be, asI have said, that I ought to offer him for imitation to allthose who, by the fortune or the arms of others, are raisedto government. Because he, having a lofty spirit and far-reaching aims, could not have regulated his conduct other-wise, and only the shortness of the life of Alexander andhis own sickness frustrated his designs. Therefore, he whoconsiders it necessary to secure himself in his new princi-pality, to win friends, to overcome either by force or fraud,to make himself beloved and feared by the people, to befollowed and revered by the soldiers, to exterminate thosewho have power or reason to hurt him, to change the oldorder of things for new, to be severe and gracious, magnani-mous and liberal, to destroy a disloyal soldiery and to createnew, to maintain friendship with kings and princes in sucha way that they must help him with zeal and offend withcaution, cannot find a more lively example than the actionsof this man.

Only can he be blamed for the election of Julius the Sec-ond, in whom he made a bad choice, because, as is said,not being able to elect a Pope to his own mind, he couldhave hindered any other from being elected Pope; and heought never to have consented to the election of any car-dinal whom he had injured or who had cause to fear himif they became pontiffs. For men injure either from fear orhatred. Those whom he had injured, amongst others, were

11Alexander VI died of fever, 18th August 1503.12Julius II was Giuliano della Rovere, Cardinal of San Pietro ad Vin-

cula, born 1443, died 1513.

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San Pietro ad Vincula, Colonna, San Giorgio, and Ascanio.13The rest, in becoming Pope, had to fear him, Rouen and theSpaniards excepted; the latter from their relationship andobligations, the former from his influence, the kingdom ofFrance having relations with him. Therefore, above every-thing, the duke ought to have created a Spaniard Pope, and,failing him, he ought to have consented to Rouen and notSan Pietro ad Vincula. He who believes that new bene-fits will cause great personages to forget old injuries is de-ceived. Therefore, the duke erred in his choice, and it wasthe cause of his ultimate ruin.

13San Giorgio is Raffaello Riario. Ascanio is Ascanio Sforza.

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CONCERNING THOSE WHO HAVEOBTAINED A PRINCIPALITY BY

WICKEDNESS

Although a prince may rise from a private station in twoways, neither of which can be entirely attributed to fortuneor genius, yet it is manifest to me that I must not be silent onthem, although one could be more copiously treated when Idiscuss republics. These methods are when, either by somewicked or nefarious ways, one ascends to the principality,or when by the favour of his fellow-citizens a private per-son becomes the prince of his country. And speaking of thefirst method, it will be illustrated by two examples–one an-cient, the other modern–and without entering further intothe subject, I consider these two examples will suffice thosewho may be compelled to follow them.

Agathocles, the Sicilian,14 became King of Syracuse notonly from a private but from a low and abject position. Thisman, the son of a potter, through all the changes in his for-tunes always led an infamous life. Nevertheless, he accom-panied his infamies with so much ability of mind and bodythat, having devoted himself to the military profession, herose through its ranks to be Praetor of Syracuse. Being es-tablished in that position, and having deliberately resolved

14Agathocles the Sicilian, born 361 B.C., died 289 B.C.

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to make himself prince and to seize by violence, withoutobligation to others, that which had been conceded to himby assent, he came to an understanding for this purposewith Amilcar, the Carthaginian, who, with his army, wasfighting in Sicily. One morning he assembled the peopleand the senate of Syracuse, as if he had to discuss withthem things relating to the Republic, and at a given sig-nal the soldiers killed all the senators and the richest of thepeople; these dead, he seized and held the princedom ofthat city without any civil commotion. And although hewas twice routed by the Carthaginians, and ultimately be-sieged, yet not only was he able to defend his city, but leav-ing part of his men for its defence, with the others he at-tacked Africa, and in a short time raised the siege of Syra-cuse. The Carthaginians, reduced to extreme necessity, werecompelled to come to terms with Agathocles, and, leav-ing Sicily to him, had to be content with the possession ofAfrica.

Therefore, he who considers the actions and the genius ofthis man will see nothing, or little, which can be attributedto fortune, inasmuch as he attained pre-eminence, as isshown above, not by the favour of any one, but step by stepin the military profession, which steps were gained with athousand troubles and perils, and were afterwards boldlyheld by him with many hazardous dangers. Yet it cannotbe called talent to slay fellow-citizens, to deceive friends,to be without faith, without mercy, without religion; suchmethods may gain empire, but not glory. Still, if the courageof Agathocles in entering into and extricating himself fromdangers be considered, together with his greatness of mindin enduring and overcoming hardships, it cannot be seenwhy he should be esteemed less than the most notable cap-tain. Nevertheless, his barbarous cruelty and inhumanitywith infinite wickedness do not permit him to be celebratedamong the most excellent men. What he achieved cannot beattributed either to fortune or genius.

In our times, during the rule of Alexander the Sixth, Oliv-erotto da Fermo, having been left an orphan many yearsbefore, was brought up by his maternal uncle, Giovanni

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Fogliani, and in the early days of his youth sent to fight un-der Pagolo Vitelli, that, being trained under his discipline,he might attain some high position in the military profes-sion. After Pagolo died, he fought under his brother Vitel-lozzo, and in a very short time, being endowed with wit anda vigorous body and mind, he became the first man in hisprofession. But it appearing a paltry thing to serve underothers, he resolved, with the aid of some citizens of Fermo,to whom the slavery of their country was dearer than itsliberty, and with the help of the Vitelleschi, to seize Fermo.So he wrote to Giovanni Fogliani that, having been awayfrom home for many years, he wished to visit him and hiscity, and in some measure to look upon his patrimony; andalthough he had not laboured to acquire anything excepthonour, yet, in order that the citizens should see he hadnot spent his time in vain, he desired to come honourably,so would be accompanied by one hundred horsemen, hisfriends and retainers; and he entreated Giovanni to arrangethat he should be received honourably by the Fermians, allof which would be not only to his honour, but also to thatof Giovanni himself, who had brought him up.

Giovanni, therefore, did not fail in any attentions dueto his nephew, and he caused him to be honourably re-ceived by the Fermians, and he lodged him in his ownhouse, where, having passed some days, and having ar-ranged what was necessary for his wicked designs, Oliv-erotto gave a solemn banquet to which he invited GiovanniFogliani and the chiefs of Fermo. When the viands and allthe other entertainments that are usual in such banquetswere finished, Oliverotto artfully began certain grave dis-courses, speaking of the greatness of Pope Alexander andhis son Cesare, and of their enterprises, to which discourseGiovanni and others answered; but he rose at once, sayingthat such matters ought to be discussed in a more privateplace, and he betook himself to a chamber, whither Gio-vanni and the rest of the citizens went in after him. Nosooner were they seated than soldiers issued from secretplaces and slaughtered Giovanni and the rest. After thesemurders Oliverotto, mounted on horseback, rode up and

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down the town and besieged the chief magistrate in thepalace, so that in fear the people were forced to obey him,and to form a government, of which he made himself theprince. He killed all the malcontents who were able to injurehim, and strengthened himself with new civil and militaryordinances, in such a way that, in the year during which heheld the principality, not only was he secure in the city ofFermo, but he had become formidable to all his neighbours.And his destruction would have been as difficult as that ofAgathocles if he had not allowed himself to be overreachedby Cesare Borgia, who took him with the Orsini and Vitelliat Sinigalia, as was stated above. Thus one year after hehad committed this parricide, he was strangled, togetherwith Vitellozzo, whom he had made his leader in valourand wickedness.

Some may wonder how it can happen that Agathocles,and his like, after infinite treacheries and cruelties, shouldlive for long secure in his country, and defend himself fromexternal enemies, and never be conspired against by hisown citizens; seeing that many others, by means of cru-elty, have never been able even in peaceful times to holdthe state, still less in the doubtful times of war. I believethat this follows from severities15 being badly or properlyused. Those may be called properly used, if of evil it ispossible to speak well, that are applied at one blow andare necessary to one’s security, and that are not persistedin afterwards unless they can be turned to the advantage ofthe subjects. The badly employed are those which, notwith-standing they may be few in the commencement, multiplywith time rather than decrease. Those who practise the firstsystem are able, by aid of God or man, to mitigate in somedegree their rule, as Agathocles did. It is impossible forthose who follow the other to maintain themselves.

Hence it is to be remarked that, in seizing a state, theusurper ought to examine closely into all those injuries

15Mr Burd suggests that this word probably comes near the modernequivalent of Machiavelli’s thought when he speaks of "crudelta" thanthe more obvious "cruelties."

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which it is necessary for him to inflict, and to do them all atone stroke so as not to have to repeat them daily; and thusby not unsettling men he will be able to reassure them, andwin them to himself by benefits. He who does otherwise,either from timidity or evil advice, is always compelled tokeep the knife in his hand; neither can he rely on his sub-jects, nor can they attach themselves to him, owing to theircontinued and repeated wrongs. For injuries ought to bedone all at one time, so that, being tasted less, they offendless; benefits ought to be given little by little, so that theflavour of them may last longer.

And above all things, a prince ought to live amongst hispeople in such a way that no unexpected circumstances,whether of good or evil, shall make him change; becauseif the necessity for this comes in troubled times, you are toolate for harsh measures; and mild ones will not help you,for they will be considered as forced from you, and no onewill be under any obligation to you for them.

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CONCERNING A CIVIL PRINCIPALITY

But coming to the other point–where a leading citizen be-comes the prince of his country, not by wickedness or anyintolerable violence, but by the favour of his fellow citizens–this may be called a civil principality: nor is genius or for-tune altogether necessary to attain to it, but rather a happyshrewdness. I say then that such a principality is obtainedeither by the favour of the people or by the favour of thenobles. Because in all cities these two distinct parties arefound, and from this it arises that the people do not wish tobe ruled nor oppressed by the nobles, and the nobles wishto rule and oppress the people; and from these two oppo-site desires there arises in cities one of three results, either aprincipality, self-government, or anarchy.

A principality is created either by the people or by thenobles, accordingly as one or other of them has the oppor-tunity; for the nobles, seeing they cannot withstand the peo-ple, begin to cry up the reputation of one of themselves, andthey make him a prince, so that under his shadow they cangive vent to their ambitions. The people, finding they can-not resist the nobles, also cry up the reputation of one ofthemselves, and make him a prince so as to be defended byhis authority. He who obtains sovereignty by the assistanceof the nobles maintains himself with more difficulty than hewho comes to it by the aid of the people, because the former

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finds himself with many around him who consider them-selves his equals, and because of this he can neither rule normanage them to his liking. But he who reaches sovereigntyby popular favour finds himself alone, and has none aroundhim, or few, who are not prepared to obey him.

Besides this, one cannot by fair dealing, and without in-jury to others, satisfy the nobles, but you can satisfy the peo-ple, for their object is more righteous than that of the nobles,the latter wishing to oppress, while the former only desirenot to be oppressed. It is to be added also that a princecan never secure himself against a hostile people, becauseof their being too many, whilst from the nobles he can se-cure himself, as they are few in number. The worst thata prince may expect from a hostile people is to be aban-doned by them; but from hostile nobles he has not only tofear 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 ob-tain favours from him whom they expect to prevail. Fur-ther, the prince is compelled to live always with the samepeople, but he can do well without the same nobles, beingable to make and unmake them daily, and to give or takeaway authority when it pleases him.

Therefore, to make this point clearer, I say that the no-bles ought to be looked at mainly in two ways: that is tosay, they either shape their course in such a way as bindsthem entirely to your fortune, or they do not. Those whoso bind themselves, and are not rapacious, ought to be hon-oured and loved; those who do not bind themselves maybe dealt with in two ways; they may fail to do this throughpusillanimity and a natural want of courage, in which caseyou ought to make use of them, especially of those who areof good counsel; and thus, whilst in prosperity you honourthem, in adversity you do not have to fear them. But whenfor their own ambitious ends they shun binding themselves,it is a token that they are giving more thought to themselvesthan to you, and a prince ought to guard against such, andto fear them as if they were open enemies, because in adver-sity they always help to ruin him.

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Therefore, one who becomes a prince through the favourof the people ought to keep them friendly, and this he caneasily do seeing they only ask not to be oppressed by him.But one who, in opposition to the people, becomes a princeby the favour of the nobles, ought, above everything, to seekto win the people over to himself, and this he may easily doif he takes them under his protection. Because men, whenthey receive good from him of whom they were expect-ing evil, are bound more closely to their benefactor; thusthe people quickly become more devoted to him than if hehad been raised to the principality by their favours; and theprince can win their affections in many ways, but as thesevary according to the circumstances one cannot give fixedrules, so I omit them; but, I repeat, it is necessary for a princeto have the people friendly, otherwise he has no security inadversity.

Nabis,16 Prince of the Spartans, sustained the attack of allGreece, and of a victorious Roman army, and against themhe defended his country and his government; and for theovercoming of this peril it was only necessary for him tomake himself secure against a few, but this would not havebeen sufficient had the people been hostile. And do not letany one impugn this statement with the trite proverb that“He who builds on the people, builds on the mud," for thisis true when a private citizen makes a foundation there, andpersuades himself that the people will free him when he isoppressed by his enemies or by the magistrates; wherein hewould find himself very often deceived, as happened to theGracchi in Rome and to Messer Giorgio Scali17 in Florence.But granted a prince who has established himself as above,who can command, and is a man of courage, undismayedin adversity, who does not fail in other qualifications, andwho, by his resolution and energy, keeps the whole peopleencouraged–such a one will never find himself deceived in

16Nabis, tyrant of Sparta, conquered by the Romans under Flamin-inus in 195 B.C.; killed 192 B.C.

17Messer Giorgio Scali. This event is to be found in Machiavelli’s“Florentine History," Book III.

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them, and it will be shown that he has laid his foundationswell.

These principalities are liable to danger when they arepassing from the civil to the absolute order of government,for such princes either rule personally or through magis-trates. In the latter case their government is weaker andmore insecure, because it rests entirely on the goodwill ofthose citizens who are raised to the magistracy, and who,especially in troubled times, can destroy the governmentwith great ease, either by intrigue or open defiance; andthe prince has not the chance amid tumults to exercise ab-solute authority, because the citizens and subjects, accus-tomed to receive orders from magistrates, are not of a mindto obey him amid these confusions, and there will always bein doubtful times a scarcity of men whom he can trust. Forsuch a prince cannot rely upon what he observes in quiettimes, when citizens have need of the state, because then ev-ery one agrees with him; they all promise, and when deathis far distant they all wish to die for him; but in troubledtimes, when the state has need of its citizens, then he findsbut few. And so much the more is this experiment danger-ous, inasmuch as it can only be tried once. Therefore a wiseprince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens willalways in every sort and kind of circumstance have needof the state and of him, and then he will always find themfaithful.

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CONCERNING THE WAY IN WHICH THESTRENGTH OF ALL PRINCIPALITIES

OUGHT TO BE MEASURED

It is necessary to consider another point in examining thecharacter of these principalities: that is, whether a princehas such power that, in case of need, he can support him-self with his own resources, or whether he has always needof the assistance of others. And to make this quite clear I saythat I consider those who are able to support themselves bytheir own resources who can, either by abundance of menor money, raise a sufficient army to join battle against anyone who comes to attack them; and I consider those alwaysto have need of others who cannot show themselves againstthe enemy in the field, but are forced to defend themselvesby sheltering behind walls. The first case has been dis-cussed, but we will speak of it again should it recur. Inthe second case one can say nothing except to encouragesuch princes to provision and fortify their towns, and noton any account to defend the country. And whoever shallfortify his town well, and shall have managed the other con-cerns of his subjects in the way stated above, and to be oftenrepeated, will never be attacked without great caution, formen are always adverse to enterprises where difficulties canbe seen, and it will be seen not to be an easy thing to attack

CHAPTER X

one who has his town well fortified, and is not hated by hispeople.

The cities of Germany are absolutely free, they own butlittle country around them, and they yield obedience to theemperor when it suits them, nor do they fear this or anyother power they may have near them, because they are for-tified in such a way that every one thinks the taking of themby assault would be tedious and difficult, seeing they haveproper ditches and walls, they have sufficient artillery, andthey always keep in public depots enough for one year’seating, drinking, and firing. And beyond this, to keep thepeople quiet and without loss to the state, they always havethe means of giving work to the community in those laboursthat are the life and strength of the city, and on the pursuitof which the people are supported; they also hold militaryexercises in repute, and moreover have many ordinances touphold them.

Therefore, a prince who has a strong city, and had notmade himself odious, will not be attacked, or if any oneshould attack he will only be driven off with disgrace;again, because that the affairs of this world are so change-able, it is almost impossible to keep an army a whole yearin the field without being interfered with. And whoevershould reply: If the people have property outside the city,and see it burnt, they will not remain patient, and the longsiege and self-interest will make them forget their prince;to this I answer that a powerful and courageous prince willovercome all such difficulties by giving at one time hopeto his subjects that the evil will not be for long, at anothertime fear of the cruelty of the enemy, then preserving him-self adroitly from those subjects who seem to him to be toobold.

Further, the enemy would naturally on his arrival at onceburn and ruin the country at the time when the spirits of thepeople are still hot and ready for the defence; and, therefore,so much the less ought the prince to hesitate; because af-ter a time, when spirits have cooled, the damage is alreadydone, the ills are incurred, and there is no longer any rem-edy; and therefore they are so much the more ready to unite

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with their prince, he appearing to be under obligations tothem now that their houses have been burnt and their pos-sessions ruined in his defence. For it is the nature of mento be bound by the benefits they confer as much as by thosethey receive. Therefore, if everything is well considered, itwill not be difficult for a wise prince to keep the minds ofhis citizens steadfast from first to last, when he does not failto support and defend them.

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CONCERNING ECCLESIASTICALPRINCIPALITIES

It only remains now to speak of ecclesiastical principali-ties, touching which all difficulties are prior to getting pos-session, because they are acquired either by capacity orgood fortune, and they can be held without either; for theyare sustained by the ancient ordinances of religion, whichare so all-powerful, and of such a character that the prin-cipalities may be held no matter how their princes behaveand live. These princes alone have states and do not de-fend them; and they have subjects and do not rule them;and the states, although unguarded, are not taken fromthem, and the subjects, although not ruled, do not care, andthey have neither the desire nor the ability to alienate them-selves. Such principalities only are secure and happy. Butbeing upheld by powers, to which the human mind cannotreach, I shall speak no more of them, because, being exaltedand maintained by God, it would be the act of a presump-tuous and rash man to discuss them.

Nevertheless, if any one should ask of me how comesit that the Church has attained such greatness in temporalpower, seeing that from Alexander backwards the Italianpotentates (not only those who have been called potentates,but every baron and lord, though the smallest) have valuedthe temporal power very slightly–yet now a king of France

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trembles before it, and it has been able to drive him fromItaly, and to ruin the Venetians–although this may be verymanifest, it does not appear to me superfluous to recall it insome measure to memory.

Before Charles, King of France, passed into Italy,18 thiscountry 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, thatno foreigner should enter Italy under arms; the other, thatnone of themselves should seize more territory. Those aboutwhom there was the most anxiety were the Pope and theVenetians. To restrain the Venetians the union of all the oth-ers was necessary, as it was for the defence of Ferrara; and tokeep down the Pope they made use of the barons of Rome,who, being divided into two factions, Orsini and Colon-nesi, had always a pretext for disorder, and, standing witharms in their hands under the eyes of the Pontiff, kept thepontificate weak and powerless. And although there mightarise sometimes a courageous pope, such as Sixtus, yet nei-ther fortune nor wisdom could rid him of these annoyances.And the short life of a pope is also a cause of weakness; forin the ten years, which is the average life of a pope, he canwith difficulty lower one of the factions; and if, so to speak,one people should almost destroy the Colonnesi, anotherwould arise hostile to the Orsini, who would support theiropponents, and yet would not have time to ruin the Orsini.This was the reason why the temporal powers of the popewere little esteemed in Italy.

Alexander the Sixth arose afterwards, who of all the pon-tiffs that have ever been showed how a pope with bothmoney and arms was able to prevail; and through the in-strumentality of the Duke Valentino, and by reason of theentry of the French, he brought about all those things whichI have discussed above in the actions of the duke. Andalthough his intention was not to aggrandize the Church,but the duke, nevertheless, what he did contributed to thegreatness of the Church, which, after his death and the ruin

18Charles VIII invaded Italy in 1494.

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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 Romereduced to impotence, and, through the chastisements ofAlexander, the factions wiped out; he also found the wayopen to accumulate money in a manner such as had neverbeen practised before Alexander’s time. Such things Juliusnot only followed, but improved upon, and he intended togain Bologna, to ruin the Venetians, and to drive the Frenchout of Italy. All of these enterprises prospered with him,and so much the more to his credit, inasmuch as he did ev-erything to strengthen the Church and not any private per-son. He kept also the Orsini and Colonnesi factions withinthe bounds in which he found them; and although therewas among them some mind to make disturbance, never-theless he held two things firm: the one, the greatness ofthe Church, with which he terrified them; and the other, notallowing them to have their own cardinals, who caused thedisorders among them. For whenever these factions havetheir cardinals they do not remain quiet for long, becausecardinals foster the factions in Rome and out of it, and thebarons are compelled to support them, and thus from theambitions of prelates arise disorders and tumults among thebarons. For these reasons his Holiness Pope Leo19 found thepontificate most powerful, and it is to be hoped that, if oth-ers made it great in arms, he will make it still greater andmore venerated by his goodness and infinite other virtues.

19Pope Leo X was the Cardinal de’ Medici.

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HOW MANY KINDS OF SOLDIERYTHERE ARE, AND CONCERNING

MERCENARIES

Having discoursed particularly on the characteristics ofsuch principalities as in the beginning I proposed to dis-cuss, and having considered in some degree the causes oftheir being good or bad, and having shown the methods bywhich many have sought to acquire them and to hold them,it now remains for me to discuss generally the means of of-fence and defence which belong to each of them.

We have seen above how necessary it is for a prince tohave his foundations well laid, otherwise it follows of ne-cessity he will go to ruin. The chief foundations of all states,new as well as old or composite, are good laws and goodarms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state isnot well armed, it follows that where they are well armedthey have good laws. I shall leave the laws out of the dis-cussion and shall speak of the arms.

I say, therefore, that the arms with which a prince defendshis state are either his own, or they are mercenaries, auxil-iaries, or mixed. Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless anddangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms,he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited,

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ambitious, and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant be-fore friends, cowardly before enemies; they have neither thefear of God nor fidelity to men, and destruction is deferredonly so long as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed bythem, and in war by the enemy. The fact is, they have noother attraction or reason for keeping the field than a tri-fle of stipend, which is not sufficient to make them willingto die for you. They are ready enough to be your soldierswhilst you do not make war, but if war comes they takethemselves off or run from the foe; which I should have lit-tle trouble to prove, for the ruin of Italy has been caused bynothing else than by resting all her hopes for many years onmercenaries, and although they formerly made some dis-play and appeared valiant amongst themselves, yet whenthe foreigners came they showed what they were. Thus itwas that Charles, King of France, was allowed to seize Italywith chalk in hand;20 and he who told us that our sins werethe cause of it told the truth, but they were not the sins heimagined, but those which I have related. And as they werethe sins of princes, it is the princes who have also sufferedthe penalty.

I wish to demonstrate further the infelicity of these arms.The mercenary captains are either capable men or they arenot; if they are, you cannot trust them, because they alwaysaspire to their own greatness, either by oppressing you, whoare their master, or others contrary to your intentions; but ifthe captain is not skilful, you are ruined in the usual way.

And if it be urged that whoever is armed will act in thesame way, whether mercenary or not, I reply that when

20“With chalk in hand," "col gesso." This is one of the bons mots ofAlexander VI, and refers to the ease with which Charles VIII seizedItaly, implying that it was only necessary for him to send his quarter-masters to chalk up the billets for his soldiers to conquer the country.Cf. “The History of Henry VII," by Lord Bacon: “King Charles hadconquered the realm of Naples, and lost it again, in a kind of a felicityof a dream. He passed the whole length of Italy without resistance:so that it was true what Pope Alexander was wont to say: That theFrenchmen came into Italy with chalk in their hands, to mark up theirlodgings, rather than with swords to fight."

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arms have to be resorted to, either by a prince or a republic,then the prince ought to go in person and perform the dutyof a captain; the republic has to send its citizens, and whenone is sent who does not turn out satisfactorily, it ought torecall him, and when one is worthy, to hold him by the lawsso that he does not leave the command. And experiencehas shown princes and republics, single-handed, makingthe greatest progress, and mercenaries doing nothing exceptdamage; and it is more difficult to bring a republic, armedwith its own arms, under the sway of one of its citizens thanit is to bring one armed with foreign arms. Rome and Spartastood for many ages armed and free. The Switzers are com-pletely armed and quite free.

Of ancient mercenaries, for example, there are theCarthaginians, who were oppressed by their mercenary sol-diers after the first war with the Romans, although theCarthaginians had their own citizens for captains. After thedeath of Epaminondas, Philip of Macedon was made cap-tain of their soldiers by the Thebans, and after victory hetook away their liberty.

Duke Filippo being dead, the Milanese enlisted FrancescoSforza against the Venetians, and he, having overcome theenemy at Caravaggio,21 allied himself with them to crushthe Milanese, his masters. His father, Sforza, having beenengaged by Queen Johanna22 of Naples, left her unpro-tected, so that she was forced to throw herself into the armsof the King of Aragon, in order to save her kingdom. Andif the Venetians and Florentines formerly extended their do-minions by these arms, and yet their captains did not makethemselves princes, but have defended them, I reply thatthe Florentines in this case have been favoured by chance,for of the able captains, of whom they might have stood infear, some have not conquered, some have been opposed,and others have turned their ambitions elsewhere. Onewho did not conquer was Giovanni Acuto, 23 and since he

21Battle of Caravaggio, 15th September 1448.22Johanna II of Naples, the widow of Ladislao, King of Naples.23Giovanni Acuto. An English knight whose name was Sir John

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did not conquer his fidelity cannot be proved; but everyone will acknowledge that, had he conquered, the Floren-tines would have stood at his discretion. Sforza had theBracceschi always against him, so they watched each other.Francesco turned his ambition to Lombardy; Braccio againstthe Church and the kingdom of Naples. But let us cometo that which happened a short while ago. The Florentinesappointed as their captain Pagolo Vitelli, a most prudentman, who from a private position had risen to the great-est renown. If this man had taken Pisa, nobody can denythat it would have been proper for the Florentines to keepin with him, for if he became the soldier of their enemiesthey had no means of resisting, and if they held to him theymust obey him. The Venetians, if their achievements areconsidered, will be seen to have acted safely and gloriouslyso long as they sent to war their own men, when with armedgentlemen and plebians they did valiantly. This was beforethey turned to enterprises on land, but when they beganto fight on land they forsook this virtue and followed thecustom of Italy. And in the beginning of their expansionon land, through not having much territory, and becauseof their great reputation, they had not much to fear fromtheir captains; but when they expanded, as under Carmign-uola,24 they had a taste of this mistake; for, having foundhim a most valiant man (they beat the Duke of Milan un-der his leadership), and, on the other hand, knowing howlukewarm he was in the war, they feared they would nolonger conquer under him, and for this reason they werenot willing, nor were they able, to let him go; and so, notto lose again that which they had acquired, they were com-pelled, in order to secure themselves, to murder him. They

Hawkwood. He fought in the English wars in France, and wasknighted by Edward III; afterwards he collected a body of troops andwent into Italy. These became the famous “White Company." He tookpart in many wars, and died in Florence in 1394. He was born about1320 at Sible Hedingham, a village in Essex. He married Domnia, adaughter of Bernabo Visconti.

24Carmignuola. Francesco Bussone, born at Carmagnola about1390, executed at Venice, 5th May 1432.

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had afterwards for their captains Bartolomeo da Bergamo,Roberto da San Severino, the count of Pitigliano,25 and thelike, under whom they had to dread loss and not gain, ashappened afterwards at Vaila, 26 where in one battle theylost that which in eight hundred years they had acquiredwith so much trouble. Because from such arms conquestscome but slowly, long delayed and inconsiderable, but thelosses sudden and portentous.

And as with these examples I have reached Italy, whichhas been ruled for many years by mercenaries, I wish todiscuss them more seriously, in order that, having seen theirrise and progress, one may be better prepared to counteractthem. You must understand that the empire has recentlycome to be repudiated in Italy, that the Pope has acquiredmore temporal power, and that Italy has been divided upinto more states, for the reason that many of the great citiestook up arms against their nobles, who, formerly favouredby the emperor, were oppressing them, whilst the Churchwas favouring them so as to gain authority in temporalpower: in many others their citizens became princes. Fromthis it came to pass that Italy fell partly into the hands ofthe Church and of republics, and, the Church consisting ofpriests and the republic of citizens unaccustomed to arms,both commenced to enlist foreigners.

The first who gave renown to this soldiery was Alberigoda Conio,27 the Romagnian. From the school of this mansprang, among others, Braccio and Sforza, who in their timewere the arbiters of Italy. After these came all the other cap-tains who till now have directed the arms of Italy; and theend of all their valour has been, that she has been overrun

25Bartolomeo Colleoni of Bergamo; died 1457. Roberto of San Sev-erino; died fighting for Venice against Sigismund, Duke of Austria, in1487. “Primo capitano in Italia."– Machiavelli. Count of Pitigliano;Nicolo Orsini, born 1442, died 1510.

26Battle of Vaila in 1509.27Alberigo da Conio. Alberico da Barbiano, Count of Cunio in Ro-

magna. He was the leader of the famous “Company of St George,"composed entirely of Italian soldiers. He died in 1409.

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by Charles, robbed by Louis, ravaged by Ferdinand, and in-sulted by the Switzers. The principle that has guided themhas been, first, to lower the credit of infantry so that theymight increase their own. They did this because, subsist-ing on their pay and without territory, they were unableto support many soldiers, and a few infantry did not givethem any authority; so they were led to employ cavalry,with a moderate force of which they were maintained andhonoured; and affairs were brought to such a pass that, inan army of twenty thousand soldiers, there were not to befound two thousand foot soldiers. They had, besides this,used every art to lessen fatigue and danger to themselvesand their soldiers, not killing in the fray, but taking pris-oners and liberating without ransom. They did not attacktowns at night, nor did the garrisons of the towns attack en-campments at night; they did not surround the camp eitherwith stockade or ditch, nor did they campaign in the win-ter. All these things were permitted by their military rules,and devised by them to avoid, as I have said, both fatigueand dangers; thus they have brought Italy to slavery andcontempt.

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CONCERNING AUXILIARIES, MIXEDSOLDIERY, AND ONE’S OWN

Auxiliaries, which are the other useless arm, are em-ployed when a prince is called in with his forces to aid anddefend, as was done by Pope Julius in the most recent times;for he, having, in the enterprise against Ferrara, had poorproof of his mercenaries, turned to auxiliaries, and stipu-lated with Ferdinand, King of Spain,28 for his assistancewith men and arms. These arms may be useful and good inthemselves, but for him who calls them in they are alwaysdisadvantageous; 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 theSecond, the peril of which cannot fail to be perceived; forhe, wishing to get Ferrara, threw himself entirely into thehands of the foreigner. But his good fortune brought abouta third event, so that he did not reap the fruit of his rashchoice; because, having his auxiliaries routed at Ravenna,and the Switzers having risen and driven out the con-querors (against all expectation, both his and others), it socame to pass that he did not become prisoner to his enemies,

28Ferdinand V (F. II of Aragon and Sicily, F. III of Naples), surnamed“The Catholic," born 1542, died 1516.

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they having fled, nor to his auxiliaries, he having conqueredby other arms than theirs.

The Florentines, being entirely without arms, sent tenthousand Frenchmen to take Pisa, whereby they ran moredanger than at any other time of their troubles.

The Emperor of Constantinople,29 to oppose his neigh-bours, sent ten thousand Turks into Greece, who, on thewar being finished, were not willing to quit; this was thebeginning of the servitude of Greece to the infidels.

Therefore, let him who has no desire to conquer make useof these arms, for they are much more hazardous than mer-cenaries, because with them the ruin is ready made; theyare all united, all yield obedience to others; but with mer-cenaries, when they have conquered, more time and bet-ter opportunities are needed to injure you; they are not allof one community, they are found and paid by you, and athird party, which you have made their head, is not ableall at once to assume enough authority to injure you. Inconclusion, in mercenaries dastardy is most dangerous; inauxiliaries, valour. The wise prince, therefore, has alwaysavoided these arms and turned to his own; and has beenwilling rather to lose with them than to conquer with theothers, not deeming that a real victory which is gained withthe arms of others.

I shall never hesitate to cite Cesare Borgia and his ac-tions. This duke entered the Romagna with auxiliaries, tak-ing there only French soldiers, and with them he capturedImola and Forli; but afterwards, such forces not appearingto him reliable, he turned to mercenaries, discerning lessdanger in them, and enlisted the Orsini and Vitelli; whompresently, on handling and finding them doubtful, unfaith-ful, and dangerous, he destroyed and turned to his ownmen. And the difference between one and the other of theseforces can easily be seen when one considers the differencethere was in the reputation of the duke, when he had theFrench, when he had the Orsini and Vitelli, and when he re-lied on his own soldiers, on whose fidelity he could always

29Joannes Cantacuzenus, born 1300, died 1383.

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count and found it ever increasing; he was never esteemedmore highly than when every one saw that he was completemaster of his own forces.

I was not intending to go beyond Italian and recent ex-amples, but I am unwilling to leave out Hiero, the Syracu-san, 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 likeour Italian condottieri, was of no use; and it appearing tohim that he could neither keep them not let them go, he hadthem all cut to pieces, and afterwards made war with hisown forces and not with aliens.

I wish also to recall to memory an instance from the OldTestament applicable to this subject. David offered him-self to Saul to fight with Goliath, the Philistine champion,and, to give him courage, Saul armed him with his ownweapons; which David rejected as soon as he had them onhis back, saying he could make no use of them, and that hewished to meet the enemy with his sling and his knife. Inconclusion, the arms of others either fall from your back, orthey weigh you down, or they bind you fast.

Charles the Seventh,30 the father of King Louis theEleventh,31x having by good fortune and valour liberatedFrance from the English, recognized the necessity of beingarmed with forces of his own, and he established in hiskingdom ordinances concerning men-at-arms and infantry.Afterwards his son, King Louis, abolished the infantry andbegan to enlist the Switzers, which mistake, followed byothers, is, as is now seen, a source of peril to that kingdom;because, having raised the reputation of the Switzers, he hasentirely diminished the value of his own arms, for he hasdestroyed the infantry altogether; and his men-at-arms hehas subordinated to others, for, being as they are so accus-tomed to fight along with Switzers, it does not appear thatthey can now conquer without them. Hence it arises that

30Charles VII of France, surnamed “The Victorious," born 1403,died 1461.

31Louis XI, son of the above, born 1423, died 1483.

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the French cannot stand against the Switzers, and withoutthe Switzers they do not come off well against others. Thearmies of the French have thus become mixed, partly mer-cenary and partly national, both of which arms together aremuch better than mercenaries alone or auxiliaries alone, butmuch inferior to one’s own forces. And this example provesit, for the kingdom of France would be unconquerable if theordinance of Charles had been enlarged or maintained.

But the scanty wisdom of man, on entering into an affairwhich looks well at first, cannot discern the poison that ishidden in it, as I have said above of hectic fevers. Therefore,if he who rules a principality cannot recognize evils untilthey are upon him, he is not truly wise; and this insight isgiven to few. And if the first disaster to the Roman Empire32should be examined, it will be found to have commencedonly with the enlisting of the Goths; because from that timethe vigour of the Roman Empire began to decline, and allthat valour which had raised it passed away to others.

I conclude, therefore, that no principality is secure with-out having its own forces; on the contrary, it is entirely de-pendent on good fortune, not having the valour which inadversity would defend it. And it has always been the opin-ion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncer-tain or unstable as fame or power not founded on its ownstrength. And one’s own forces are those which are com-posed either of subjects, citizens, or dependents; all othersare mercenaries or auxiliaries. And the way to make readyone’s own forces will be easily found if the rules suggestedby me shall be reflected upon, and if one will consider howPhilip, the father of Alexander the Great, and many re-

32“Many speakers to the House the other night in the debate on thereduction of armaments seemed to show a most lamentable ignoranceof the conditions under which the British Empire maintains its exis-tence. When Mr Balfour replied to the allegations that the Roman Em-pire sank under the weight of its military obligations, he said that thiswas ’wholly unhistorical.’ He might well have added that the Romanpower was at its zenith when every citizen acknowledged his liabilityto fight for the State, but that it began to decline as soon as this obliga-tion was no longer recognized."–Pall Mall Gazette, 15th May 1906.

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publics and princes have armed and organized themselves,to which rules I entirely commit myself.

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THAT WHICH CONCERNS A PRINCE ONTHE SUBJECT OF THE ART OF WAR

A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor se-lect anything else for his study, than war and its rules anddiscipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him whorules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds thosewho are born princes, but it often enables men to rise froma private station to that rank. And, on the contrary, it is seenthat when princes have thought more of ease than of armsthey have lost their states. And the first cause of your los-ing it is to neglect this art; and what enables you to acquirea state is to be master of the art. Francesco Sforza, throughbeing martial, from a private person became Duke of Milan;and the sons, through avoiding the hardships and troublesof arms, from dukes became private persons. For amongother evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes youto be despised, and this is one of those ignominies againstwhich a prince ought to guard himself, as is shown later on.Because there is nothing proportionate between the armedand the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who isarmed should yield obedience willingly to him who is un-armed, or that the unarmed man should be secure amongarmed servants. Because, there being in the one disdain andin the other suspicion, it is not possible for them to workwell together. And therefore a prince who does not under-stand the art of war, over and above the other misfortunes

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already mentioned, cannot be respected by his soldiers, norcan he rely on them. He ought never, therefore, to have outof his thoughts this subject of war, and in peace he shouldaddict himself more to its exercise than in war; this he cando in two ways, the one by action, the other by study.

As regards action, he ought above all things to keep hismen well organized and drilled, to follow incessantly thechase, by which he accustoms his body to hardships, andlearns something of the nature of localities, and gets to findout how the mountains rise, how the valleys open out, howthe plains lie, and to understand the nature of rivers andmarshes, and in all this to take the greatest care. Whichknowledge is useful in two ways. Firstly, he learns to knowhis country, and is better able to undertake its defence; after-wards, by means of the knowledge and observation of thatlocality, he understands with ease any other which it maybe necessary for him to study hereafter; because the hills,valleys, and plains, and rivers and marshes that are, for in-stance, in Tuscany, have a certain resemblance to those ofother countries, so that with a knowledge of the aspect ofone country one can easily arrive at a knowledge of others.And the prince that lacks this skill lacks the essential whichit is desirable that a captain should possess, for it teacheshim 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 otherpraises which writers have bestowed on him, is com-mended because in time of peace he never had anything inhis mind but the rules of war; and when he was in the coun-try with friends, he often stopped and reasoned with them:“If the enemy should be upon that hill, and we should findourselves here with our army, with whom would be the ad-vantage? How should one best advance to meet him, keep-ing the ranks? If we should wish to retreat, how ought weto pursue?" And he would set forth to them, as he went, allthe chances that could befall an army; he would listen totheir opinion and state his, confirming it with reasons, sothat by these continual discussions there could never arise,in time of war, any unexpected circumstances that he could

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not deal with.But to exercise the intellect the prince should read histo-

ries, and study there the actions of illustrious men, to seehow they have borne themselves in war, to examine thecauses of their victories and defeat, so as to avoid the lat-ter and imitate the former; and above all do as an illustri-ous man did, who took as an exemplar one who had beenpraised and famous before him, and whose achievementsand deeds he always kept in his mind, as it is said Alexan-der the Great imitated Achilles, Caesar Alexander, ScipioCyrus. And whoever reads the life of Cyrus, written byXenophon, will recognize afterwards in the life of Scipiohow that imitation was his glory, and how in chastity, af-fability, humanity, and liberality Scipio conformed to thosethings which have been written of Cyrus by Xenophon. Awise prince ought to observe some such rules, and neverin peaceful times stand idle, but increase his resources withindustry in such a way that they may be available to himin adversity, so that if fortune chances it may find him pre-pared to resist her blows.

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CONCERNING THINGS FOR WHICHMEN, AND ESPECIALLY PRINCES, ARE

PRAISED OR BLAMED

It remains now to see what ought to be the rules of con-duct for a prince towards subject and friends. And as Iknow that many have written on this point, I expect I shallbe considered presumptuous in mentioning it again, espe-cially as in discussing it I shall depart from the methods ofother people. But, it being my intention to write a thingwhich shall be useful to him who apprehends it, it appearsto me more appropriate to follow up the real truth of thematter than the imagination of it; for many have picturedrepublics and principalities which in fact have never beenknown or seen, because how one lives is so far distant fromhow one ought to live, that he who neglects what is donefor what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than hispreservation; for a man who wishes to act entirely up to hisprofessions of virtue soon meets with what destroys himamong so much that is evil.

Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold hisown to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it ornot according to necessity. Therefore, putting on one sideimaginary things concerning a prince, and discussing thosewhich are real, I say that all men when they are spoken of,

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and chiefly princes for being more highly placed, are re-markable for some of those qualities which bring them ei-ther blame or praise; and thus it is that one is reputed lib-eral, another miserly, using a Tuscan term (because an avari-cious person in our language is still he who desires to pos-sess by robbery, whilst we call one miserly who depriveshimself too much of the use of his own); one is reputedgenerous, one rapacious; one cruel, one compassionate; onefaithless, another faithful; one effeminate and cowardly, an-other bold and brave; one affable, another haughty; one las-civious, another chaste; one sincere, another cunning; onehard, another easy; one grave, another frivolous; one reli-gious, another unbelieving, and the like. And I know thatevery one will confess that it would be most praiseworthyin a prince to exhibit all the above qualities that are con-sidered good; but because they can neither be entirely pos-sessed nor observed, for human conditions do not permit it,it is necessary for him to be sufficiently prudent that he mayknow how to avoid the reproach of those vices which wouldlose him his state; and also to keep himself, if it be possible,from those which would not lose him it; but this not be-ing possible, he may with less hesitation abandon himselfto them. And again, he need not make himself uneasy atincurring a reproach for those vices without which the statecan only be saved with difficulty, for if everything is consid-ered carefully, it will be found that something which lookslike virtue, if followed, would be his ruin; whilst somethingelse, which looks like vice, yet followed brings him securityand prosperity.

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CONCERNING LIBERALITY ANDMEANNESS

Commencing then with the first of the above-named char-acteristics, I say that it would be well to be reputed lib-eral. Nevertheless, liberality exercised in a way that doesnot bring you the reputation for it, injures you; for if oneexercises it honestly and as it should be exercised, it maynot become known, and you will not avoid the reproach ofits opposite. Therefore, any one wishing to maintain amongmen the name of liberal is obliged to avoid no attribute ofmagnificence; so that a prince thus inclined will consumein such acts all his property, and will be compelled in theend, if he wish to maintain the name of liberal, to undulyweigh down his people, and tax them, and do everythinghe can to get money. This will soon make him odious to hissubjects, and becoming poor he will be little valued by anyone; thus, with his liberality, having offended many and re-warded few, he is affected by the very first trouble and im-perilled by whatever may be the first danger; recognizingthis himself, and wishing to draw back from it, he runs atonce into the reproach of being miserly.

Therefore, a prince, not being able to exercise this virtueof liberality in such a way that it is recognized, except tohis cost, if he is wise he ought not to fear the reputation ofbeing mean, for in time he will come to be more considered

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than if liberal, seeing that with his economy his revenues areenough, that he can defend himself against all attacks, andis able to engage in enterprises without burdening his peo-ple; thus it comes to pass that he exercises liberality towardsall from whom he does not take, who are numberless, andmeanness towards those to whom he does not give, who arefew.

We have not seen great things done in our time exceptby those who have been considered mean; the rest havefailed. Pope Julius the Second was assisted in reaching thepapacy by a reputation for liberality, yet he did not striveafterwards to keep it up, when he made war on the Kingof France; and he made many wars without imposing anyextraordinary tax on his subjects, for he supplied his addi-tional expenses out of his long thriftiness. The present Kingof Spain would not have undertaken or conquered in somany enterprises if he had been reputed liberal. A prince,therefore, provided that he has not to rob his subjects, thathe can defend himself, that he does not become poor andabject, that he is not forced to become rapacious, ought tohold of little account a reputation for being mean, for it isone of those vices which will enable him to govern.

And if any one should say: Caesar obtained empire byliberality, and many others have reached the highest posi-tions by having been liberal, and by being considered so, Ianswer: Either you are a prince in fact, or in a way to be-come one. In the first case this liberality is dangerous, in thesecond it is very necessary to be considered liberal; and Cae-sar was one of those who wished to become pre-eminent inRome; but if he had survived after becoming so, and hadnot moderated his expenses, he would have destroyed hisgovernment. And if any one should reply: Many have beenprinces, and have done great things with armies, who havebeen considered very liberal, I reply: Either a prince spendsthat which is his own or his subjects’ or else that of others.In the first case he ought to be sparing, in the second heought not to neglect any opportunity for liberality. And tothe prince who goes forth with his army, supporting it bypillage, sack, and extortion, handling that which belongs to

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others, this liberality is necessary, otherwise he would notbe followed by soldiers. And of that which is neither yoursnor your subjects’ you can be a ready giver, as were Cyrus,Caesar, and Alexander; because it does not take away yourreputation if you squander that of others, but adds to it; it isonly squandering your own that injures you.

And there is nothing wastes so rapidly as liberality, foreven whilst you exercise it you lose the power to do so,and so become either poor or despised, or else, in avoidingpoverty, rapacious and hated. And a prince should guardhimself, above all things, against being despised and hated;and liberality leads you to both. Therefore it is wiser to havea reputation for meanness which brings reproach withouthatred, than to be compelled through seeking a reputationfor liberality to incur a name for rapacity which begets re-proach with hatred.

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CONCERNING CRUELTY ANDCLEMENCY, AND WHETHER IT IS

BETTER TO BE LOVED THAN FEARED

Coming now to the other qualities mentioned above, I saythat every prince ought to desire to be considered clementand not cruel. Nevertheless he ought to take care not tomisuse this clemency. Cesare Borgia was considered cruel;notwithstanding, his cruelty reconciled the Romagna, uni-fied it, and restored it to peace and loyalty. And if this berightly considered, he will be seen to have been much moremerciful than the Florentine people, who, to avoid a reputa-tion for cruelty, permitted Pistoia to be destroyed.33 There-fore a prince, so long as he keeps his subjects united andloyal, ought not to mind the reproach of cruelty; becausewith a few examples he will be more merciful than thosewho, through too much mercy, allow disorders to arise,from which follow murders or robberies; for these are wontto injure the whole people, whilst those executions whichoriginate with a prince offend the individual only.

And of all princes, it is impossible for the new prince toavoid the imputation of cruelty, owing to new states beingfull of dangers. Hence Virgil, through the mouth of Dido,

33During the rioting between the Cancellieri and Panciatichi fac-tions in 1502 and 1503.

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excuses the inhumanity of her reign owing to its being new,saying:

“Res dura, et regni novitas me talia cogunt Moliri, et latefines custode tueri."34

Nevertheless he ought to be slow to believe and to act,nor should he himself show fear, but proceed in a temper-ate manner with prudence and humanity, so that too muchconfidence may not make him incautious and too much dis-trust render him intolerable.

Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to beloved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answeredthat one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult tounite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared thanloved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.Because this is to be asserted in general of men, that theyare ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly, covetous, and as longas you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer youtheir blood, property, life, and children, as is said above,when the need is far distant; but when it approaches theyturn against you. And that prince who, relying entirely ontheir promises, has neglected other precautions, is ruined;because friendships that are obtained by payments, and notby greatness or nobility of mind, may indeed be earned, butthey are not secured, and in time of need cannot be reliedupon; and men have less scruple in offending one who isbeloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by thelink of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, isbroken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fearpreserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.

Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a waythat, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because hecan endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated,which will always be as long as he abstains from the prop-erty of his citizens and subjects and from their women. But

34...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 theseseverities my shores.Christopher Pitt.

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when it is necessary for him to proceed against the life ofsomeone, he must do it on proper justification and for man-ifest cause, but above all things he must keep his hands offthe property of others, because men more quickly forget thedeath of their father than the loss of their patrimony. Be-sides, pretexts for taking away the property are never want-ing; for he who has once begun to live by robbery will al-ways find pretexts for seizing what belongs to others; butreasons for taking life, on the contrary, are more difficult tofind and sooner lapse. But when a prince is with his army,and has under control a multitude of soldiers, then it is quitenecessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty, forwithout it he would never hold his army united or disposedto its duties.

Among the wonderful deeds of Hannibal this one is enu-merated: that having led an enormous army, composed ofmany various races of men, to fight in foreign lands, nodissensions arose either among them or against the prince,whether in his bad or in his good fortune. This arosefrom nothing else than his inhuman cruelty, which, withhis boundless valour, made him revered and terrible inthe sight of his soldiers, but without that cruelty, his othervirtues were not sufficient to produce this effect. And short-sighted writers admire his deeds from one point of viewand from another condemn the principal cause of them.That it is true his other virtues would not have been suf-ficient for him may be proved by the case of Scipio, thatmost excellent man, not only of his own times but within thememory of man, against whom, nevertheless, his army re-belled in Spain; this arose from nothing but his too great for-bearance, which gave his soldiers more license than is con-sistent with military discipline. For this he was upbraidedin the Senate by Fabius Maximus, and called the corrupterof the Roman soldiery. The Locrians were laid waste by alegate of Scipio, yet they were not avenged by him, nor wasthe insolence of the legate punished, owing entirely to hiseasy nature. Insomuch that someone in the Senate, wishingto excuse him, said there were many men who knew muchbetter how not to err than to correct the errors of others.

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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 injuriouscharacteristic not only concealed itself, but contributed tohis glory.

Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I cometo the conclusion that, men loving according to their ownwill and fearing according to that of the prince, a wiseprince should establish himself on that which is in his owncontrol and not in that of others; he must endeavour only toavoid hatred, as is noted.

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CONCERNING THE WAY IN WHICHPRINCES SHOULD KEEP FAITH35

Every one admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince tokeep faith, and to live with integrity and not with craft.Nevertheless our experience has been that those princeswho have done great things have held good faith of littleaccount, and have known how to circumvent the intellect ofmen by craft, and in the end have overcome those who haverelied on their word. You must know there are two ways ofcontesting,36 the one by the law, the other by force; the firstmethod is proper to men, the second to beasts; but becausethe first is frequently not sufficient, it is necessary to have re-course to the second. Therefore it is necessary for a prince tounderstand how to avail himself of the beast and the man.This has been figuratively taught to princes by ancient writ-ers, who describe how Achilles and many other princes ofold were given to the Centaur Chiron to nurse, who broughtthem up in his discipline; which means solely that, as they

35“The present chapter has given greater offence than any otherportion of Machiavelli’s writings." Burd, “Il Principe," p. 297.

36“Contesting," i.e. "striving for mastery." Mr Burd points out thatthis passage is imitated directly from Cicero’s “De Officiis": “Nam cumsint duo genera decertandi, unum per disceptationem, alterum pervim; cumque illud proprium sit hominis, hoc beluarum; confugien-dum est ad posterius, si uti non licet superiore."

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had for a teacher one who was half beast and half man, so itis necessary for a prince to know how to make use of bothnatures, and that one without the other is not durable. Aprince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt thebeast, ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lioncannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot de-fend himself against wolves. Therefore, it is necessary to bea fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves.Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand whatthey are about. Therefore a wise lord cannot, nor ought heto, keep faith when such observance may be turned againsthim, and when the reasons that caused him to pledge it existno longer. If men were entirely good this precept would nothold, but because they are bad, and will not keep faith withyou, you too are not bound to observe it with them. Nor willthere ever be wanting to a prince legitimate reasons to ex-cuse this non-observance. Of this endless modern examplescould be given, showing how many treaties and engage-ments have been made void and of no effect through thefaithlessness of princes; and he who has known best how toemploy the fox has succeeded best.

But it is necessary to know well how to disguise thischaracteristic, 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 someonewho will allow himself to be deceived. One recent exampleI cannot pass over in silence. Alexander the Sixth didnothing else but deceive men, nor ever thought of doingotherwise, and he always found victims; for there neverwas a man who had greater power in asserting, or whowith greater oaths would affirm a thing, yet would observeit less; nevertheless his deceits always succeeded accordingto his wishes,@@ “Nondimanco sempre gli succederono gliinganni (ad votum)." The words "ad votum" are omitted inthe Testina addition, 1550.

Alexander never did what he said, Cesare never saidwhat he did.

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Italian Proverb.@@ because he well understood this sideof mankind.

Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all thegood qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessaryto 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 mer-ciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, butwith 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, especiallya new one, cannot observe all those things for which menare esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain thestate, to act contrary to fidelity,37 friendship, humanity, andreligion. Therefore it is necessary for him to have a mindready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variationsof fortune force it, yet, as I have said above, not to divergefrom 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 neverlets anything slip from his lips that is not replete with theabove-named five qualities, that he may appear to him whosees and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane,upright, and religious. There is nothing more necessary toappear to have than this last quality, inasmuch as men judge

37“Contrary to fidelity" or "faith," "contro alla fede," and "tuttofede," "altogether faithful," in the next paragraph. It is noteworthy thatthese two phrases, "contro alla fede" and "tutto fede," were omitted inthe Testina edition, which was published with the sanction of the pa-pal authorities. It may be that the meaning attached to the word "fede"was "the faith," i.e. the Catholic creed, and not as rendered here "fi-delity" and "faithful." Observe that the word "religione" was sufferedto stand in the text of the Testina, being used to signify indifferentlyevery shade of belief, as witness "the religion," a phrase inevitably em-ployed to designate the Huguenot heresy. South in his Sermon IX, p.69, ed. 1843, comments on this passage as follows: “That great patronand Coryphaeus of this tribe, Nicolo Machiavel, laid down this fora master rule in his political scheme: ’That the show of religion washelpful to the politician, but the reality of it hurtful and pernicious.’"

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generally more by the eye than by the hand, because it be-longs to everybody to see you, to few to come in touch withyou. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really knowwhat you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves tothe opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the stateto defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especiallyof princes, which it is not prudent to challenge, one judgesby the result.

For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conqueringand holding his state, the means will always be consideredhonest, and he will be praised by everybody; because thevulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and bywhat comes of it; and in the world there are only the vulgar,for the few find a place there only when the many have noground to rest on.

One prince38 of the present time, whom it is not well toname, never preaches anything else but peace and goodfaith, and to both he is most hostile, and either, if he hadkept it, would have deprived him of reputation and king-dom many a time.

38Ferdinand of Aragon. “When Machiavelli was writing ’ThePrince’ it would have been clearly impossible to mention Ferdinand’sname here without giving offence." Burd’s “Il Principe," p. 308.

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THAT ONE SHOULD AVOID BEINGDESPISED AND HATED

Now, concerning the characteristics of which mention ismade above, I have spoken of the more important ones, theothers I wish to discuss briefly under this generality, thatthe prince must consider, as has been in part said before,how to avoid those things which will make him hated orcontemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded hewill have fulfilled his part, and he need not fear any dangerin other reproaches.

It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to berapacious, and to be a violator of the property and womenof his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. Andwhen neither their property nor their honor is touched, themajority of men live content, and he has only to contendwith the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease inmany ways.

It makes him contemptible to be considered fickle,frivolous, effeminate, mean-spirited, irresolute, from all ofwhich a prince should guard himself as from a rock; and heshould endeavour to show in his actions greatness, courage,gravity, and fortitude; and in his private dealings with hissubjects let him show that his judgments are irrevocable,and maintain himself in such reputation that no one canhope either to deceive him or to get round him.

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That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impres-sion of himself, and he who is highly esteemed is not easilyconspired against; for, provided it is well known that he isan excellent man and revered by his people, he can onlybe attacked with difficulty. For this reason a prince oughtto have two fears, one from within, on account of his sub-jects, the other from without, on account of external pow-ers. From the latter he is defended by being well armedand having good allies, and if he is well armed he will havegood friends, and affairs will always remain quiet withinwhen they are quiet without, unless they should have beenalready disturbed by conspiracy; and even should affairsoutside be disturbed, if he has carried out his preparationsand has lived as I have said, as long as he does not despair,he will resist every attack, as I said Nabis the Spartan did.

But concerning his subjects, when affairs outside are dis-turbed he has only to fear that they will conspire secretly,from which a prince can easily secure himself by avoidingbeing hated and despised, and by keeping the people satis-fied with him, which it is most necessary for him to accom-plish, as I said above at length. And one of the most effica-cious remedies that a prince can have against conspiraciesis not to be hated and despised by the people, for he whoconspires against a prince always expects to please them byhis removal; but when the conspirator can only look for-ward to offending them, he will not have the courage to takesuch a course, for the difficulties that confront a conspiratorare infinite. And as experience shows, many have been theconspiracies, but few have been successful; because he whoconspires cannot act alone, nor can he take a companion ex-cept from those whom he believes to be malcontents, andas soon as you have opened your mind to a malcontent youhave given him the material with which to content himself,for by denouncing you he can look for every advantage; sothat, seeing the gain from this course to be assured, and see-ing the other to be doubtful and full of dangers, he must bea very rare friend, or a thoroughly obstinate enemy of theprince, to keep faith with you.

And, to reduce the matter into a small compass, I say

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that, on the side of the conspirator, there is nothing but fear,jealousy, prospect of punishment to terrify him; but on theside of the prince there is the majesty of the principality, thelaws, the protection of friends and the state to defend him;so that, adding to all these things the popular goodwill, itis impossible that any one should be so rash as to conspire.For whereas in general the conspirator has to fear before theexecution of his plot, in this case he has also to fear the se-quel to the crime; because on account of it he has the peoplefor an enemy, and thus cannot hope for any escape.

Endless examples could be given on this subject, but I willbe content with one, brought to pass within the memory ofour fathers. Messer Annibale Bentivogli, who was prince inBologna (grandfather of the present Annibale), having beenmurdered by the Canneschi, who had conspired againsthim, not one of his family survived but Messer Giovanni,39who was in childhood: immediately after his assassina-tion the people rose and murdered all the Canneschi. Thissprung from the popular goodwill which the house of Ben-tivogli enjoyed in those days in Bologna; which was so greatthat, although none remained there after the death of An-nibale who was able to rule the state, the Bolognese, hav-ing information that there was one of the Bentivogli familyin Florence, who up to that time had been considered theson of a blacksmith, sent to Florence for him and gave himthe government of their city, and it was ruled by him untilMesser Giovanni came in due course to the government.

For this reason I consider that a prince ought to reckonconspiracies of little account when his people hold him inesteem; but when it is hostile to him, and bears hatredtowards him, he ought to fear everything and everybody.And well-ordered states and wise princes have taken everycare not to drive the nobles to desperation, and to keep the

39Giovanni Bentivogli, born in Bologna 1438, died at Milan 1508.He ruled Bologna from 1462 to 1506. Machiavelli’s strong condemna-tion of conspiracies may get its edge from his own very recent experi-ence (February 1513), when he had been arrested and tortured for hisalleged complicity in the Boscoli conspiracy.

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people satisfied and contented, for this is one of the mostimportant objects a prince can have.

Among the best ordered and governed kingdoms of ourtimes is France, and in it are found many good institutionson which depend the liberty and security of the king; ofthese the first is the parliament and its authority, becausehe who founded the kingdom, knowing the ambition of thenobility and their boldness, considered that a bit to theirmouths would be necessary to hold them in; and, on theother side, knowing the hatred of the people, founded infear, against the nobles, he wished to protect them, yet hewas not anxious for this to be the particular care of theking; therefore, to take away the reproach which he wouldbe liable to from the nobles for favouring the people, andfrom the people for favouring the nobles, he set up an ar-biter, who should be one who could beat down the greatand favour the lesser without reproach to the king. Neithercould you have a better or a more prudent arrangement,or a greater source of security to the king and kingdom.From this one can draw another important conclusion, thatprinces ought to leave affairs of reproach to the manage-ment of others, and keep those of grace in their own hands.And further, I consider that a prince ought to cherish thenobles, but not so as to make himself hated by the people.

It may appear, perhaps, to some who have examined thelives and deaths of the Roman emperors that many of themwould be an example contrary to my opinion, seeing thatsome of them lived nobly and showed great qualities ofsoul, nevertheless they have lost their empire or have beenkilled by subjects who have conspired against them. Wish-ing, therefore, to answer these objections, I will recall thecharacters of some of the emperors, and will show that thecauses of their ruin were not different to those alleged byme; at the same time I will only submit for considerationthose things that are noteworthy to him who studies the af-fairs of those times.

It seems to me sufficient to take all those emperorswho succeeded to the empire from Marcus the philosopher

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down to Maximinus; they were Marcus and his son Com-modus, Pertinax, Julian, Severus and his son AntoninusCaracalla, Macrinus, Heliogabalus, Alexander, and Max-iminus.

There is first to note that, whereas in other principalitiesthe ambition of the nobles and the insolence of the peopleonly have to be contended with, the Roman emperors hada third difficulty in having to put up with the cruelty andavarice of their soldiers, a matter so beset with difficultiesthat it was the ruin of many; for it was a hard thing to givesatisfaction both to soldiers and people; because the peo-ple loved peace, and for this reason they loved the unaspir-ing prince, whilst the soldiers loved the warlike prince whowas bold, cruel, and rapacious, which qualities they werequite willing he should exercise upon the people, so thatthey could get double pay and give vent to their own greedand cruelty. Hence it arose that those emperors were al-ways overthrown who, either by birth or training, had nogreat authority, and most of them, especially those whocame new to the principality, recognizing the difficulty ofthese two opposing humours, were inclined to give satis-faction to the soldiers, caring little about injuring the peo-ple. Which course was necessary, because, as princes cannothelp being hated by someone, they ought, in the first place,to avoid being hated by every one, and when they cannotcompass this, they ought to endeavour with the utmost dili-gence to avoid the hatred of the most powerful. Therefore,those emperors who through inexperience had need of spe-cial favour adhered more readily to the soldiers than to thepeople; a course which turned out advantageous to themor not, accordingly as the prince knew how to maintain au-thority over them.

From these causes it arose that Marcus, Pertinax, andAlexander, being all men of modest life, lovers of justice,enemies to cruelty, humane, and benignant, came to a sadend except Marcus; he alone lived and died honoured, be-cause he had succeeded to the throne by hereditary title,and owed nothing either to the soldiers or the people; andafterwards, being possessed of many virtues which made

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him respected, he always kept both orders in their placeswhilst he lived, and was neither hated nor despised.

But Pertinax was created emperor against the wishes ofthe soldiers, who, being accustomed to live licentiously un-der Commodus, could not endure the honest life to whichPertinax wished to reduce them; thus, having given causefor hatred, to which hatred there was added contempt forhis old age, he was overthrown at the very beginning of hisadministration. And here it should be noted that hatred isacquired as much by good works as by bad ones, therefore,as I said before, a prince wishing to keep his state is veryoften forced to do evil; for when that body is corrupt whomyou think you have need of to maintain yourself–it may beeither the people or the soldiers or the nobles–you have tosubmit to its humours and to gratify them, and then goodworks will do you harm.

But let us come to Alexander, who was a man of suchgreat goodness, that among the other praises which are ac-corded him is this, that in the fourteen years he held theempire no one was ever put to death by him unjudged;nevertheless, being considered effeminate and a man whoallowed himself to be governed by his mother, he becamedespised, the army conspired against him, and murderedhim.

Turning now to the opposite characters of Commodus,Severus, Antoninus Caracalla, and Maximinus, you willfind them all cruel and rapacious-men who, to satisfy theirsoldiers, did not hesitate to commit every kind of iniquityagainst the people; and all, except Severus, came to a badend; but in Severus there was so much valour that, keepingthe soldiers friendly, although the people were oppressedby him, he reigned successfully; for his valour made him somuch admired in the sight of the soldiers and people thatthe latter were kept in a way astonished and awed and theformer respectful and satisfied. And because the actions ofthis man, as a new prince, were great, I wish to show brieflythat he knew well how to counterfeit the fox and the lion,which natures, as I said above, it is necessary for a prince toimitate.

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Knowing the sloth of the Emperor Julian, he persuadedthe army in Sclavonia, of which he was captain, that itwould be right to go to Rome and avenge the death of Perti-nax, who had been killed by the praetorian soldiers; and un-der this pretext, without appearing to aspire to the throne,he moved the army on Rome, and reached Italy before itwas known that he had started. On his arrival at Rome,the Senate, through fear, elected him emperor and killedJulian. After this there remained for Severus, who wishedto make himself master of the whole empire, two difficul-ties; one in Asia, where Niger, head of the Asiatic army, hadcaused himself to be proclaimed emperor; the other in thewest where Albinus was, who also aspired to the throne.And as he considered it dangerous to declare himself hos-tile to both, he decided to attack Niger and to deceive Al-binus. To the latter he wrote that, being elected emperorby the Senate, he was willing to share that dignity with himand sent him the title of Caesar; and, moreover, that the Sen-ate had made Albinus his colleague; which things were ac-cepted by Albinus as true. But after Severus had conqueredand killed Niger, and settled oriental affairs, he returned toRome and complained to the Senate that Albinus, little rec-ognizing the benefits that he had received from him, had bytreachery sought to murder him, and for this ingratitude hewas compelled to punish him. Afterwards he sought himout in France, and took from him his government and life.He who will, therefore, carefully examine the actions of thisman will find him a most valiant lion and a most cunningfox; he will find him feared and respected by every one, andnot hated by the army; and it need not be wondered at thathe, a new man, was able to hold the empire so well, becausehis supreme renown always protected him from that hatredwhich the people might have conceived against him for hisviolence.

But his son Antoninus was a most eminent man, and hadvery excellent qualities, which made him admirable in thesight of the people and acceptable to the soldiers, for he wasa warlike man, most enduring of fatigue, a despiser of alldelicate food and other luxuries, which caused him to be

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beloved by the armies. Nevertheless, his ferocity and cru-elties were so great and so unheard of that, after endlesssingle murders, he killed a large number of the people ofRome and all those of Alexandria. He became hated by thewhole world, and also feared by those he had around him,to such an extent that he was murdered in the midst of hisarmy by a centurion. And here it must be noted that such-like deaths, which are deliberately inflicted with a resolvedand desperate courage, cannot be avoided by princes, be-cause any one who does not fear to die can inflict them; buta prince may fear them the less because they are very rare;he has only to be careful not to do any grave injury to thosewhom he employs or has around him in the service of thestate. Antoninus had not taken this care, but had contu-meliously killed a brother of that centurion, whom also hedaily threatened, yet retained in his bodyguard; which, asit turned out, was a rash thing to do, and proved the em-peror’s ruin.

But let us come to Commodus, to whom it should havebeen very easy to hold the empire, for, being the son ofMarcus, he had inherited it, and he had only to follow inthe footsteps of his father to please his people and soldiers;but, being by nature cruel and brutal, he gave himself up toamusing the soldiers and corrupting them, so that he mightindulge his rapacity upon the people; on the other hand, notmaintaining his dignity, often descending to the theatre tocompete with gladiators, and doing other vile things, littleworthy of the imperial majesty, he fell into contempt withthe soldiers, and being hated by one party and despised bythe other, he was conspired against and was killed.

It remains to discuss the character of Maximinus. He wasa very warlike man, and the armies, being disgusted withthe effeminacy of Alexander, of whom I have already spo-ken, killed him and elected Maximinus to the throne. Thishe did not possess for long, for two things made him hatedand despised; the one, his having kept sheep in Thrace,which brought him into contempt (it being well known toall, and considered a great indignity by every one), and theother, his having at the accession to his dominions deferred

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going to Rome and taking possession of the imperial seat;he had also gained a reputation for the utmost ferocity byhaving, through his prefects in Rome and elsewhere in theempire, practised many cruelties, so that the whole worldwas moved to anger at the meanness of his birth and to fearat his barbarity. First Africa rebelled, then the Senate withall the people of Rome, and all Italy conspired against him,to which may be added his own army; this latter, besiegingAquileia and meeting with difficulties in taking it, were dis-gusted with his cruelties, and fearing him less when theyfound so many against him, murdered him.

I do not wish to discuss Heliogabalus, Macrinus, or Ju-lian, who, being thoroughly contemptible, were quicklywiped out; but I will bring this discourse to a conclusion bysaying that princes in our times have this difficulty of giv-ing inordinate satisfaction to their soldiers in a far less de-gree, because, notwithstanding one has to give them someindulgence, that is soon done; none of these princes havearmies that are veterans in the governance and administra-tion of provinces, as were the armies of the Roman Empire;and whereas it was then more necessary to give satisfactionto the soldiers than to the people, it is now more necessaryto all princes, except the Turk and the Soldan, to satisfy thepeople rather the soldiers, because the people are the morepowerful.

From the above I have excepted the Turk, who alwayskeeps round him twelve thousand infantry and fifteen thou-sand cavalry on which depend the security and strengthof the kingdom, and it is necessary that, putting aside ev-ery consideration for the people, he should keep them hisfriends. The kingdom of the Soldan is similar; being en-tirely in the hands of soldiers, it follows again that, with-out regard to the people, he must keep them his friends.But you must note that the state of the Soldan is unlike allother principalities, for the reason that it is like the Chris-tian pontificate, which cannot be called either an hereditaryor a newly formed principality; because the sons of the oldprince are not the heirs, but he who is elected to that posi-tion by those who have authority, and the sons remain only

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noblemen. And this being an ancient custom, it cannot becalled a new principality, because there are none of thosedifficulties in it that are met with in new ones; for althoughthe prince is new, the constitution of the state is old, and it isframed so as to receive him as if he were its hereditary lord.

But returning to the subject of our discourse, I say thatwhoever will consider it will acknowledge that either ha-tred or contempt has been fatal to the above-named emper-ors, and it will be recognized also how it happened that, anumber of them acting in one way and a number in another,only one in each way came to a happy end and the restto unhappy ones. Because it would have been useless anddangerous for Pertinax and Alexander, being new princes,to imitate Marcus, who was heir to the principality; andlikewise it would have been utterly destructive to Caracalla,Commodus, and Maximinus to have imitated Severus, theynot having sufficient valour to enable them to tread in hisfootsteps. Therefore a prince, new to the principality, cannotimitate the actions of Marcus, nor, again, is it necessary tofollow those of Severus, but he ought to take from Severusthose parts which are necessary to found his state, and fromMarcus those which are proper and glorious to keep a statethat may already be stable and firm.

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ARE FORTRESSES, AND MANY OTHERTHINGS TO WHICH PRINCES OFTEN

RESORT, ADVANTAGEOUS ORHURTFUL?

1. Some princes, so as to hold securely the state, have dis-armed their subjects; others have kept their subject townsdistracted by factions; others have fostered enmities againstthemselves; others have laid themselves out to gain overthose whom they distrusted in the beginning of their gov-ernments; some have built fortresses; some have over-thrown and destroyed them. And although one cannot givea final judgment on all of these things unless one possessesthe particulars of those states in which a decision has to bemade, nevertheless I will speak as comprehensively as thematter of itself will admit.

2. There never was a new prince who has disarmedhis subjects; rather when he has found them disarmed hehas always armed them, because, by arming them, thosearms become yours, those men who were distrusted be-come faithful, and those who were faithful are kept so, andyour subjects become your adherents. And whereas all sub-jects cannot be armed, yet when those whom you do arm arebenefited, the others can be handled more freely, and thisdifference in their treatment, which they quite understand,

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makes the former your dependents, and the latter, consider-ing it to be necessary that those who have the most dangerand service should have the most reward, excuse you. Butwhen you disarm them, you at once offend them by show-ing that you distrust them, either for cowardice or for wantof loyalty, and either of these opinions breeds hatred againstyou. And because you cannot remain unarmed, it followsthat you turn to mercenaries, which are of the character al-ready shown; even if they should be good they would notbe sufficient to defend you against powerful enemies anddistrusted subjects. Therefore, as I have said, a new princein a new principality has always distributed arms. Historiesare full of examples. But when a prince acquires a new state,which he adds as a province to his old one, then it is neces-sary to disarm the men of that state, except those who havebeen his adherents in acquiring it; and these again, withtime and opportunity, should be rendered soft and effem-inate; and matters should be managed in such a way thatall the armed men in the state shall be your own soldierswho in your old state were living near you.

3. Our forefathers, and those who were reckoned wise,were accustomed to say that it was necessary to hold Pis-toia by factions and Pisa by fortresses; and with this ideathey fostered quarrels in some of their tributary towns soas to keep possession of them the more easily. This mayhave been well enough in those times when Italy was in away balanced, but I do not believe that it can be acceptedas a precept for to-day, because I do not believe that fac-tions can ever be of use; rather it is certain that when theenemy comes upon you in divided cities you are quicklylost, because the weakest party will always assist the out-side forces and the other will not be able to resist. TheVenetians, moved, as I believe, by the above reasons, fos-tered the Guelph and Ghibelline factions in their tributarycities; and although they never allowed them to come tobloodshed, yet they nursed these disputes amongst them,so that the citizens, distracted by their differences, shouldnot unite against them. Which, as we saw, did not after-wards turn out as expected, because, after the rout at Vaila,

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one party at once took courage and seized the state. Suchmethods argue, therefore, weakness in the prince, becausethese factions will never be permitted in a vigorous prin-cipality; such methods for enabling one the more easily tomanage subjects are only useful in times of peace, but if warcomes this policy proves fallacious.

4. Without doubt princes become great when they over-come the difficulties and obstacles by which they are con-fronted, and therefore fortune, especially when she desiresto make a new prince great, who has a greater necessity toearn renown than an hereditary one, causes enemies to ariseand form designs against him, in order that he may havethe opportunity of overcoming them, and by them to mounthigher, as by a ladder which his enemies have raised. Forthis reason many consider that a wise prince, when he hasthe opportunity, ought with craft to foster some animosityagainst himself, so that, having crushed it, his renown mayrise higher.

5. Princes, especially new ones, have found more fidelityand assistance in those men who in the beginning of theirrule were distrusted than among those who in the begin-ning were trusted. Pandolfo Petrucci, Prince of Siena, ruledhis state more by those who had been distrusted than byothers. But on this question one cannot speak generally, forit varies so much with the individual; I will only say this,that those men who at the commencement of a princedomhave been hostile, if they are of a description to need as-sistance to support themselves, can always be gained overwith the greatest ease, and they will be tightly held to servethe prince with fidelity, inasmuch as they know it to be verynecessary for them to cancel by deeds the bad impressionwhich he had formed of them; and thus the prince alwaysextracts more profit from them than from those who, serv-ing him in too much security, may neglect his affairs. Andsince the matter demands it, I must not fail to warn a prince,who by means of secret favours has acquired a new state,that he must well consider the reasons which induced thoseto favour him who did so; and if it be not a natural affec-tion towards him, but only discontent with their govern-

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ment, then he will only keep them friendly with great trou-ble and difficulty, for it will be impossible to satisfy them.And weighing well the reasons for this in those exampleswhich can be taken from ancient and modern affairs, weshall find that it is easier for the prince to make friends ofthose men who were contented under the former govern-ment, and are therefore his enemies, than of those who, be-ing discontented with it, were favourable to him and en-couraged him to seize it.

6. It has been a custom with princes, in order to holdtheir states more securely, to build fortresses that may serveas a bridle and bit to those who might design to workagainst them, and as a place of refuge from a first attack.I praise this system because it has been made use of for-merly. Notwithstanding that, Messer Nicolo Vitelli in ourtimes has been seen to demolish two fortresses in Citta diCastello so that he might keep that state; Guido Ubaldo,Duke of Urbino, on returning to his dominion, whence hehad been driven by Cesare Borgia, razed to the foundationsall the fortresses in that province, and considered that with-out them it would be more difficult to lose it; the Bentivoglireturning to Bologna came to a similar decision. Fortresses,therefore, are useful or not according to circumstances; ifthey do you good in one way they injure you in another.And this question can be reasoned thus: the prince who hasmore to fear from the people than from foreigners ought tobuild fortresses, but he who has more to fear from foreign-ers than from the people ought to leave them alone. Thecastle of Milan, built by Francesco Sforza, has made, andwill make, more trouble for the house of Sforza than anyother disorder in the state. For this reason the best possiblefortress is–not to be hated by the people, because, althoughyou may hold the fortresses, yet they will not save you ifthe people hate you, for there will never be wanting for-eigners to assist a people who have taken arms against you.It has not been seen in our times that such fortresses havebeen of use to any prince, unless to the Countess of Forli,40

40Catherine Sforza, a daughter of Galeazzo Sforza and Lucrezia

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when the Count Girolamo, her consort, was killed; for bythat means she was able to withstand the popular attackand wait for assistance from Milan, and thus recover herstate; and the posture of affairs was such at that time thatthe foreigners could not assist the people. But fortresseswere of little value to her afterwards when Cesare Borgiaattacked her, and when the people, her enemy, were alliedwith foreigners. Therefore, it would have been safer for her,both then and before, not to have been hated by the peoplethan to have had the fortresses. All these things consideredthen, I shall praise him who builds fortresses as well as himwho does not, and I shall blame whoever, trusting in them,cares little about being hated by the people.

Landriani, born 1463, died 1509. It was to the Countess of Forli thatMachiavelli was sent as envy on 1499. A letter from Fortunati to thecountess announces the appointment: “I have been with the signori,"wrote Fortunati, "to learn whom they would send and when. They tellme that Nicolo Machiavelli, a learned young Florentine noble, secre-tary to my Lords of the Ten, is to leave with me at once." Cf. “CatherineSforza," by Count Pasolini, translated by P. Sylvester, 1898.

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HOW A PRINCE SHOULD CONDUCTHIMSELF SO AS TO GAIN RENOWN

Nothing makes a prince so much esteemed as great en-terprises and setting a fine example. We have in our timeFerdinand of Aragon, the present King of Spain. He canalmost be called a new prince, because he has risen, byfame and glory, from being an insignificant king to be theforemost king in Christendom; and if you will consider hisdeeds you will find them all great and some of them extraor-dinary. In the beginning of his reign he attacked Granada,and this enterprise was the foundation of his dominions. Hedid this quietly at first and without any fear of hindrance,for he held the minds of the barons of Castile occupied inthinking of the war and not anticipating any innovations;thus they did not perceive that by these means he was ac-quiring power and authority over them. He was able withthe money of the Church and of the people to sustain hisarmies, and by that long war to lay the foundation for themilitary skill which has since distinguished him. Further,always using religion as a plea, so as to undertake greaterschemes, he devoted himself with pious cruelty to driv-ing out and clearing his kingdom of the Moors; nor couldthere be a more admirable example, nor one more rare. Un-der this same cloak he assailed Africa, he came down onItaly, he has finally attacked France; and thus his achieve-ments and designs have always been great, and have kept

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the minds of his people in suspense and admiration and oc-cupied with the issue of them. And his actions have arisenin such a way, one out of the other, that men have neverbeen given time to work steadily against him.

Again, it much assists a prince to set unusual examples ininternal affairs, similar to those which are related of MesserBernabo da Milano, who, when he had the opportunity, byany one in civil life doing some extraordinary thing, eithergood or bad, would take some method of rewarding or pun-ishing him, which would be much spoken about. And aprince ought, above all things, always endeavour in everyaction to gain for himself the reputation of being a great andremarkable man.

A prince is also respected when he is either a true friendor a downright enemy, that is to say, when, without anyreservation, he declares himself in favour of one partyagainst the other; which course will always be more advan-tageous than standing neutral; because if two of your pow-erful neighbours come to blows, they are of such a characterthat, if one of them conquers, you have either to fear him ornot. In either case it will always be more advantageous foryou to declare yourself and to make war strenuously; be-cause, in the first case, if you do not declare yourself, youwill invariably fall a prey to the conqueror, to the pleasureand satisfaction of him who has been conquered, and youwill have no reasons to offer, nor anything to protect or toshelter you. Because he who conquers does not want doubt-ful friends who will not aid him in the time of trial; and hewho loses will not harbour you because you did not will-ingly, sword in hand, court his fate.

Antiochus went into Greece, being sent for by the Ae-tolians to drive out the Romans. He sent envoys to theAchaeans, who were friends of the Romans, exhorting themto remain neutral; and on the other hand the Romans urgedthem to take up arms. This question came to be discussed inthe council of the Achaeans, where the legate of Antiochusurged them to stand neutral. To this the Roman legate an-swered: “As for that which has been said, that it is better

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and more advantageous for your state not to interfere inour war, nothing can be more erroneous; because by not in-terfering you will be left, without favour or consideration,the guerdon of the conqueror." Thus it will always happenthat he who is not your friend will demand your neutral-ity, whilst he who is your friend will entreat you to declareyourself with arms. And irresolute princes, to avoid presentdangers, generally follow the neutral path, and are gener-ally ruined. But when a prince declares himself gallantlyin favour of one side, if the party with whom he allies him-self conquers, although the victor may be powerful and mayhave him at his mercy, yet he is indebted to him, and thereis established a bond of amity; and men are never so shame-less as to become a monument of ingratitude by oppressingyou. Victories after all are never so complete that the victormust not show some regard, especially to justice. But if hewith whom you ally yourself loses, you may be sheltered byhim, and whilst he is able he may aid you, and you becomecompanions on a fortune that may rise again.

In the second case, when those who fight are of such acharacter that you have no anxiety as to who may conquer,so much the more is it greater prudence to be allied, be-cause you assist at the destruction of one by the aid of an-other who, if he had been wise, would have saved him; andconquering, as it is impossible that he should not do withyour assistance, he remains at your discretion. And hereit is to be noted that a prince ought to take care never tomake an alliance with one more powerful than himself forthe purposes of attacking others, unless necessity compelshim, as is said above; because if he conquers you are at hisdiscretion, and princes ought to avoid as much as possiblebeing at the discretion of any one. The Venetians joined withFrance against the Duke of Milan, and this alliance, whichcaused their ruin, could have been avoided. But when itcannot be avoided, as happened to the Florentines whenthe Pope and Spain sent armies to attack Lombardy, thenin such a case, for the above reasons, the prince ought tofavour one of the parties.

Never let any Government imagine that it can choose per-

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fectly safe courses; rather let it expect to have to take verydoubtful ones, because it is found in ordinary affairs thatone never seeks to avoid one trouble without running intoanother; but prudence consists in knowing how to distin-guish the character of troubles, and for choice to take thelesser evil.

A prince ought also to show himself a patron of ability,and to honour the proficient in every art. At the same timehe should encourage his citizens to practise their callingspeaceably, both in commerce and agriculture, and in everyother following, so that the one should not be deterred fromimproving his possessions for fear lest they be taken awayfrom him or another from opening up trade for fear of taxes;but the prince ought to offer rewards to whoever wishes todo these things and designs in any way to honour his cityor state.

Further, he ought to entertain the people with festivalsand spectacles at convenient seasons of the year; and as ev-ery city is divided into guilds or into societies,41 he ought tohold such bodies in esteem, and associate with them some-times, and show himself an example of courtesy and liber-ality; nevertheless, always maintaining the majesty of his

41“Guilds or societies," "in arti o in tribu." “Arti" were craft or tradeguilds, cf. Florio: “Arte . . . a whole company of any trade in any cityor corporation town." The guilds of Florence are most admirably de-scribed by Mr Edgcumbe Staley in his work on the subject (Methuen,1906). Institutions of a somewhat similar character, called "artel," ex-ist in Russia to-day, cf. Sir Mackenzie Wallace’s “Russia," ed. 1905:“The sons . . . were always during the working season members ofan artel. In some of the larger towns there are artels of a much morecomplex kind– permanent associations, possessing large capital, andpecuniarily responsible for the acts of the individual members." Theword "artel," despite its apparent similarity, has, Mr Aylmer Maudeassures me, no connection with "ars" or "arte." Its root is that of theverb "rotisya," to bind oneself by an oath; and it is generally admittedto be only another form of "rota," which now signifies a "regimentalcompany." In both words the underlying idea is that of a body of menunited by an oath. “Tribu" were possibly gentile groups, united bycommon descent, and included individuals connected by marriage.Perhaps our words "sects" or "clans" would be most appropriate.

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rank, for this he must never consent to abate in anything.

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CONCERNING THE SECRETARIES OFPRINCES

The choice of servants is of no little importance to aprince, and they are good or not according to the discrimi-nation of the prince. And the first opinion which one formsof a prince, and of his understanding, is by observing themen he has around him; and when they are capable andfaithful he may always be considered wise, because he hasknown how to recognize the capable and to keep them faith-ful. But when they are otherwise one cannot form a goodopinion of him, for the prime error which he made was inchoosing them.

There were none who knew Messer Antonio da Venafroas the servant of Pandolfo Petrucci, Prince of Siena, whowould not consider Pandolfo to be a very clever man inhaving Venafro for his servant. Because there are threeclasses of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; an-other which appreciates what others comprehended; and athird which neither comprehends by itself nor by the show-ing of others; the first is the most excellent, the second isgood, the third is useless. Therefore, it follows necessarilythat, if Pandolfo was not in the first rank, he was in the sec-ond, for whenever one has judgment to know good and badwhen it is said and done, although he himself may not havethe initiative, yet he can recognize the good and the bad in

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his servant, and the one he can praise and the other correct;thus the servant cannot hope to deceive him, and is kepthonest.

But to enable a prince to form an opinion of his servantthere is one test which never fails; when you see the servantthinking more of his own interests than of yours, and seek-ing inwardly his own profit in everything, such a man willnever make a good servant, nor will you ever be able to trusthim; because he who has the state of another in his handsought never to think of himself, but always of his prince,and never pay any attention to matters in which the princeis not concerned.

On the other hand, to keep his servant honest the princeought to study him, honouring him, enriching him, doinghim kindnesses, sharing with him the honours and cares;and at the same time let him see that he cannot stand alone,so that many honours may not make him desire more, manyriches make him wish for more, and that many cares maymake him dread chances. When, therefore, servants, andprinces towards servants, are thus disposed, they can trusteach other, but when it is otherwise, the end will always bedisastrous for either one or the other.

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HOW FLATTERERS SHOULD BEAVOIDED

I do not wish to leave out an important branch of this sub-ject, for it is a danger from which princes are with difficultypreserved, unless they are very careful and discriminating.It is that of flatterers, of whom courts are full, because menare so self-complacent in their own affairs, and in a wayso deceived in them, that they are preserved with difficultyfrom this pest, and if they wish to defend themselves theyrun the danger of falling into contempt. Because there is noother way of guarding oneself from flatterers except lettingmen understand that to tell you the truth does not offendyou; but when every one may tell you the truth, respect foryou abates.

Therefore a wise prince ought to hold a third course bychoosing the wise men in his state, and giving to them onlythe liberty of speaking the truth to him, and then only ofthose things of which he inquires, and of none others; but heought to question them upon everything, and listen to theiropinions, and afterwards form his own conclusions. Withthese councillors, separately and collectively, he ought tocarry himself in such a way that each of them should knowthat, the more freely he shall speak, the more he shall be pre-ferred; outside of these, he should listen to no one, pursuethe thing resolved on, and be steadfast in his resolutions.

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He who does otherwise is either overthrown by flatterers,or is so often changed by varying opinions that he falls intocontempt.

I wish on this subject to adduce a modern example. FraLuca, the man of affairs to Maximilian,42 the present em-peror, speaking of his majesty, said: He consulted with noone, yet never got his own way in anything. This arose be-cause of his following a practice the opposite to the above;for the emperor is a secretive man–he does not communi-cate his designs to any one, nor does he receive opinionson them. But as in carrying them into effect they become re-vealed and known, they are at once obstructed by those menwhom he has around him, and he, being pliant, is divertedfrom them. Hence it follows that those things he does oneday he undoes the next, and no one ever understands whathe wishes or intends to do, and no one can rely on his reso-lutions.

A prince, therefore, ought always to take counsel, butonly when he wishes and not when others wish; he oughtrather to discourage every one from offering advice unlesshe asks it; but, however, he ought to be a constant inquirer,and afterwards a patient listener concerning the things ofwhich he inquired; also, on learning that any one, on anyconsideration, has not told him the truth, he should let hisanger be felt.

And if there are some who think that a prince who con-veys an impression of his wisdom is not so through his ownability, but through the good advisers that he has aroundhim, beyond doubt they are deceived, because this is an ax-iom which never fails: that a prince who is not wise him-self will never take good advice, unless by chance he hasyielded his affairs entirely to one person who happens to bea very prudent man. In this case indeed he may be well gov-erned, but it would not be for long, because such a governor

42Maximilian I, born in 1459, died 1519, Emperor of the Holy Ro-man Empire. He married, first, Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold;after her death, Bianca Sforza; and thus became involved in Italianpolitics.

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would in a short time take away his state from him.But if a prince who is not inexperienced should take coun-

sel from more than one he will never get united counsels,nor will he know how to unite them. Each of the counsellorswill think of his own interests, and the prince will not knowhow to control them or to see through them. And they arenot to found otherwise, because men will always prove un-true to you unless they are kept honest by constraint. There-fore it must be inferred that good counsels, whencesoeverthey come, are born of the wisdom of the prince, and notthe wisdom of the prince from good counsels.

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WHY THE PRINCES OF ITALY HAVELOST THEIR STATES

The previous suggestions, carefully observed, will enablea new prince to appear well established, and render himat once more secure and fixed in the state than if he hadbeen long seated there. For the actions of a new prince aremore narrowly observed than those of an hereditary one,and when they are seen to be able they gain more menand bind far tighter than ancient blood; because men areattracted more by the present than by the past, and whenthey find the present good they enjoy it and seek no fur-ther; they will also make the utmost defence of a prince ifhe fails them not in other things. Thus it will be a doubleglory for him to have established a new principality, andadorned and strengthened it with good laws, good arms,good allies, and with a good example; so will it be a doubledisgrace to him who, born a prince, shall lose his state bywant of wisdom.

And if those seigniors are considered who have lost theirstates in Italy in our times, such as the King of Naples, theDuke of Milan, and others, there will be found in them,firstly, one common defect in regard to arms from the causeswhich have been discussed at length; in the next place, someone of them will be seen, either to have had the people hos-tile, or if he has had the people friendly, he has not known

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how to secure the nobles. In the absence of these defectsstates that have power enough to keep an army in the fieldcannot be lost.

Philip of Macedon, not the father of Alexander the Great,but he who was conquered by Titus Quintius, had not muchterritory compared to the greatness of the Romans and ofGreece who attacked him, yet being a warlike man whoknew how to attract the people and secure the nobles, hesustained the war against his enemies for many years, andif in the end he lost the dominion of some cities, neverthe-less he retained the kingdom.

Therefore, do not let our princes accuse fortune for theloss of their principalities after so many years’ possession,but rather their own sloth, because in quiet times they neverthought there could be a change (it is a common defectin man not to make any provision in the calm against thetempest), and when afterwards the bad times came theythought of flight and not of defending themselves, and theyhoped that the people, disgusted with the insolence of theconquerors, would recall them. This course, when othersfail, may be good, but it is very bad to have neglected allother expedients for that, since you would never wish tofall because you trusted to be able to find someone later onto restore you. This again either does not happen, or, if itdoes, it will not be for your security, because that deliver-ance is of no avail which does not depend upon yourself;those only are reliable, certain, and durable that depend onyourself and your valour.

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WHAT FORTUNE CAN EFFECT INHUMAN AFFAIRS AND HOW TO

WITHSTAND HER

It is not unknown to me how many men have had, andstill have, the opinion that the affairs of the world are insuch wise governed by fortune and by God that men withtheir wisdom cannot direct them and that no one can evenhelp them; and because of this they would have us believethat it is not necessary to labour much in affairs, but to letchance govern them. This opinion has been more creditedin our times because of the great changes in affairs whichhave been seen, and may still be seen, every day, beyondall human conjecture. Sometimes pondering over this, I amin some degree inclined to their opinion. Nevertheless, notto extinguish our free will, I hold it to be true that Fortuneis the arbiter of one-half of our actions,43 but that she stillleaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less.

I compare her to one of those raging rivers, which whenin flood overflows the plains, sweeping away trees and

43Frederick the Great was accustomed to say: “The older onegets the more convinced one becomes that his Majesty King Chancedoes three-quarters of the business of this miserable universe." Sorel’s“Eastern Question."

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buildings, bearing away the soil from place to place; every-thing flies before it, all yield to its violence, without beingable in any way to withstand it; and yet, though its naturebe such, it does not follow therefore that men, when theweather becomes fair, shall not make provision, both withdefences and barriers, in such a manner that, rising again,the waters may pass away by canal, and their force be nei-ther so unrestrained nor so dangerous. So it happens withfortune, who shows her power where valour has not pre-pared to resist her, and thither she turns her forces whereshe knows that barriers and defences have not been raisedto constrain her.

And if you will consider Italy, which is the seat of thesechanges, and which has given to them their impulse, youwill see it to be an open country without barriers and with-out any defence. For if it had been defended by proper val-our, as are Germany, Spain, and France, either this invasionwould not have made the great changes it has made or itwould not have come at all. And this I consider enough tosay concerning resistance to fortune in general.

But confining myself more to the particular, I say that aprince may be seen happy to-day and ruined to-morrowwithout having shown any change of disposition or char-acter. This, I believe, arises firstly from causes that have al-ready been discussed at length, namely, that the prince whorelies entirely on fortune is lost when it changes. I believealso that he will be successful who directs his actions ac-cording to the spirit of the times, and that he whose actionsdo not accord with the times will not be successful. Becausemen are seen, in affairs that lead to the end which everyman has before him, namely, glory and riches, to get thereby various methods; one with caution, another with haste;one by force, another by skill; one by patience, another byits opposite; and each one succeeds in reaching the goal by adifferent method. One can also see of two cautious men theone attain his end, the other fail; and similarly, two men bydifferent observances are equally successful, the one beingcautious, the other impetuous; all this arises from nothingelse than whether or not they conform in their methods to

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the spirit of the times. This follows from what I have said,that two men working differently bring about the same ef-fect, and of two working similarly, one attains his object andthe other does not.

Changes in estate also issue from this, for if, to one whogoverns himself with caution and patience, times and af-fairs converge in such a way that his administration is suc-cessful, his fortune is made; but if times and affairs change,he is ruined if he does not change his course of action. Buta man is not often found sufficiently circumspect to knowhow to accommodate himself to the change, both becausehe cannot deviate from what nature inclines him to do, andalso because, having always prospered by acting in oneway, he cannot be persuaded that it is well to leave it; and,therefore, the cautious man, when it is time to turn adven-turous, does not know how to do it, hence he is ruined; buthad he changed his conduct with the times fortune wouldnot have changed.

Pope Julius the Second went to work impetuously in allhis affairs, and found the times and circumstances conformso well to that line of action that he always met with suc-cess. Consider his first enterprise against Bologna, MesserGiovanni Bentivogli being still alive. The Venetians werenot agreeable to it, nor was the King of Spain, and hehad the enterprise still under discussion with the King ofFrance; nevertheless he personally entered upon the expe-dition with his accustomed boldness and energy, a movewhich made Spain and the Venetians stand irresolute andpassive, the latter from fear, the former from desire to re-cover the kingdom of Naples; on the other hand, he drewafter him the King of France, because that king, having ob-served the movement, and desiring to make the Pope hisfriend so as to humble the Venetians, found it impossible torefuse him. Therefore Julius with his impetuous action ac-complished what no other pontiff with simple human wis-dom could have done; for if he had waited in Rome un-til he could get away, with his plans arranged and every-thing fixed, as any other pontiff would have done, he wouldnever have succeeded. Because the King of France would

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have made a thousand excuses, and the others would haveraised a thousand fears.

I will leave his other actions alone, as they were all alike,and they all succeeded, for the shortness of his life did notlet him experience the contrary; but if circumstances hadarisen which required him to go cautiously, his ruin wouldhave followed, because he would never have deviated fromthose ways to which nature inclined him.

I conclude, therefore that, fortune being changeful andmankind steadfast in their ways, so long as the two are inagreement men are successful, but unsuccessful when theyfall out. For my part I consider that it is better to be ad-venturous than cautious, because fortune is a woman, andif you wish to keep her under it is necessary to beat and ill-use her; and it is seen that she allows herself to be masteredby the adventurous rather than by those who go to workmore coldly. She is, therefore, always, woman-like, a loverof young men, because they are less cautious, more violent,and with more audacity command her.

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AN EXHORTATION TO LIBERATE ITALYFROM THE BARBARIANS

Having carefully considered the subject of the above dis-courses, and wondering within myself whether the presenttimes were propitious to a new prince, and whether therewere elements that would give an opportunity to a wiseand virtuous one to introduce a new order of things whichwould do honour to him and good to the people of thiscountry, it appears to me that so many things concur tofavour a new prince that I never knew a time more fit thanthe present.

And if, as I said, it was necessary that the people of Is-rael should be captive so as to make manifest the ability ofMoses; that the Persians should be oppressed by the Medesso as to discover the greatness of the soul of Cyrus; and thatthe Athenians should be dispersed to illustrate the capabil-ities of Theseus: then at the present time, in order to dis-cover the virtue of an Italian spirit, it was necessary thatItaly should be reduced to the extremity that she is now in,that she should be more enslaved than the Hebrews, moreoppressed than the Persians, more scattered than the Athe-nians; without head, without order, beaten, despoiled, torn,overrun; and to have endured every kind of desolation.

Although lately some spark may have been shown byone, which made us think he was ordained by God for

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our redemption, nevertheless it was afterwards seen, in theheight of his career, that fortune rejected him; so that Italy,left as without life, waits for him who shall yet heal herwounds and put an end to the ravaging and plundering ofLombardy, to the swindling and taxing of the kingdom andof Tuscany, and cleanse those sores that for long have fes-tered. It is seen how she entreats God to send someone whoshall deliver her from these wrongs and barbarous insolen-cies. It is seen also that she is ready and willing to follow abanner if only someone will raise it.

Nor is there to be seen at present one in whom she canplace more hope than in your illustrious house,44 with itsvalour and fortune, favoured by God and by the Churchof which it is now the chief, and which could be made thehead of this redemption. This will not be difficult if youwill recall to yourself the actions and lives of the men I havenamed. And although they were great and wonderful men,yet they were men, and each one of them had no more op-portunity than the present offers, for their enterprises wereneither more just nor easier than this, nor was God moretheir friend than He is yours.

With us there is great justice, because that war is justwhich is necessary, and arms are hallowed when there isno other hope but in them. Here there is the greatest will-ingness, and where the willingness is great the difficultiescannot be great if you will only follow those men to whomI have directed your attention. Further than this, how ex-traordinarily the ways of God have been manifested beyondexample: the sea is divided, a cloud has led the way, therock has poured forth water, it has rained manna, every-thing has contributed to your greatness; you ought to dothe rest. God is not willing to do everything, and thus takeaway our free will and that share of glory which belongs tous.

And it is not to be wondered at if none of the above-named Italians have been able to accomplish all that is ex-

44Giuliano de Medici. He had just been created a cardinal by Leo X.In 1523 Giuliano was elected Pope, and took the title of Clement VII.

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pected from your illustrious house; and if in so many rev-olutions in Italy, and in so many campaigns, it has alwaysappeared as if military virtue were exhausted, this has hap-pened because the old order of things was not good, andnone of us have known how to find a new one. And noth-ing honours a man more than to establish new laws andnew ordinances when he himself was newly risen. Suchthings when they are well founded and dignified will makehim revered and admired, and in Italy there are not wantingopportunities to bring such into use in every form.

Here there is great valour in the limbs whilst it fails in thehead. Look attentively at the duels and the hand-to-handcombats, how superior the Italians are in strength, dexterity,and subtlety. But when it comes to armies they do not bearcomparison, and this springs entirely from the insufficiencyof the leaders, since those who are capable are not obedi-ent, and each one seems to himself to know, there havingnever been any one so distinguished above the rest, eitherby valour or fortune, that others would yield to him. Henceit is that for so long a time, and during so much fightingin the past twenty years, whenever there has been an armywholly Italian, it has always given a poor account of itself;the first witness to this is Il Taro, afterwards Allesandria,Capua, Genoa, Vaila, Bologna, Mestri.45

If, therefore, your illustrious house wishes to follow theseremarkable men who have redeemed their country, it isnecessary before all things, as a true foundation for ev-ery enterprise, to be provided with your own forces, be-cause there can be no more faithful, truer, or better sol-diers. And although singly they are good, altogether theywill be much better when they find themselves commandedby their prince, honoured by him, and maintained at his ex-pense. Therefore it is necessary to be prepared with sucharms, so that you can be defended against foreigners by Ital-ian valour.

And although Swiss and Spanish infantry may be consid-45The battles of Il Taro, 1495; Alessandria, 1499; Capua, 1501;

Genoa, 1507; Vaila, 1509; Bologna, 1511; Mestri, 1513.

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ered very formidable, nevertheless there is a defect in both,by reason of which a third order would not only be able tooppose them, but might be relied upon to overthrow them.For the Spaniards cannot resist cavalry, and the Switzers areafraid of infantry whenever they encounter them in closecombat. Owing to this, as has been and may again be seen,the Spaniards are unable to resist French cavalry, and theSwitzers are overthrown by Spanish infantry. And althougha complete proof of this latter cannot be shown, neverthe-less there was some evidence of it at the battle of Ravenna,when the Spanish infantry were confronted by German bat-talions, who follow the same tactics as the Swiss; whenthe Spaniards, by agility of body and with the aid of theirshields, got in under the pikes of the Germans and stoodout of danger, able to attack, while the Germans stood help-less, and, if the cavalry had not dashed up, all would havebeen over with them. It is possible, therefore, knowing thedefects of both these infantries, to invent a new one, whichwill resist cavalry and not be afraid of infantry; this neednot create a new order of arms, but a variation upon theold. And these are the kind of improvements which conferreputation and power upon a new prince.

This opportunity, therefore, ought not to be allowed topass for letting Italy at last see her liberator appear. Nor canone express the love with which he would be received inall those provinces which have suffered so much from theseforeign scourings, with what thirst for revenge, with whatstubborn faith, with what devotion, with what tears. Whatdoor would be closed to him? Who would refuse obedienceto him? What envy would hinder him? What Italian wouldrefuse him homage? To all of us this barbarous dominionstinks. Let, therefore, your illustrious house take up thischarge with that courage and hope with which all just en-terprises are undertaken, so that under its standard our na-tive country may be ennobled, and under its auspices maybe verified that saying of Petrarch:

Virtu contro al Furore Prendera l’arme, e fia il combat-ter corto: Che l’antico valore Negli italici cuor non e ancormorto.

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Virtue against fury shall advance the fight, And it i’ th’combat soon shall put to flight: For the old Roman valour isnot dead, Nor in th’ Italians’ brests extinguished.

Edward Dacre, 1640.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE METHODSADOPTED BY THE DUKE VALENTINO

WHEN MURDERING VITELLOZZOVITELLI, OLIVEROTTO DA FERMO, THE

SIGNOR PAGOLO, AND THE DUKE DIGRAVINA ORSINI

BYNICOLO MACHIAVELLI

The Duke Valentino had returned from Lombardy, wherehe had been to clear himself with the King of France fromthe calumnies which had been raised against him by the Flo-rentines concerning the rebellion of Arezzo and other townsin the Val di Chiana, and had arrived at Imola, whence heintended with his army to enter upon the campaign againstGiovanni Bentivogli, the tyrant of Bologna: for he intendedto bring that city under his domination, and to make it thehead of his Romagnian duchy.

These matters coming to the knowledge of the Vitelli andOrsini and their following, it appeared to them that theduke would become too powerful, and it was feared that,having seized Bologna, he would seek to destroy them inorder that he might become supreme in Italy. Upon this a

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meeting was called at Magione in the district of Perugia, towhich came the cardinal, Pagolo, and the Duke di GravinaOrsini, Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, GianpagoloBaglioni, the tyrant of Perugia, and Messer Antonio da Ve-nafro, sent by Pandolfo Petrucci, the Prince of Siena. Herewere discussed the power and courage of the duke and thenecessity of curbing his ambitions, which might otherwisebring danger to the rest of being ruined. And they decidednot to abandon the Bentivogli, but to strive to win over theFlorentines; and they send their men to one place and an-other, promising to one party assistance and to another en-couragement to unite with them against the common en-emy. This meeting was at once reported throughout all Italy,and those who were discontented under the duke, amongwhom were the people of Urbino, took hope of effecting arevolution.

Thus it arose that, men’s minds being thus unsettled, itwas decided by certain men of Urbino to seize the fortressof San Leo, which was held for the duke, and which theycaptured by the following means. The castellan was forti-fying the rock and causing timber to be taken there; so theconspirators watched, and when certain beams which werebeing carried to the rock were upon the bridge, so that it wasprevented from being drawn up by those inside, they tookthe opportunity of leaping upon the bridge and thence intothe fortress. Upon this capture being effected, the wholestate rebelled and recalled the old duke, being encouragedin this, not so much by the capture of the fort, as by the Dietat Magione, from whom they expected to get assistance.

Those who heard of the rebellion at Urbino thought theywould not lose the opportunity, and at once assembled theirmen so as to take any town, should any remain in the handsof the duke in that state; and they sent again to Florence tobeg that republic to join with them in destroying the com-mon firebrand, showing that the risk was lessened and thatthey ought not to wait for another opportunity.

But the Florentines, from hatred, for sundry reasons, ofthe Vitelli and Orsini, not only would not ally themselves,

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but sent Nicolo Machiavelli, their secretary, to offer shel-ter and assistance to the duke against his enemies. Theduke was found full of fear at Imola, because, against ev-erybody’s expectation, his soldiers had at once gone over tothe enemy and he found himself disarmed and war at hisdoor. But recovering courage from the offers of the Floren-tines, he decided to temporize before fighting with the fewsoldiers that remained to him, and to negotiate for a recon-ciliation, and also to get assistance. This latter he obtainedin two ways, by sending to the King of France for men andby enlisting men-at-arms and others whom he turned intocavalry of a sort: to all he gave money.

Notwithstanding this, his enemies drew near to him, andapproached Fossombrone, where they encountered somemen of the duke and, with the aid of the Orsini and Vitelli,routed them. When this happened, the duke resolved atonce to see if he could not close the trouble with offers ofreconciliation, and being a most perfect dissembler he didnot fail in any practices to make the insurgents understandthat he wished every man who had acquired anything tokeep it, as it was enough for him to have the title of prince,whilst others might have the principality.

And the duke succeeded so well in this that they sent Sig-nor Pagolo to him to negotiate for a reconciliation, and theybrought their army to a standstill. But the duke did notstop his preparations, and took every care to provide him-self with cavalry and infantry, and that such preparationsmight not be apparent to the others, he sent his troops inseparate parties to every part of the Romagna. In the mean-while there came also to him five hundred French lancers,and although he found himself sufficiently strong to takevengeance on his enemies in open war, he considered that itwould be safer and more advantageous to outwit them, andfor this reason he did not stop the work of reconciliation.

And that this might be effected the duke concludeda peace with them in which he confirmed their formercovenants; he gave them four thousand ducats at once; hepromised not to injure the Bentivogli; and he formed an

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alliance with Giovanni; and moreover he would not forcethem to come personally into his presence unless it pleasedthem to do so. On the other hand, they promised to restoreto him the duchy of Urbino and other places seized by them,to serve him in all his expeditions, and not to make waragainst or ally themselves with any one without his permis-sion.

This reconciliation being completed, Guido Ubaldo, theDuke of Urbino, again fled to Venice, having first destroyedall the fortresses in his state; because, trusting in the people,he did not wish that the fortresses, which he did not thinkhe could defend, should be held by the enemy, since bythese means a check would be kept upon his friends. But theDuke Valentino, having completed this convention, and dis-persed his men throughout the Romagna, set out for Imolaat the end of November together with his French men-at-arms: thence he went to Cesena, where he stayed some timeto negotiate with the envoys of the Vitelli and Orsini, whohad assembled with their men in the duchy of Urbino, asto the enterprise in which they should now take part; butnothing being concluded, Oliverotto da Fermo was sent topropose that if the duke wished to undertake an expeditionagainst Tuscany they were ready; if he did not wish it, thenthey would besiege Sinigalia. To this the duke replied thathe did not wish to enter into war with Tuscany, and thus be-come hostile to the Florentines, but that he was very willingto proceed against Sinigalia.

It happened that not long afterwards the town surren-dered, but the fortress would not yield to them because thecastellan would not give it up to any one but the duke inperson; therefore they exhorted him to come there. This ap-peared a good opportunity to the duke, as, being invitedby them, and not going of his own will, he would awakenno suspicions. And the more to reassure them, he allowedall the French men-at-arms who were with him in Lom-bardy to depart, except the hundred lancers under Mons.di Candales, his brother-in-law. He left Cesena about themiddle of December, and went to Fano, and with the ut-most cunning and cleverness he persuaded the Vitelli and

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Orsini to wait for him at Sinigalia, pointing out to them thatany lack of compliance would cast a doubt upon the sincer-ity and permanency of the reconciliation, and that he was aman who wished to make use of the arms and councils ofhis friends. But Vitellozzo remained very stubborn, for thedeath of his brother warned him that he should not offenda prince and afterwards trust him; nevertheless, persuadedby Pagolo Orsini, whom the duke had corrupted with giftsand promises, he agreed to wait.

Upon this the duke, before his departure from Fano,which was to be on 30th December 1502, communicated hisdesigns to eight of his most trusted followers, among whomwere Don Michele and the Monsignor d’Euna, who was af-terwards cardinal; and he ordered that, as soon as Vitel-lozzo, Pagolo Orsini, the Duke di Gravina, and Oliverottoshould arrive, his followers in pairs should take them oneby one, entrusting certain men to certain pairs, who shouldentertain them until they reached Sinigalia; nor should theybe permitted to leave until they came to the duke’s quarters,where they should be seized.

The duke afterwards ordered all his horsemen and in-fantry, of which there were more than two thousand cav-alry and ten thousand footmen, to assemble by daybreak atthe Metauro, a river five miles distant from Fano, and awaithim there. He found himself, therefore, on the last day ofDecember at the Metauro with his men, and having sent acavalcade of about two hundred horsemen before him, hethen moved forward the infantry, whom he accompaniedwith the rest of the men-at-arms.

Fano and Sinigalia are two cities of La Marca situate onthe shore of the Adriatic Sea, fifteen miles distant from eachother, so that he who goes towards Sinigalia has the moun-tains on his right hand, the bases of which are touched bythe sea in some places. The city of Sinigalia is distant fromthe foot of the mountains a little more than a bow-shot andfrom the shore about a mile. On the side opposite to the cityruns a little river which bathes that part of the walls look-ing towards Fano, facing the high road. Thus he who draws

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near to Sinigalia comes for a good space by road along themountains, and reaches the river which passes by Sinigalia.If he turns to his left hand along the bank of it, and goesfor the distance of a bow-shot, he arrives at a bridge whichcrosses the river; he is then almost abreast of the gate thatleads into Sinigalia, not by a straight line, but transversely.Before this gate there stands a collection of houses with asquare to which the bank of the river forms one side.

The Vitelli and Orsini having received orders to wait forthe duke, and to honour him in person, sent away theirmen to several castles distant from Sinigalia about six miles,so that room could be made for the men of the duke; andthey left in Sinigalia only Oliverotto and his band, whichconsisted of one thousand infantry and one hundred andfifty horsemen, who were quartered in the suburb men-tioned above. Matters having been thus arranged, the DukeValentino left for Sinigalia, and when the leaders of the cav-alry reached the bridge they did not pass over, but havingopened it, one portion wheeled towards the river and theother towards the country, and a way was left in the middlethrough which the infantry passed, without stopping, intothe town.

Vitellozzo, Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina on mules,accompanied by a few horsemen, went towards the duke;Vitellozo, unarmed and wearing a cape lined with green,appeared very dejected, as if conscious of his approachingdeath–a circumstance which, in view of the ability of theman and his former fortune, caused some amazement. Andit is said that when he parted from his men before settingout for Sinigalia to meet the duke he acted as if it werehis last parting from them. He recommended his houseand its fortunes to his captains, and advised his nephewsthat it was not the fortune of their house, but the virtuesof their fathers that should be kept in mind. These three,therefore, came before the duke and saluted him respect-fully, and were received by him with goodwill; they were atonce placed between those who were commissioned to lookafter them.

But the duke noticing that Oliverotto, who had remained

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with his band in Sinigalia, was missing–for Oliverotto waswaiting in the square before his quarters near the river,keeping his men in order and drilling them–signalled withhis eye to Don Michelle, to whom the care of Oliverotto hadbeen committed, that he should take measures that Oliv-erotto should not escape. Therefore Don Michele rode offand joined Oliverotto, telling him that it was not right tokeep his men out of their quarters, because these might betaken up by the men of the duke; and he advised him tosend them at once to their quarters and to come himself tomeet the duke. And Oliverotto, having taken this advice,came before the duke, who, when he saw him, called to him;and Oliverotto, having made his obeisance, joined the oth-ers.

So the whole party entered Sinigalia, dismounted at theduke’s quarters, and went with him into a secret chamber,where the duke made them prisoners; he then mounted onhorseback, and issued orders that the men of Oliverotto andthe Orsini should be stripped of their arms. Those of Oliv-erotto, being at hand, were quickly settled, but those of theOrsini and Vitelli, being at a distance, and having a presen-timent of the destruction of their masters, had time to pre-pare themselves, and bearing in mind the valour and dis-cipline of the Orsinian and Vitellian houses, they stood to-gether against the hostile forces of the country and savedthemselves.

But the duke’s soldiers, not being content with having pil-laged the men of Oliverotto, began to sack Sinigalia, and ifthe duke had not repressed this outrage by killing some ofthem they would have completely sacked it. Night havingcome and the tumult being silenced, the duke prepared tokill Vitellozzo and Oliverotto; he led them into a room andcaused them to be strangled. Neither of them used wordsin keeping with their past lives: Vitellozzo prayed that hemight ask of the pope full pardon for his sins; Oliverottocringed and laid the blame for all injuries against the dukeon Vitellozzo. Pagolo and the Duke di Gravina Orsini werekept alive until the duke heard from Rome that the popehad taken the Cardinal Orsino, the Archbishop of Florence,

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and Messer Jacopo da Santa Croce. After which news, on18th January 1502, in the castle of Pieve, they also werestrangled in the same way.=THE LIFE OF CASTRUCCIOCASTRACANI OF LUCCAWRITTEN BY NICOLO MACHIAVELLIAnd sent to his friends ZANOBI BUONDELMONTI AndLUIGI ALAMANNICASTRUCCIO CASTRACANI 1284-1328

It appears, dearest Zanobi and Luigi, a wonderful thing tothose who have considered the matter, that all men, or thelarger number of them, who have performed great deedsin the world, and excelled all others in their day, have hadtheir birth and beginning in baseness and obscurity; or havebeen aggrieved by Fortune in some outrageous way. Theyhave either been exposed to the mercy of wild beasts, orthey have had so mean a parentage that in shame they havegiven themselves out to be sons of Jove or of some other de-ity. It would be wearisome to relate who these persons mayhave been because they are well known to everybody, and,as such tales would not be particularly edifying to thosewho read them, they are omitted. I believe that these lowlybeginnings of great men occur because Fortune is desirousof showing to the world that such men owe much to herand little to wisdom, because she begins to show her handwhen wisdom can really take no part in their career: thusall success must be attributed to her. Castruccio Castracaniof Lucca was one of those men who did great deeds, if heis measured by the times in which he lived and the city inwhich he was born; but, like many others, he was neitherfortunate nor distinguished in his birth, as the course of thishistory will show. It appeared to be desirable to recall hismemory, because I have discerned in him such indicationsof valour and fortune as should make him a great exemplarto men. I think also that I ought to call your attention tohis actions, because you of all men I know delight most innoble deeds.

The family of Castracani was formerly numbered amongthe noble families of Lucca, but in the days of which I speakit had somewhat fallen in estate, as so often happens in this

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world. To this family was born a son Antonio, who becamea priest of the order of San Michele of Lucca, and for thisreason was honoured with the title of Messer Antonio. Hehad an only sister, who had been married to BuonaccorsoCenami, but Buonaccorso dying she became a widow, andnot wishing to marry again went to live with her brother.Messer Antonio had a vineyard behind the house where heresided, and as it was bounded on all sides by gardens, anyperson could have access to it without difficulty. One morn-ing, shortly after sunrise, Madonna Dianora, as the sisterof Messer Antonio was called, had occasion to go into thevineyard as usual to gather herbs for seasoning the dinner,and hearing a slight rustling among the leaves of a vineshe turned her eyes in that direction, and heard somethingresembling the cry of an infant. Whereupon she went to-wards it, and saw the hands and face of a baby who waslying enveloped in the leaves and who seemed to be cry-ing for its mother. Partly wondering and partly fearing,yet full of compassion, she lifted it up and carried it to thehouse, where she washed it and clothed it with clean linenas is customary, and showed it to Messer Antonio whenhe returned home. When he heard what had happenedand saw the child he was not less surprised or compas-sionate than his sister. They discussed between themselveswhat should be done, and seeing that he was priest andthat she had no children, they finally determined to bringit up. They had a nurse for it, and it was reared and lovedas if it were their own child. They baptized it, and gaveit the name of Castruccio after their father. As the yearspassed Castruccio grew very handsome, and gave evidenceof wit and discretion, and learnt with a quickness beyondhis years those lessons which Messer Antonio imparted tohim. Messer Antonio intended to make a priest of him, andin time would have inducted him into his canonry and otherbenefices, and all his instruction was given with this ob-ject; but Antonio discovered that the character of Castruc-cio was quite unfitted for the priesthood. As soon as Cas-truccio reached the age of fourteen he began to take less no-tice of the chiding of Messer Antonio and Madonna Dianora

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and no longer to fear them; he left off reading ecclesiasticalbooks, and turned to playing with arms, delighting in noth-ing so much as in learning their uses, and in running, leap-ing, and wrestling with other boys. In all exercises he far ex-celled his companions in courage and bodily strength, andif at any time he did turn to books, only those pleased himwhich told of wars and the mighty deeds of men. MesserAntonio beheld all this with vexation and sorrow.

There lived in the city of Lucca a gentleman of the Guinigifamily, named Messer Francesco, whose profession wasarms and who in riches, bodily strength, and valour ex-celled all other men in Lucca. He had often fought under thecommand of the Visconti of Milan, and as a Ghibelline wasthe valued leader of that party in Lucca. This gentlemanresided in Lucca and was accustomed to assemble with oth-ers most mornings and evenings under the balcony of thePodesta, which is at the top of the square of San Michele,the finest square in Lucca, and he had often seen Castrucciotaking part with other children of the street in those gamesof which I have spoken. Noticing that Castruccio far ex-celled the other boys, and that he appeared to exercise aroyal authority over them, and that they loved and obeyedhim, Messer Francesco became greatly desirous of learningwho he was. Being informed of the circumstances of thebringing up of Castruccio he felt a greater desire to have himnear to him. Therefore he called him one day and asked himwhether he would more willingly live in the house of a gen-tleman, where he would learn to ride horses and use arms,or in the house of a priest, where he would learn nothing butmasses and the services of the Church. Messer Francescocould see that it pleased Castruccio greatly to hear horsesand arms spoken of, even though he stood silent, blush-ing modestly; but being encouraged by Messer Francescoto speak, he answered that, if his master were agreeable,nothing would please him more than to give up his priestlystudies and take up those of a soldier. This reply delightedMesser Francesco, and in a very short time he obtained theconsent of Messer Antonio, who was driven to yield by hisknowledge of the nature of the lad, and the fear that he

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would not be able to hold him much longer.Thus Castruccio passed from the house of Messer Anto-

nio the priest to the house of Messer Francesco Guinigi thesoldier, and it was astonishing to find that in a very shorttime he manifested all that virtue and bearing which weare accustomed to associate with a true gentleman. In thefirst place he became an accomplished horseman, and couldmanage with ease the most fiery charger, and in all joustsand tournaments, although still a youth, he was observedbeyond all others, and he excelled in all exercises of strengthand dexterity. But what enhanced so much the charm ofthese accomplishments, was the delightful modesty whichenabled him to avoid offence in either act or word to oth-ers, for he was deferential to the great men, modest with hisequals, and courteous to his inferiors. These gifts made himbeloved, not only by all the Guinigi family, but by all Lucca.When Castruccio had reached his eighteenth year, the Ghi-bellines were driven from Pavia by the Guelphs, and MesserFrancesco was sent by the Visconti to assist the Ghibellines,and with him went Castruccio, in charge of his forces. Cas-truccio gave ample proof of his prudence and courage inthis expedition, acquiring greater reputation than any othercaptain, and his name and fame were known, not only inPavia, but throughout all Lombardy.

Castruccio, having returned to Lucca in far higher esti-mation that he left it, did not omit to use all the means inhis power to gain as many friends as he could, neglectingnone of those arts which are necessary for that purpose.About this time Messer Francesco died, leaving a son thir-teen years of age named Pagolo, and having appointed Cas-truccio to be his son’s tutor and administrator of his es-tate. Before he died Francesco called Castruccio to him,and prayed him to show Pagolo that goodwill which he(Francesco) had always shown to HIM, and to render to theson the gratitude which he had not been able to repay to thefather. Upon the death of Francesco, Castruccio became thegovernor and tutor of Pagolo, which increased enormouslyhis power and position, and created a certain amount ofenvy against him in Lucca in place of the former univer-

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sal goodwill, for many men suspected him of harbouringtyrannical intentions. Among these the leading man wasGiorgio degli Opizi, the head of the Guelph party. This manhoped after the death of Messer Francesco to become thechief man in Lucca, but it seemed to him that Castruccio,with the great abilities which he already showed, and hold-ing the position of governor, deprived him of his opportu-nity; therefore he began to sow those seeds which shouldrob Castruccio of his eminence. Castruccio at first treatedthis with scorn, but afterwards he grew alarmed, thinkingthat Messer Giorgio might be able to bring him into disgracewith the deputy of King Ruberto of Naples and have himdriven out of Lucca.

The Lord of Pisa at that time was Uguccione of the Fag-giuola of Arezzo, who being in the first place elected theircaptain afterwards became their lord. There resided inParis some exiled Ghibellines from Lucca, with whom Cas-truccio held communications with the object of effectingtheir restoration by the help of Uguccione. Castruccio alsobrought into his plans friends from Lucca who would notendure the authority of the Opizi. Having fixed upon a planto be followed, Castruccio cautiously fortified the tower ofthe Onesti, filling it with supplies and munitions of war,in order that it might stand a siege for a few days in caseof need. When the night came which had been agreedupon with Uguccione, who had occupied the plain betweenthe mountains and Pisa with many men, the signal wasgiven, and without being observed Uguccione approachedthe gate of San Piero and set fire to the portcullis. Castruc-cio raised a great uproar within the city, calling the peopleto arms and forcing open the gate from his side. Uguccioneentered with his men, poured through the town, and killedMesser Giorgio with all his family and many of his friendsand supporters. The governor was driven out, and the gov-ernment reformed according to the wishes of Uguccione, tothe detriment of the city, because it was found that morethan one hundred families were exiled at that time. Of thosewho fled, part went to Florence and part to Pistoia, whichcity was the headquarters of the Guelph party, and for this

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reason it became most hostile to Uguccione and the Lucch-ese.

As it now appeared to the Florentines and others ofthe Guelph party that the Ghibellines absorbed too muchpower in Tuscany, they determined to restore the exiledGuelphs to Lucca. They assembled a large army in theVal di Nievole, and seized Montecatini; from thence theymarched to Montecarlo, in order to secure the free pas-sage into Lucca. Upon this Uguccione assembled his Pisanand Lucchese forces, and with a number of German cav-alry which he drew out of Lombardy, he moved against thequarters of the Florentines, who upon the appearance of theenemy withdrew from Montecarlo, and posted themselvesbetween Montecatini and Pescia. Uguccione now took upa position near to Montecarlo, and within about two milesof the enemy, and slight skirmishes between the horse ofboth parties were of daily occurrence. Owing to the illnessof Uguccione, the Pisans and Lucchese delayed coming tobattle with the enemy. Uguccione, finding himself growingworse, went to Montecarlo to be cured, and left the com-mand of the army in the hands of Castruccio. This changebrought about the ruin of the Guelphs, who, thinking thatthe hostile army having lost its captain had lost its head,grew over-confident. Castruccio observed this, and allowedsome days to pass in order to encourage this belief; he alsoshowed signs of fear, and did not allow any of the muni-tions of the camp to be used. On the other side, the Guelphsgrew more insolent the more they saw these evidences offear, and every day they drew out in the order of battle infront of the army of Castruccio. Presently, deeming that theenemy was sufficiently emboldened, and having masteredtheir tactics, he decided to join battle with them. First hespoke a few words of encouragement to his soldiers, andpointed out to them the certainty of victory if they wouldbut obey his commands. Castruccio had noticed how theenemy had placed all his best troops in the centre of theline of battle, and his less reliable men on the wings of thearmy; whereupon he did exactly the opposite, putting hismost valiant men on the flanks, while those on whom he

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could not so strongly rely he moved to the centre. Observ-ing this order of battle, he drew out of his lines and quicklycame in sight of the hostile army, who, as usual, had comein their insolence to defy him. He then commanded hiscentre squadrons to march slowly, whilst he moved rapidlyforward those on the wings. Thus, when they came intocontact with the enemy, only the wings of the two armiesbecame engaged, whilst the center battalions remained outof action, for these two portions of the line of battle wereseparated from each other by a long interval and thus un-able to reach each other. By this expedient the more valiantpart of Castruccio’s men were opposed to the weaker partof the enemy’s troops, and the most efficient men of the en-emy were disengaged; and thus the Florentines were un-able to fight with those who were arrayed opposite to them,or to give any assistance to their own flanks. So, with-out much difficulty, Castruccio put the enemy to flight onboth flanks, and the centre battalions took to flight whenthey found themselves exposed to attack, without having achance of displaying their valour. The defeat was complete,and the loss in men very heavy, there being more than tenthousand men killed with many officers and knights of theGuelph party in Tuscany, and also many princes who hadcome to help them, among whom were Piero, the brotherof King Ruberto, and Carlo, his nephew, and Filippo, thelord of Taranto. On the part of Castruccio the loss did notamount to more than three hundred men, among whomwas Francesco, the son of Uguccione, who, being young andrash, was killed in the first onset.

This victory so greatly increased the reputation of Cas-truccio that Uguccione conceived some jealousy and sus-picion of him, because it appeared to Uguccione that thisvictory had given him no increase of power, but rather thandiminished it. Being of this mind, he only waited for anopportunity to give effect to it. This occurred on the deathof Pier Agnolo Micheli, a man of great repute and abilitiesin Lucca, the murderer of whom fled to the house of Cas-truccio for refuge. On the sergeants of the captain going toarrest the murderer, they were driven off by Castruccio, and

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the murderer escaped. This affair coming to the knowledgeof Uguccione, who was than at Pisa, it appeared to him aproper opportunity to punish Castruccio. He therefore sentfor his son Neri, who was the governor of Lucca, and com-missioned him to take Castruccio prisoner at a banquet andput him to death. Castruccio, fearing no evil, went to thegovernor in a friendly way, was entertained at supper, andthen thrown into prison. But Neri, fearing to put him todeath lest the people should be incensed, kept him alive, inorder to hear further from his father concerning his inten-tions. Ugucionne cursed the hesitation and cowardice of hisson, and at once set out from Pisa to Lucca with four hun-dred horsemen to finish the business in his own way; buthe had not yet reached the baths when the Pisans rebelledand put his deputy to death and created Count Gaddo dellaGherardesca their lord. Before Uguccione reached Lucca heheard of the occurrences at Pisa, but it did not appear wiseto him to turn back, lest the Lucchese with the example ofPisa before them should close their gates against him. Butthe Lucchese, having heard of what had happened at Pisa,availed themselves of this opportunity to demand the lib-eration of Castruccio, notwithstanding that Uguccione hadarrived in their city. They first began to speak of it in privatecircles, afterwards openly in the squares and streets; thenthey raised a tumult, and with arms in their hands wentto Uguccione and demanded that Castruccio should be setat liberty. Uguccione, fearing that worse might happen, re-leased him from prison. Whereupon Castruccio gatheredhis friends around him, and with the help of the people at-tacked Uguccione; who, finding he had no resource but inflight, rode away with his friends to Lombardy, to the lordsof Scale, where he died in poverty.

But Castruccio from being a prisoner became almost aprince in Lucca, and he carried himself so discreetly with hisfriends and the people that they appointed him captain oftheir army for one year. Having obtained this, and wishingto gain renown in war, he planned the recovery of the manytowns which had rebelled after the departure of Uguccione,and with the help of the Pisans, with whom he had con-

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cluded a treaty, he marched to Serezzana. To capture thisplace he constructed a fort against it, which is called to-dayZerezzanello; in the course of two months Castruccio cap-tured the town. With the reputation gained at that siege,he rapidly seized Massa, Carrara, and Lavenza, and in ashort time had overrun the whole of Lunigiana. In orderto close the pass which leads from Lombardy to Lunigiana,he besieged Pontremoli and wrested it from the hands ofMesser Anastagio Palavicini, who was the lord of it. Af-ter this victory he returned to Lucca, and was welcomedby the whole people. And now Castruccio, deeming it im-prudent any longer to defer making himself a prince, gothimself created the lord of Lucca by the help of Pazzino delPoggio, Puccinello dal Portico, Francesco Boccansacchi, andCecco Guinigi, all of whom he had corrupted; and he wasafterwards solemnly and deliberately elected prince by thepeople. At this time Frederick of Bavaria, the King of theRomans, came into Italy to assume the Imperial crown, andCastruccio, in order that he might make friends with him,met him at the head of five hundred horsemen. Castrucciohad left as his deputy in Lucca, Pagolo Guinigi, who washeld in high estimation, because of the people’s love for thememory of his father. Castruccio was received in great hon-our by Frederick, and many privileges were conferred uponhim, and he was appointed the emperor’s lieutenant in Tus-cany. At this time the Pisans were in great fear of Gaddodella Gherardesca, whom they had driven out of Pisa, andthey had recourse for assistance to Frederick. Frederick cre-ated Castruccio the lord of Pisa, and the Pisans, in dread ofthe Guelph party, and particularly of the Florentines, wereconstrained to accept him as their lord.

Frederick, having appointed a governor in Rome to watchhis Italian affairs, returned to Germany. All the Tuscan andLombardian Ghibellines, who followed the imperial lead,had recourse to Castruccio for help and counsel, and allpromised him the governorship of his country, if enabled torecover it with his assistance. Among these exiles were Mat-teo Guidi, Nardo Scolari, Lapo Uberti, Gerozzo Nardi, andPiero Buonaccorsi, all exiled Florentines and Ghibellines.

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Castruccio had the secret intention of becoming the masterof all Tuscany by the aid of these men and of his own forces;and in order to gain greater weight in affairs, he entered intoa league with Messer Matteo Visconti, the Prince of Milan,and organized for him the forces of his city and the countrydistricts. As Lucca had five gates, he divided his own coun-try districts into five parts, which he supplied with arms,and enrolled the men under captains and ensigns, so thathe could quickly bring into the field twenty thousand sol-diers, without those whom he could summon to his assis-tance from Pisa. While he surrounded himself with theseforces and allies, it happened at Messer Matteo Visconti wasattacked by the Guelphs of Piacenza, who had driven outthe Ghibellines with the assistance of a Florentine army andthe King Ruberto. Messer Matteo called upon Castruccioto invade the Florentines in their own territories, so that,being attacked at home, they should be compelled to drawtheir army out of Lombardy in order to defend themselves.Castruccio invaded the Valdarno, and seized Fucecchio andSan Miniato, inflicting immense damage upon the country.Whereupon the Florentines recalled their army, which hadscarcely reached Tuscany, when Castruccio was forced byother necessities to return to Lucca.

There resided in the city of Lucca the Poggio family, whowere so powerful that they could not only elevate Castruc-cio, but even advance him to the dignity of prince; and itappearing to them they had not received such rewards fortheir services as they deserved, they incited other families torebel and to drive Castruccio out of Lucca. They found theiropportunity one morning, and arming themselves, they setupon the lieutenant whom Castruccio had left to maintainorder and killed him. They endeavoured to raise the peoplein revolt, but Stefano di Poggio, a peaceable old man whohad taken no hand in the rebellion, intervened and com-pelled them by his authority to lay down their arms; andhe offered to be their mediator with Castruccio to obtainfrom him what they desired. Therefore they laid down theirarms with no greater intelligence than they had taken themup. Castruccio, having heard the news of what had hap-

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pened at Lucca, at once put Pagolo Guinigi in commandof the army, and with a troop of cavalry set out for home.Contrary to his expectations, he found the rebellion at anend, yet he posted his men in the most advantageous placesthroughout the city. As it appeared to Stefano that Castruc-cio ought to be very much obliged to him, he sought himout, and without saying anything on his own behalf, for hedid not recognize any need for doing so, he begged Cas-truccio to pardon the other members of his family by reasonof their youth, their former friendships, and the obligationswhich Castruccio was under to their house. To this Castruc-cio graciously responded, and begged Stefano to reassurehimself, declaring that it gave him more pleasure to findthe tumult at an end than it had ever caused him anxietyto hear of its inception. He encouraged Stefano to bring hisfamily to him, saying that he thanked God for having givenhim the opportunity of showing his clemency and liberality.Upon the word of Stefano and Castruccio they surrendered,and with Stefano were immediately thrown into prison andput to death. Meanwhile the Florentines had recovered SanMiniato, whereupon it seemed advisable to Castruccio tomake peace, as it did not appear to him that he was suf-ficiently secure at Lucca to leave him. He approached theFlorentines with the proposal of a truce, which they readilyentertained, for they were weary of the war, and desirousof getting rid of the expenses of it. A treaty was concludedwith them for two years, by which both parties agreed tokeep the conquests they had made. Castruccio thus releasedfrom this trouble, turned his attention to affairs in Lucca,and in order that he should not again be subject to the per-ils from which he had just escaped, he, under various pre-tences and reasons, first wiped out all those who by theirambition might aspire to the principality; not sparing oneof them, but depriving them of country and property, andthose whom he had in his hands of life also, stating thathe had found by experience that none of them were to betrusted. Then for his further security he raised a fortress inLucca with the stones of the towers of those whom he hadkilled or hunted out of the state.

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Whilst Castruccio made peace with the Florentines, andstrengthened his position in Lucca, he neglected no oppor-tunity, short of open war, of increasing his importance else-where. It appeared to him that if he could get possession ofPistoia, he would have one foot in Florence, which was hisgreat desire. He, therefore, in various ways made friendswith the mountaineers, and worked matters so in Pistoiathat both parties confided their secrets to him. Pistoia wasdivided, as it always had been, into the Bianchi and Neriparties; the head of the Bianchi was Bastiano di Possente,and of the Neri, Jacopo da Gia. Each of these men heldsecret communications with Castruccio, and each desiredto drive the other out of the city; and, after many threat-enings, they came to blows. Jacopo fortified himself at theFlorentine gate, Bastiano at that of the Lucchese side of thecity; both trusted more in Castruccio than in the Florentines,because they believed that Castruccio was far more readyand willing to fight than the Florentines, and they both sentto him for assistance. He gave promises to both, sayingto Bastiano that he would come in person, and to Jacopothat he would send his pupil, Pagolo Guinigi. At the ap-pointed time he sent forward Pagolo by way of Pisa, andwent himself direct to Pistoia; at midnight both of them metoutside the city, and both were admitted as friends. Thusthe two leaders entered, and at a signal given by Castruc-cio, one killed Jacopo da Gia, and the other Bastiano di Pos-sente, and both took prisoners or killed the partisans of ei-ther faction. Without further opposition Pistoia passed intothe hands of Castruccio, who, having forced the Signoria toleave the palace, compelled the people to yield obedience tohim, making them many promises and remitting their olddebts. The countryside flocked to the city to see the newprince, and all were filled with hope and quickly settleddown, influenced in a great measure by his great valour.

About this time great disturbances arose in Rome, ow-ing to the dearness of living which was caused by the ab-sence of the pontiff at Avignon. The German governor, En-rico, was much blamed for what happened–murders andtumults following each other daily, without his being able

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to put an end to them. This caused Enrico much anxiety lestthe Romans should call in Ruberto, the King of Naples, whowould drive the Germans out of the city, and bring backthe Pope. Having no nearer friend to whom he could ap-ply for help than Castruccio, he sent to him, begging himnot only to give him assistance, but also to come in per-son to Rome. Castruccio considered that he ought not tohesitate to render the emperor this service, because he be-lieved that he himself would not be safe if at any time theemperor ceased to hold Rome. Leaving Pagolo Guinigi incommand at Lucca, Castruccio set out for Rome with sixhundred horsemen, where he was received by Enrico withthe greatest distinction. In a short time the presence of Cas-truccio obtained such respect for the emperor that, with-out bloodshed or violence, good order was restored, chieflyby reason of Castruccio having sent by sea from the coun-try round Pisa large quantities of corn, and thus removedthe source of the trouble. When he had chastised some ofthe Roman leaders, and admonished others, voluntary obe-dience was rendered to Enrico. Castruccio received manyhonours, and was made a Roman senator. This dignity wasassumed with the greatest pomp, Castruccio being clothedin a brocaded toga, which had the following words embroi-dered on its front: “I am what God wills." Whilst on theback was: “What God desires shall be."

During this time the Florentines, who were much enragedthat Castruccio should have seized Pistoia during the truce,considered how they could tempt the city to rebel, to dowhich they thought would not be difficult in his absence.Among the exiled Pistoians in Florence were Baldo Cec-chi and Jacopo Baldini, both men of leading and ready toface danger. These men kept up communications with theirfriends in Pistoia, and with the aid of the Florentines en-tered the city by night, and after driving out some of Cas-truccio’s officials and partisans, and killing others, they re-stored the city to its freedom. The news of this greatly an-gered Castruccio, and taking leave of Enrico, he pressed onin great haste to Pistoia. When the Florentines heard of hisreturn, knowing that he would lose no time, they decided

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to intercept him with their forces in the Val di Nievole, un-der the belief that by doing so they would cut off his roadto Pistoia. Assembling a great army of the supporters ofthe Guelph cause, the Florentines entered the Pistoian ter-ritories. On the other hand, Castruccio reached Montecarlowith his army; and having heard where the Florentines’ lay,he decided not to encounter it in the plains of Pistoia, norto await it in the plains of Pescia, but, as far as he possi-bly could, to attack it boldly in the Pass of Serravalle. Hebelieved that if he succeeded in this design, victory was as-sured, although he was informed that the Florentines hadthirty thousand men, whilst he had only twelve thousand.Although he had every confidence in his own abilities andthe valour of his troops, yet he hesitated to attack his enemyin the open lest he should be overwhelmed by numbers.Serravalle is a castle between Pescia and Pistoia, situated ona hill which blocks the Val di Nievole, not in the exact pass,but about a bowshot beyond; the pass itself is in places nar-row and steep, whilst in general it ascends gently, but is stillnarrow, especially at the summit where the waters divide,so that twenty men side by side could hold it. The lord ofSerravalle was Manfred, a German, who, before Castruc-cio became lord of Pistoia, had been allowed to remain inpossession of the castle, it being common to the Luccheseand the Pistoians, and unclaimed by either–neither of themwishing to displace Manfred as long as he kept his promiseof neutrality, and came under obligations to no one. Forthese reasons, and also because the castle was well fortified,he had always been able to maintain his position. It washere that Castruccio had determined to fall upon his enemy,for here his few men would have the advantage, and therewas no fear lest, seeing the large masses of the hostile forcebefore they became engaged, they should not stand. Assoon as this trouble with Florence arose, Castruccio saw theimmense advantage which possession of this castle wouldgive him, and having an intimate friendship with a residentin the castle, he managed matters so with him that four hun-dred of his men were to be admitted into the castle the nightbefore the attack on the Florentines, and the castellan put to

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death.

Castruccio, having prepared everything, had now to en-courage the Florentines to persist in their desire to carry theseat of war away from Pistoia into the Val di Nievole, there-fore he did not move his army from Montecarlo. Thus theFlorentines hurried on until they reached their encampmentunder Serravalle, intending to cross the hill on the follow-ing morning. In the meantime, Castruccio had seized thecastle at night, had also moved his army from Montecarlo,and marching from thence at midnight in dead silence, hadreached the foot of Serravalle: thus he and the Florentinescommenced the ascent of the hill at the same time in themorning. Castruccio sent forward his infantry by the mainroad, and a troop of four hundred horsemen by a path onthe left towards the castle. The Florentines sent forwardfour hundred cavalry ahead of their army which was fol-lowing, never expecting to find Castruccio in possession ofthe hill, nor were they aware of his having seized the castle.Thus it happened that the Florentine horsemen mountingthe hill were completely taken by surprise when they dis-covered the infantry of Castruccio, and so close were theyupon it they had scarcely time to pull down their visors.It was a case of unready soldiers being attacked by ready,and they were assailed with such vigour that with difficultythey could hold their own, although some few of them gotthrough. When the noise of the fighting reached the Flo-rentine camp below, it was filled with confusion. The cav-alry and infantry became inextricably mixed: the captainswere unable to get their men either backward or forward,owing to the narrowness of the pass, and amid all this tu-mult no one knew what ought to be done or what couldbe done. In a short time the cavalry who were engagedwith the enemy’s infantry were scattered or killed withouthaving made any effective defence because of their unfor-tunate position, although in sheer desperation they had of-fered a stout resistance. Retreat had been impossible, withthe mountains on both flanks, whilst in front were their en-emies, and in the rear their friends. When Castruccio sawthat his men were unable to strike a decisive blow at the

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enemy and put them to flight, he sent one thousand in-fantrymen round by the castle, with orders to join the fourhundred horsemen he had previously dispatched there, andcommanded the whole force to fall upon the flank of the en-emy. These orders they carried out with such fury that theFlorentines could not sustain the attack, but gave way, andwere soon in full retreat–conquered more by their unfortu-nate position than by the valour of their enemy. Those in therear turned towards Pistoia, and spread through the plains,each man seeking only his own safety. The defeat wascomplete and very sanguinary. Many captains were takenprisoners, among whom were Bandini dei Rossi, FrancescoBrunelleschi, and Giovanni della Tosa, all Florentine noble-men, with many Tuscans and Neapolitans who fought onthe Florentine side, having been sent by King Ruberto to as-sist the Guelphs. Immediately the Pistoians heard of thisdefeat they drove out the friends of the Guelphs, and sur-rendered to Castruccio. He was not content with occupy-ing Prato and all the castles on the plains on both sides ofthe Arno, but marched his army into the plain of Peretola,about two miles from Florence. Here he remained manydays, dividing the spoils, and celebrating his victory withfeasts and games, holding horse races, and foot races formen and women. He also struck medals in commemorationof the defeat of the Florentines. He endeavoured to corruptsome of the citizens of Florence, who were to open the citygates at night; but the conspiracy was discovered, and theparticipators in it taken and beheaded, among whom wereTommaso Lupacci and Lambertuccio Frescobaldi. This de-feat caused the Florentines great anxiety, and despairing ofpreserving their liberty, they sent envoys to King Rubertoof Naples, offering him the dominion of their city; and he,knowing of what immense importance the maintenance ofthe Guelph cause was to him, accepted it. He agreed withthe Florentines to receive from them a yearly tribute of twohundred thousand florins, and he send his son Carlo to Flo-rence with four thousand horsemen.

Shortly after this the Florentines were relieved in somedegree of the pressure of Castruccio’s army, owing to his

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being compelled to leave his positions before Florence andmarch on Pisa, in order to suppress a conspiracy that hadbeen raised against him by Benedetto Lanfranchi, one ofthe first men in Pisa, who could not endure that his father-land should be under the dominion of the Lucchese. Hehad formed this conspiracy, intending to seize the citadel,kill the partisans of Castruccio, and drive out the garrison.As, however, in a conspiracy paucity of numbers is essentialto secrecy, so for its execution a few are not sufficient, andin seeking more adherents to his conspiracy Lanfranchi en-countered a person who revealed the design to Castruccio.This betrayal cannot be passed by without severe reproachto Bonifacio Cerchi and Giovanni Guidi, two Florentine ex-iles who were suffering their banishment in Pisa. There-upon Castruccio seized Benedetto and put him to death,and beheaded many other noble citizens, and drove theirfamilies into exile. It now appeared to Castruccio that bothPisa and Pistoia were thoroughly disaffected; he employedmuch thought and energy upon securing his position there,and this gave the Florentines their opportunity to reorga-nize their army, and to await the coming of Carlo, the sonof the King of Naples. When Carlo arrived they decided tolose no more time, and assembled a great army of more thanthirty thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry–havingcalled to their aid every Guelph there was in Italy. Theyconsulted whether they should attack Pistoia or Pisa first,and decided that it would be better to march on the latter–acourse, owing to the recent conspiracy, more likely to suc-ceed, and of more advantage to them, because they believedthat the surrender of Pistoia would follow the acquisition ofPisa.

In the early part of May 1328, the Florentines put in mo-tion this army and quickly occupied Lastra, Signa, Mon-telupo, and Empoli, passing from thence on to San Miniato.When Castruccio heard of the enormous army which theFlorentines were sending against him, he was in no degreealarmed, believing that the time had now arrived when For-tune would deliver the empire of Tuscany into his hands,for he had no reason to think that his enemy would make a

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better fight, or had better prospects of success, than at Pisaor Serravalle. He assembled twenty thousand foot soldiersand four thousand horsemen, and with this army went toFucecchio, whilst he sent Pagolo Guinigi to Pisa with fivethousand infantry. Fucecchio has a stronger position thanany other town in the Pisan district, owing to its situationbetween the rivers Arno and Gusciana and its slight ele-vation above the surrounding plain. Moreover, the enemycould not hinder its being victualled unless they dividedtheir forces, nor could they approach it either from the di-rection of Lucca or Pisa, nor could they get through to Pisa,or attack Castruccio’s forces except at a disadvantage. Inone case they would find themselves placed between histwo armies, the one under his own command and the otherunder Pagolo, and in the other case they would have tocross the Arno to get to close quarters with the enemy, anundertaking of great hazard. In order to tempt the Floren-tines to take this latter course, Castruccio withdrew his menfrom the banks of the river and placed them under the wallsof Fucecchio, leaving a wide expanse of land between themand the river.

The Florentines, having occupied San Miniato, held acouncil of war to decide whether they should attack Pisa orthe army of Castruccio, and, having weighed the difficul-ties of both courses, they decided upon the latter. The riverArno was at that time low enough to be fordable, yet the wa-ter reached to the shoulders of the infantrymen and to thesaddles of the horsemen. On the morning of 10 June 1328,the Florentines commenced the battle by ordering forwarda number of cavalry and ten thousand infantry. Castruccio,whose plan of action was fixed, and who well knew whatto do, at once attacked the Florentines with five thousandinfantry and three thousand horsemen, not allowing themto issue from the river before he charged them; he also sentone thousand light infantry up the river bank, and the samenumber down the Arno. The infantry of the Florentineswere so much impeded by their arms and the water thatthey were not able to mount the banks of the river, whilstthe cavalry had made the passage of the river more difficult

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for the others, by reason of the few who had crossed hav-ing broken up the bed of the river, and this being deep withmud, many of the horses rolled over with their riders andmany of them had stuck so fast that they could not move.When the Florentine captains saw the difficulties their menwere meeting, they withdrew them and moved higher upthe river, hoping to find the river bed less treacherous andthe banks more adapted for landing. These men were metat the bank by the forces which Castruccio had already sentforward, who, being light armed with bucklers and javelinsin their hands, let fly with tremendous shouts into the facesand bodies of the cavalry. The horses, alarmed by the noiseand the wounds, would not move forward, and trampledeach other in great confusion. The fight between the menof Castruccio and those of the enemy who succeeded incrossing was sharp and terrible; both sides fought with theutmost desperation and neither would yield. The soldiersof Castruccio fought to drive the others back into the river,whilst the Florentines strove to get a footing on land in or-der to make room for the others pressing forward, who ifthey could but get out of the water would be able to fight,and in this obstinate conflict they were urged on by theircaptains. Castruccio shouted to his men that these werethe same enemies whom they had before conquered at Ser-ravalle, whilst the Florentines reproached each other thatthe many should be overcome by the few. At length Cas-truccio, seeing how long the battle had lasted, and that bothhis men and the enemy were utterly exhausted, and thatboth sides had many killed and wounded, pushed forwardanother body of infantry to take up a position at the rearof those who were fighting; he then commanded these lat-ter to open their ranks as if they intended to retreat, andone part of them to turn to the right and another to the left.This cleared a space of which the Florentines at once tookadvantage, and thus gained possession of a portion of thebattlefield. But when these tired soldiers found themselvesat close quarters with Castruccio’s reserves they could notstand against them and at once fell back into the river. Thecavalry of either side had not as yet gained any decisive ad-

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vantage over the other, because Castruccio, knowing his in-feriority in this arm, had commanded his leaders only tostand on the defensive against the attacks of their adver-saries, as he hoped that when he had overcome the infantryhe would be able to make short work of the cavalry. Thisfell out as he had hoped, for when he saw the Florentinearmy driven back across the river he ordered the remainderof his infantry to attack the cavalry of the enemy. This theydid with lance and javelin, and, joined by their own cavalry,fell upon the enemy with the greatest fury and soon puthim to flight. The Florentine captains, having seen the diffi-culty their cavalry had met with in crossing the river, had at-tempted to make their infantry cross lower down the river,in order to attack the flanks of Castruccio’s army. But here,also, the banks were steep and already lined by the men ofCastruccio, and this movement was quite useless. Thus theFlorentines were so completely defeated at all points thatscarcely a third of them escaped, and Castruccio was againcovered with glory. Many captains were taken prisoners,and Carlo, the son of King Ruberto, with Michelagnolo Fal-coni and Taddeo degli Albizzi, the Florentine commission-ers, fled to Empoli. If the spoils were great, the slaughterwas infinitely greater, as might be expected in such a bat-tle. Of the Florentines there fell twenty thousand two hun-dred and thirty-one men, whilst Castruccio lost one thou-sand five hundred and seventy men.

But Fortune growing envious of the glory of Castrucciotook away his life just at the time when she should have pre-served it, and thus ruined all those plans which for so longa time he had worked to carry into effect, and in the suc-cessful prosecution of which nothing but death could havestopped him. Castruccio was in the thick of the battle thewhole of the day; and when the end of it came, although fa-tigued and overheated, he stood at the gate of Fucecchio towelcome his men on their return from victory and person-ally thank them. He was also on the watch for any attemptof the enemy to retrieve the fortunes of the day; he beingof the opinion that it was the duty of a good general to bethe first man in the saddle and the last out of it. Here Cas-

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truccio stood exposed to a wind which often rises at mid-day on the banks of the Arno, and which is often very un-healthy; from this he took a chill, of which he thought noth-ing, as he was accustomed to such troubles; but it was thecause of his death. On the following night he was attackedwith high fever, which increased so rapidly that the doctorssaw it must prove fatal. Castruccio, therefore, called PagoloGuinigi to him, and addressed him as follows:

“If I could have believed that Fortune would have cut meoff in the midst of the career which was leading to that glorywhich all my successes promised, I should have labouredless, and I should have left thee, if a smaller state, at leastwith fewer enemies and perils, because I should have beencontent with the governorships of Lucca and Pisa. I shouldneither have subjugated the Pistoians, nor outraged the Flo-rentines with so many injuries. But I would have made boththese peoples my friends, and I should have lived, if nolonger, at least more peacefully, and have left you a statewithout a doubt smaller, but one more secure and estab-lished on a surer foundation. But Fortune, who insists uponhaving the arbitrament of human affairs, did not endow mewith sufficient judgment to recognize this from the first, northe time to surmount it. Thou hast heard, for many havetold thee, and I have never concealed it, how I entered thehouse of thy father whilst yet a boy–a stranger to all thoseambitions which every generous soul should feel–and howI was brought up by him, and loved as though I had beenborn of his blood; how under his governance I learned to bevaliant and capable of availing myself of all that fortune,of which thou hast been witness. When thy good fathercame to die, he committed thee and all his possessions tomy care, and I have brought thee up with that love, andincreased thy estate with that care, which I was bound toshow. And in order that thou shouldst not only possess theestate which thy father left, but also that which my fortuneand abilities have gained, I have never married, so that thelove of children should never deflect my mind from thatgratitude which I owed to the children of thy father. ThusI leave thee a vast estate, of which I am well content, but I

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am deeply concerned, inasmuch as I leave it thee unsettledand insecure. Thou hast the city of Lucca on thy hands,which will never rest contented under they government.Thou hast also Pisa, where the men are of nature changeableand unreliable, who, although they may be sometimes heldin subjection, yet they will ever disdain to serve under aLucchese. Pistoia is also disloyal to thee, she being eaten upwith factions and deeply incensed against thy family by rea-son of the wrongs recently inflicted upon them. Thou hastfor neighbours the offended Florentines, injured by us in athousand ways, but not utterly destroyed, who will hail thenews of my death with more delight than they would the ac-quisition of all Tuscany. In the Emperor and in the princesof Milan thou canst place no reliance, for they are far dis-tant, slow, and their help is very long in coming. Therefore,thou hast no hope in anything but in thine own abilities,and in the memory of my valour, and in the prestige whichthis latest victory has brought thee; which, as thou know-est how to use it with prudence, will assist thee to come toterms with the Florentines, who, as they are suffering underthis great defeat, should be inclined to listen to thee. Andwhereas I have sought to make them my enemies, becauseI believed that war with them would conduce to my powerand glory, thou hast every inducement to make friends ofthem, because their alliance will bring thee advantages andsecurity. It is of the greatest important in this world thata man should know himself, and the measure of his ownstrength and means; and he who knows that he has not agenius for fighting must learn how to govern by the arts ofpeace. And it will be well for thee to rule they conduct bymy counsel, and to learn in this way to enjoy what my life-work and dangers have gained; and in this thou wilt easilysucceed when thou hast learnt to believe that what I havetold thee is true. And thou wilt be doubly indebted to me,in that I have left thee this realm and have taught thee howto keep it."

After this there came to Castruccio those citizens of Pisa,Pistoia, and Lucca, who had been fighting at his side, andwhilst recommending Pagolo to them, and making them

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swear obedience to him as his successor, he died. He left ahappy memory to those who had known him, and no princeof those times was ever loved with such devotion as he was.His obsequies were celebrated with every sign of mourning,and he was buried in San Francesco at Lucca. Fortune wasnot so friendly to Pagolo Guinigi as she had been to Cas-truccio, for he had not the abilities. Not long after the deathof Castruccio, Pagolo lost Pisa, and then Pistoia, and onlywith difficulty held on to Lucca. This latter city continuedin the family of Guinigi until the time of the great-grandsonof Pagolo.

From what has been related here it will be seen that Cas-truccio was a man of exceptional abilities, not only mea-sured by men of his own time, but also by those of an ear-lier date. In stature he was above the ordinary height, andperfectly proportioned. He was of a gracious presence, andhe welcomed men with such urbanity that those who spokewith him rarely left him displeased. His hair was inclined tobe red, and he wore it cut short above the ears, and, whetherit rained or snowed, he always went without a hat. He wasdelightful among friends, but terrible to his enemies; justto his subjects; ready to play false with the unfaithful, andwilling to overcome by fraud those whom he desired to sub-due, because he was wont to say that it was the victory thatbrought the glory, not the methods of achieving it. No onewas bolder in facing danger, none more prudent in extricat-ing himself. He was accustomed to say that men ought toattempt everything and fear nothing; that God is a lover ofstrong men, because one always sees that the weak are chas-tised by the strong. He was also wonderfully sharp or bit-ing though courteous in his answers; and as he did not lookfor any indulgence in this way of speaking from others, sohe was not angered with others did not show it to him. Ithas often happened that he has listened quietly when oth-ers have spoken sharply to him, as on the following occa-sions. He had caused a ducat to be given for a partridge,and was taken to task for doing so by a friend, to whomCastruccio had said: “You would not have given more thana penny." “That is true," answered the friend. Then said

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Castruccio to him: “A ducat is much less to me." Havingabout him a flatterer on whom he had spat to show that hescorned him, the flatterer said to him: “Fisherman are will-ing to let the waters of the sea saturate them in order thatthey make take a few little fishes, and I allow myself to bewetted by spittle that I may catch a whale"; and this wasnot only heard by Castruccio with patience but rewarded.When told by a priest that it was wicked for him to live sosumptuously, Castruccio said: “If that be a vice than youshould not fare so splendidly at the feasts of our saints."Passing through a street he saw a young man as he cameout of a house of ill fame blush at being seen by Castruc-cio, and said to him: “Thou shouldst not be ashamed whenthou comest out, but when thou goest into such places." Afriend gave him a very curiously tied knot to undo and wastold: “Fool, do you think that I wish to untie a thing whichgave so much trouble to fasten." Castruccio said to one whoprofessed to be a philosopher: “You are like the dogs whoalways run after those who will give them the best to eat,"and was answered: “We are rather like the doctors who goto the houses of those who have the greatest need of them."Going by water from Pisa to Leghorn, Castruccio was muchdisturbed by a dangerous storm that sprang up, and wasreproached for cowardice by one of those with him, whosaid that he did not fear anything. Castruccio answeredthat he did not wonder at that, since every man valued hissoul for what is was worth. Being asked by one what heought to do to gain estimation, he said: “When thou goestto a banquet take care that thou dost not seat one piece ofwood upon another." To a person who was boasting thathe had read many things, Castruccio said: “He knows bet-ter than to boast of remembering many things." Someonebragged that he could drink much without becoming intox-icated. Castruccio replied: “An ox does the same." Castruc-cio was acquainted with a girl with whom he had intimaterelations, and being blamed by a friend who told him thatit was undignified for him to be taken in by a woman, hesaid: “She has not taken me in, I have taken her." Being alsoblamed for eating very dainty foods, he answered: “Thou

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dost not spend as much as I do?" and being told that it wastrue, he continued: “Then thou art more avaricious than Iam gluttonous." Being invited by Taddeo Bernardi, a veryrich and splendid citizen of Luca, to supper, he went to thehouse and was shown by Taddeo into a chamber hung withsilk and paved with fine stones representing flowers andfoliage of the most beautiful colouring. Castruccio gatheredsome saliva in his mouth and spat it out upon Taddeo, andseeing him much disturbed by this, said to him: “I knewnot where to spit in order to offend thee less." Being askedhow Caesar died he said: “God willing I will die as he did."Being one night in the house of one of his gentlemen wheremany ladies were assembled, he was reproved by one of hisfriends for dancing and amusing himself with them morethan was usual in one of his station, so he said: “He whois considered wise by day will not be considered a fool atnight." A person came to demand a favour of Castruccio,and thinking he was not listening to his plea threw himselfon his knees to the ground, and being sharply reproved byCastruccio, said: “Thou art the reason of my acting thus forthou hast thy ears in thy feet," whereupon he obtained dou-ble the favour he had asked. Castruccio used to say thatthe way to hell was an easy one, seeing that it was in adownward direction and you travelled blindfolded. Beingasked a favour by one who used many superfluous words,he said to him: “When you have another request to make,send someone else to make it." Having been wearied by asimilar man with a long oration who wound up by saying:“Perhaps I have fatigued you by speaking so long," Cas-truccio said: “You have not, because I have not listened toa word you said." He used to say of one who had been abeautiful child and who afterwards became a fine man, thathe was dangerous, because he first took the husbands fromthe wives and now he took the wives from their husbands.To an envious man who laughed, he said: “Do you laughbecause you are successful or because another is unfortu-nate?" Whilst he was still in the charge of Messer FrancescoGuinigi, one of his companions said to him: “What shall Igive you if you will let me give you a blow on the nose?"

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Castruccio answered: “A helmet." Having put to death acitizen of Lucca who had been instrumental in raising himto power, and being told that he had done wrong to kill oneof his old friends, he answered that people deceived them-selves; he had only killed a new enemy. Castruccio praisedgreatly those men who intended to take a wife and then didnot do so, saying that they were like men who said theywould go to sea, and then refused when the time came. Hesaid that it always struck him with surprise that whilst menin buying an earthen or glass vase would sound it first tolearn if it were good, yet in choosing a wife they were con-tent with only looking at her. He was once asked in whatmanner he would wish to be buried when he died, andanswered: “With the face turned downwards, for I knowwhen I am gone this country will be turned upside down."On being asked if it had ever occurred to him to becomea friar in order to save his soul, he answered that it hadnot, because it appeared strange to him that Fra Lazeroneshould go to Paradise and Uguccione della Faggiuola to theInferno. He was once asked when should a man eat to pre-serve his health, and replied: “If the man be rich let him eatwhen he is hungry; if he be poor, then when he can." Seeingon of his gentlemen make a member of his family lace himup, he said to him: “I pray God that you will let him feedyou also." Seeing that someone had written upon his housein Latin the words: “May God preserve this house from thewicked," he said, “The owner must never go in." Passingthrough one of the streets he saw a small house with a verylarge door, and remarked: “That house will fly through thedoor." He was having a discussion with the ambassador ofthe King of Naples concerning the property of some ban-ished nobles, when a dispute arose between them, and theambassador asked him if he had no fear of the king. “Is thisking of yours a bad man or a good one?" asked Castruccio,and was told that he was a good one, whereupon he said,“Why should you suggest that I should be afraid of a goodman?"

I could recount many other stories of his sayings bothwitty and weighty, but I think that the above will be suf-

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ficient testimony to his high qualities. He lived forty-fouryears, and was in every way a prince. And as he was sur-rounded by many evidences of his good fortune, so he alsodesired to have near him some memorials of his bad for-tune; therefore the manacles with which he was chained inprison are to be seen to this day fixed up in the tower ofhis residence, where they were placed by him to testify forever to his days of adversity. As in his life he was inferiorneither to Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander, norto Scipio of Rome, so he died in the same year of his ageas they did, and he would doubtless have excelled both ofthem had Fortune decreed that he should be born, not inLucca, but in Macedonia or Rome.

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