 Front Matter of the Prince. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings from the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Paul Adams. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. Translated by William K. Marriott. Introduction. Niccolò Machiavelli was born at Florence on 3rd of May 1469. He was the second son of Bernardo di Niccolò Machiavelli, a lawyer of some repute, and of Bartolomia di Stefano Nelly, his wife. Both parents were members of the old Florentine nobility. His life falls naturally into three periods, each of which, singularly enough, constitutes a distinct and important era in the history of Florence. His youth was concurrent with the greatness of Florence as an Italian power under the guidance of Lorenzo de Medici, Il Magnifico. The downfall of the Medici in Florence occurred in 1494, in which year Machiavelli entered the public service. During his official career, Florence was free under the government of a republic, which lasted until 1512, when the Medici returned to power, and Machiavelli lost his office. The Medici again ruled Florence from 1512 until 1527, when they were once more driven out. This was the period of Machiavelli's literary activity and increasing influence, and he died within a few weeks of the expulsion of the Medici on 22nd June 1527 in his 58th year without having regained office. Heading, youth, ages 1 to 25, 1469 to 94. Although there is little recorded of the youth of Machiavelli, the Florence of those days is so well known that the early environment of this representative citizen may be easily imagined. Florence has been described as a city with two opposite currents of life, one directed by the fervent and austere Savanarola, the other by the splendor-loving Lorenzo. Savanarola's influence upon the young Machiavelli must have been slight, for although at one time he wielded immense power over the fortunes of Florence, he only furnished Machiavelli with a subject of a jive in the prince where he is cited as an example of an unarmed prophet who came to a bad end. Whereas the magnificence of the Medician rule during the life of Lorenzo appeared to have impressed Machiavelli strongly, for he frequently recursed to it in his writings, and it is to Lorenzo's grandson that he dedicates the prince. Machiavelli, in his history of Florence, gives us a picture of the young men among whom his youth was passed. He writes, They were freer than their forefathers in dress and living, and spent more in other kinds of excesses consuming their time and money in idleness, gaming, and women. Their chief aim was to appear well-dressed and to speak with wit and acuteness, whilst he who could wound others the most cleverly was thought the wisest. In a letter to his son Guido, Machiavelli shows why youth should avail itself as its opportunities for study, and leads us to infer that his own youth had been so occupied. He writes, I have received your letter, which has given me the greatest pleasure, especially because you tell me you are quite restored in health, than which I could have no better news. For, if God grant life to you, and to me, I hope to make a good man of you if you are willing to do your share. Then, writing of a new patron, he continues, This will turn out well for you, but it is necessary for you to study. Since then, you have no longer the excuse of illness. Take pains to study letters and music, for you see what honour is done to me for the little skill I have. Therefore my son, if you wish to please me, and to bring success and honour to yourself, do write and study, because others will help you if you help yourself. Heading, Office ages 25 to 43, 1494 to 1512. The second period of Machiavelli's life was spent in the service of the Free Republic of Florence, which flourished as stated above from the expulsion of the Medici in 1494 until their return in 1512. After serving four years in one of the public offices, he was appointed Chancellor and Secretary to the Second Chancery, the Ten of Liberty and Peace. Here we are on firm ground when dealing with the events of Machiavelli's life, for during this time he took a leading part in the affairs of the Republic, and we have its decrees, records and dispatches to guide us, as well as his own writings, and the recapitulation of a few of his transactions with the statesmen and soldiers of his time gives a fair indication of his activities and supplies the sources from which he drew the experiences and characters which illustrate the Prince. His first mission was in 1499, Catherine of Sforza, My Lady of Fawley of the Prince, from whose conduct and fate he drew the moral that it is far better to earn the confidence of the people than to rely on fortresses. He was a very noticeable principal in Machiavelli and is urged by him in many ways as a matter of vital importance to princes. In 1500 he was sent to France to obtain terms from Louis XII for continuing the war against Pisa. This king it was, who, in his conduct of affairs in Italy, committed the five capital errors in statecraft, summarised in the Prince and was consequently driven out. He also it was who made the dissolution of his marriage and the decision of support to Pope Alexander VI, which leaves Machiavelli to refer those who urged that such promises should be kept to what he has written concerning the faith of princes. Machiavelli's public life was largely occupied with events arising out of the ambitions of Pope Alexander VI and his son, Cesare Borgia, the Duke Valentino, and these characters filled a large space of the Prince. Machiavelli never hesitates to cite the actions of the Duke in the fit of usurpers who wish to keep the states they have seized. He can, indeed, find no precepts to offer so good as the pattern of Cesare Borgia's conduct in so much that Cesare is acclaimed by some critics as the hero of the Prince. Yet, in the Prince, the Duke is in point of fact cited as the type of the man who rises on the fortune of others and falls with them, who takes every course that might be expected from a prudent man, but the course which will save him, who is prepared 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 and unforeseen fatality. On the death of Pius III in 1503 Machiavelli was sent to Rome to watch the election of his successor, and there he saw Cesare Borgia cheat it into allowing the choice of the college to fall on Giuliano Dele Rivera, Julius II, who was one of the cardinals that had most reason to fear the Duke. Machiavelli, when commenting on this election, says that he who thinks new favours will cause great personages to forget old injuries deceives himself. Julius did not rest until he had ruined Cesare. It was to Julius II that Machiavelli was sent in 1506 when that pontiff was commencing his enterprise against Bologna, which he brought to a successful issue as he did many of his other adventures, owing chiefly to his impetuous character. He is in reference to Pope Julius that Machiavelli moralises on the resemblance between fortune and women and concludes that it is the bold rather than the cautious man that will win and hold them both. It is impossible to follow here the varying fortunes of the Italian states which in 1507 were controlled by France, Spain and Germany with results that have lasted to our day. We are concerned with those events and with the three great actors in them so far only as they impinge on the personality of Machiavelli. He had several meetings with Louis XII of France and his estimate of that monarch's character has already been alluded to. Machiavelli has painted Ferdinand of Aragon as the man who accomplished great things under the cloak of religion but who in reality had no mercy, faith, humanity or integrity and who had he allowed himself to be influenced by such motives would have been ruined. The Emperor Maximilian was one of the most interesting men of the age and his character has been drawn by many hands but Machiavelli who was an envoy at his court in 1507-8 reveals the secret of his many failures when he describes him as a secretive man without force of character ignoring the human agency necessary to carry his schemes into effect and never insisting on the fulfilment of his wishes. The remaining years of Machiavelli's official career and the events arising out of the League of Cambray made in 1508 between the three great European powers already mentioned and the Pope with the object of crushing the Venetian Republic. This result was attained in the Battle of Vila when Venice lost in one day or that she had won in 800 years. Florence had a difficult part to play during these events complicated as they were by the feud which broke out between the Pope and the French had dictated the entire policy of the Republic. When in 1511 Julius II finally formed the Holy League against France and with the assistance of the Swiss drove the French out of Italy Florence lay at the mercy of the Pope and had to submit to his terms one of which was that the Medici should be restored. The return of the Medici to Florence on 1st September 1512 and the consequent fall of the Republic was the signal for the dismissal of Machiavelli and his friends and thus put an end to his public career for as we have seen he died without regaining office. Heading literature and to death age 43 to 58, 1512 to 27. On the return of the Medici Machiavelli who for a few weeks had vainly hoped to retain his office under the new masters of Florence was dismissed by decreed dated 7th November 1512. Shortly after this he was accused of complicity in an abortive conspiracy against the Medici imprisoned and put to the question by torture. The new Medici and Pope, Leo X, procured his release and he retired to his small property at San Castigliano near Florence where he devoted himself to literature. In a letter to Francesco Vittori dated 13th December 1513 he has left a very interesting description of his life during this period which elucidates his methods and his motives in writing The Prince. After describing his daily occupations with his family and neighbours he writes, The evening being come I return home and go to my study. At the entrance I pull off my peasant clothes covered with dust and dirt and put on my noble court dress and thus becomingly reclothed I pass into the ancient courts of the men of old where, being lovingly received by them I am fed with that food which is mine alone where I do not hesitate to speak with them and to ask for the reason of their actions and they in their benignity answer me and for four hours I feel no weariness I forget every trouble, poverty does not dismay death does not terrify me I am possessed entirely by those great men and because Dante says knowledge doth come of learning well retained unfruitful else I hide down what I have gained from their conversation and have composed a small work on principalities where I pour myself out as fully as I can in meditation on the subject discussing what a principality is what kinds there are, how they can be acquired how they can be kept, why they are lost and if any of my fans is ever pleased you this ought not to displease you and to a prince, especially to a new one it should be welcome or I dedicate it to his magnificence Giuliano Filippo Cassavecchio has seen it he will be able to tell you what is in it and of the discourses I have had with him nevertheless I am still enriching and polishing it the little book suffered many of the cissitudes before attaining the form in which it has reached us various mental influences were at work during its composition its title and patron were changed and for some unknown reason it was finally dedicated to Lorenzo Domedici although Machiavelli discussed with Cassavecchio whether it should be sent or presented in person to the patron there is no evidence that Lorenzo ever received it or even read it he certainly never gave Machiavelli any employment although it was plagiarized during Machiavelli's lifetime the prince was never published by him and its text is still disputable Machiavelli concludes his letter to Vittorri thus and as to this little thing, his book when it has been read it will be seen that during the 15 years I have given to the study of statecraft I have neither slept nor idled and men ought ever to desire to be served by one who has reaped experience at the expense of others and of my loyalty none could doubt because having always kept faith I could not now learn how to break it for he who has been faithful and honest as I have cannot change his nature and my poverty is a witness to my honesty before Machiavelli had got the prince off his hands he commenced his discourse on the first decade of Titus Livius which should be read concurrently with the prince these and several minor works occupied him until the year 1518 when he accepted a small commission to look after the affairs of some Florentine merchants at Genoa in 1519 the Medici and rulers of Florence granted a few political concessions to her citizens and Machiavelli with others was consulted upon a new constitution under which the great council was to be restored but on one pretext or another it was not promulgated in 1520 the Florentine merchants again had recourse to Machiavelli to settle their difficulties with Luca but this year was chiefly remarkable for his re-entry into Florentine literary society where he was much sought after and also for the production of his art of war in the same year that he received a commission at the instance of Cardinal de Medici to write the history of Florence a task which occupied him until 1525 his return to popular favour may have determined the Medici to give him this employment for an old writer observes that an able statesman out of work like a huge whale will endeavour to overturn the ship unless he has an empty casque to play with when the history of Florence was finished Machiavelli took it to Rome for presentation to his patron Giuliano de Medici who had in the meanwhile become Pope under the title of Clement VII it is somewhat remarkable that as in 1513 Machiavelli had written the prince for the instruction of the Medici after they had just regained power in Florence so in 1525 he dedicated the history of Florence to the head of the family when its ruin was now at hand that year the battle of Pavia destroyed the French rule in Italy and left France as the first, a prisoner in the hands of his great rival Charles V this was followed by the sack of Rome upon the news of which the popular party at Florence threw off the yoke of the Medici who were once more banished Machiavelli was absent from Florence at this time but hastened his return hoping to secure his former office of secretary to the Ten of Liberty and Peace unhappily he was taken ill soon after he reached Florence where he died on 22nd June 1527 heading the man and his works no one can say where the bones of Machiavelli rest but modern Florence has decreed him a stately cenotaph in Santa Croce by the side of her most famous sons recognising that whatever other nations may have found in his works Italy founded them the idea of her unity and the germs of her renaissance among the nations of Europe whilst it is idle to protest against the world-wide and evil signification of his name it may be pointed out that the harsh construction of his doctrine which this sinister reputation implies was unknown to his own day and that the researchers of recent times have enabled us to interpret him more reasonably it is due to these inquiries that the shape of an unholy necromancer so long haunted men's vision has begun to fade Machiavelli was undoubtedly a man of great observation acuteness and industry noting with appreciative eye whatever passed before him and with his supreme literary gift turning it to account in his enforced retirement from affairs he does not present himself nor is he depicted by his contemporaries as a type of that rare combination the successful statesman and author though he appears to have been only moderately prosperous in his several embassies and political employments he was misled by Catharina's forza ignored by Louis XII overawed by Cesare Borgia several of his embassies were quite barren of results his attempts to fortify Florence failed and the soldiering that he raised astonished everybody by their cowardice in the conduct of his own affairs he was timid and time-serving he dared not appear by the side of Sodorini to whom he owed so much for fear of compromising himself his connection with Medici was open to suspicion and Giuliano appears to have recognized his real forte when he set him to write the history of Florence rather than employ him in the state and it is on the literary side of his character and there alone that we find no weakness and no failure although the light of almost four centuries has been focused on the prince its problems are still debatable and interesting because they are the eternal problems between the ruled and their rulers such as they are its ethics are those of Machiavelli's contemporaries yet they cannot be said to be out of date so long as the governments of Europe rely on material rather than on moral forces its historical incidents and personages become interesting by reason of the uses which Machiavelli makes of them to illustrate his theories of government and conduct leaving out of consideration those maxims of state which still furnish some European and eastern statesmen with principles of action the prince is bestrewed with truths that can be proved at every turn men are still the dupes of their simplicity and greed as they were in the days of Alexander VI the cloak of religion still conceals the vices which Machiavelli laid bare in the character of Ferdinand of Aragon they will not look at things as they really are but as they wish them to be and are ruined in politics there are no perfectly safe courses prudence consists in choosing the least dangerous ones then to pass to a higher plane Machiavelli reiterates that although crimes may win an empire they do not win glory necessary wars are just wars and the arms of a nation hallowed when it has no other resource but to fight it is the cry of a far later day than Machiavelli's that government should be elevated into a living moral force capable of inspiring the people with a just recognition of the fundamental principles of society to this high argument the prince contributes but little Machiavelli always refused to write either of men or of governments otherwise than as he found them and he writes with such skill and insight that his work is of abiding value but what invests the prince with more than a merely artistic or historical interest is the incontrovertible truth that it deals with the great principles which still guide nations and rulers in their relationship with each other and their neighbours in translating the prince my aim has been to achieve at all costs an exact little rendering of the original rather than a fluent paraphrase adapted to the modern notions of style and expression but Machiavelli was no facile phrase monger the conditions under which he wrote obliged him to weigh every word, his themes were lofty, his substance grave his manner nobly plain and serious Quiseo fu it un quamin party on just rabels in defiendis in explandis pressior in the prince it may be truly said there is reason assignable not only for every word but for the position of every word to an Englishman of Shakespeare's time the translation of such a treatise was in some ways a comparatively easy task for in those times the genius of the English more nearly resembled that of the Italian language to the Englishman of today it is not so simple to take a simple example the word intratanere employed by Machiavelli to indicate the policy adopted by the Roman senate towards the weaker states of Greece would by an illizabethan be correctly rendered entertain and every contemporary reader would understand what was meant by saying that Rome entertained the itoleans and the Achaeans without augmenting their power but today such a phrase would seem obsolete and ambiguous if not unmeaning we are compelled to say that Rome maintained friendly relations with the itoleans etc. using four words to do the work of one I've tried to preserve the pithy brevity of the Italian so far as was consistent with an absolute fidelity to the sense if the result be an occasional asperity I can only hope that the reader in his eagerness to reach the author's meaning may overlook the roughness of the road that leads him to it the following is a list of the works of Machiavelli principle works discorso soprale cosi di pizza 1499 del modo di trattare i popoli della valdichiana ribalate 1502 del modo tenuto del ducco valentino nella massare vitalozzo vitteli oliverotto da fermo etc. 1502 discorso sopra la provisione del denaro 1502 del senale primo poem in terza rima 1506 ritrati della cosi dell'allemagna 1508-12 del senale secondo 1509 ritrati della cosi di Francia 15010 discorso sopra la prima decca di T. Livio 3 volumes 1512-17 il principale 1513 Andrea, comedy translated from Terence 1513, question mark Mandra Gola, prose comedy in five acts with prologue in verse 1513 della lingua dialog 1514 Clitzia, comedy in prose 1515 question mark Belfagor Architievolo, novel 1515 Assino d'Oro, poem in terza rima 1517 dell'arte della guerra 1519-20 discorso sopra il riformare lo stato di Firenze 1520, somario della cosi della cita di Luca 1520, vita di castruccio castrocani da Luca 1520 storia fiorantina, eight books 1521-5 framenti storici 1525 Other poems include Sonetti, Cansoni Ottave and Canticana Schielezchi editions Aldo, Venice 1546 della tertina 1550 Cambiaggi, Florence, six volumes 1782-5, Dei classici Milan 10-1813, Silvestri nine volumes 1820-2 Pasarini, Fanfani, Milanese six volumes only published 1873-7 Minor works, edited F. L. Polidori 1852, Letere Familiari edited E. Alvici 1883 two editions, one with excisions credited Writings, edited G. Canastrini 1857, Letters to F. Vittori C. A. Rodolfi, pensieri intorno alloscopo di En Machiavelli nel Libro il Principi etc. The Private Correspondence of Niccolò Machiavelli 1929 Dedication to the magnificent Lorenzo di Piero de Medici those who strive to obtain the good graces of a prince are accustomed to come before him with such things as they hold most precious or in which they see him take most delight whence one often sees horses, arms, cloth of gold, precious stones and similar ornaments presented to princes worthy of their greatness Desiring therefore to present myself to your magnificence with some testimony of my devotion towards you I have not found among my possessions anything which I hold more dear than or value so much as the knowledge of the actions of great men acquired by long experience in contemporary affairs and a continual study of antiquity which having reflected upon it with great and prolonged diligence I now send, digested into a little volume to your magnificence and although I may consider this work unworthy of your countenance nevertheless I trust much to your benignity that it may be acceptable seeing that it is not possible for me to make a better gift than to offer you the opportunity of understanding in the shortest time all that I have learnt in so many years and with so many troubles and dangers which work I have not embellished with swelling or magnificent words nor stuffed with rounded periods nor with any extrinsic allurements or adornments whatever with which so many are accustomed to embellish their works for I have wished either that no honour should be given it or else that the truth of the matter and the weightiness of the theme shall make it acceptable nor do I hold with those who regard it as a presumption if a man of low and humble condition dare to discuss and settle the concerns of princes because just as those who draw landscapes place themselves below in the plain to contemplate the nature of the mountains and of lofty places and in order to contemplate the plains place themselves upon high mountains even so to understand the nature of the people it needs to be a prince and to understand that of princes it needs to be of the people take then your magnificence this little gift in the spirit in which I send it wherein if it be diligently read and considered by you and my extreme desire that you should attain that greatness which fortune and your other attributes promise and if your magnificence from the summit of your greatness will sometimes turn your eyes to these lower regions you will see how unmeritedly I suffer a great and continued malignity of fortune this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams Chapter 1 how many kinds of principalices there are and by what means they are acquired all states, all powers that have held and hold rule over men have been and are either republics or principalices principalices are either hereditary in which the family has been long established or they are new the new are either entirely new as was Milan to Francesco Sforza or they are as it were members annexed to 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 to live under a prince or to live in freedom and are acquired either by the arms of the prince himself or of others or else by fortune or by ability Chapter 2 concerning hereditary principalices I will leave out all discussion on republics as much as in another place I have written of them at length and will address myself only to principalities in doing so I will keep to the order indicated above and discuss how such principalities are to be ruled and preserved I say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding hereditary states and those longer accustomed to the family of their prince than new ones for it is sufficient only not to transgress the customs of his ancestors and to deal prudently with circumstances as they arise for a prince of average powers to maintain himself in his state unless he be deprived of it by some extraordinary and excessive force and if he should be so deprived of it whenever anything sinister happens to the usurper he will regain it we have in Italy for example the Duke of Ferrara who could not have withstood the attacks of the Venetians in 84 nor those of Pope Julius in 10 unless he had been long established in his dominions for the hereditary prince has less cause and less necessity to offend hence it happens that he will be more loved and unless extraordinary vices cause him to be hated it is reasonable to expect that his subjects will be naturally well disposed towards him and in the antiquity and duration of his rule the memories and motives that make for change are lost for one change always leaves the two thing for another Chapter 3 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 a state which taken collectively may be called composite the changes arise chiefly from an inherent difficulty which there is in all new principalities for men change their rule as willingly hoping to better themselves and this hope induces them to take up arms against him who rules wherein they are deceived because they afterwards find by experience they have gone from bad to worse this follows also on another natural and common necessity which always causes a new prince to burden those who have submitted to him with his soldiery and with infinite other hardships which he must put upon his new acquisition in this way you have enemies in all those whom you have injured in seizing that principality and you're not able to keep those friends who put you there because of your not being able to satisfy them in the way they expected and you cannot take strong measures against them feeling bounds to them for although one may be very strong in armed forces yet in entering a province one has always need of the goodwill of the natives for these reasons Louis XII King of France quickly occupied Milan and as quickly lost it and to turn him out the first time it only needed Lotovico's own forces because those who had opened the gates to him finding themselves deceived in their hopes of future benefit would not endure the ill treatment of the new prince it is very true 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 rebellion to punish the delinquents to clear out the suspects and to strengthen himself in the weakest places thus to cause France to lose Milan the first time it was enough for the Duke Lotovico footnote Duke Lotovico was Lotovico Moro a son of Francesco Sforza who married Beatrice Dester he ruled over Milan from 1494 to 1500 and died in 1510 thus to cause France to lose Milan the first time it was enough for the Duke Lotovico to raise insurrections on the borders but to cause him to lose it a second time it was necessary to bring the whole world against him and that his armies should be defeated and driven out of Italy which followed from the causes above mentioned nevertheless Milan was taken from France both the first and the second time the general reasons for the first have been discussed it remains to name those for the second and to see what resources he had and what anyone in his situation would have had for maintaining himself more securely in 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 are either of the same country and language or they are not it is easier to hold them especially when they have not been accustomed to self-government and to hold them securely it is enough to have destroyed the family of the prince who was ruling them because the two peoples preserving in other things the old conditions are not being unlike in customs will live quietly together as one has 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 nevertheless the customs are alike and the people will easily be able to get on amongst themselves he who has annexed them if he wishes to hold them has only to bear in mind two considerations the one that the family of their former lord is extinguished the other that neither their laws nor their taxes are altered so that in a very short time they will become entirely one body with the old principality but when states are acquired in the country differing in language, customs or laws there are difficulties and good fortune and great energy are needed to hold them and one of the greatest and most real helps would be that he who has acquired them should go and reside there this would make his position more secure and durable as it has made that of the Turk in Greece who, notwithstanding all the other measures taken by him for holding that state if he had not settled 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 the state and then one can no longer remedy them besides this the country is not pillaged by your officials the subjects are satisfied by prompt recourse to the prince thus wishing to be good they have more cause to love him and wishing to be otherwise to fear him he who would attack that state from the outside must have the utmost caution as long as the prince resides there it can only be rested from him with the greatest difficulty the other and better course is to send colonies to one or two places which may be as keys to that state for it is necessary either to do this or else to keep there a great number of cavalry and infantry a prince does not spend much on colonies for with little or no expense he can send them out and keep them there and he offends a minority only of the citizens from whom he takes lands and houses to give them to the new inhabitants and those whom he offends remaining poor and scattered and never able to injure him whilst the rest being uninjured they are kept quiet and at the same time are anxious not to err for fear it should happen to them as it has to those who have been despoiled in conclusion I say that these colonies are not costly they are more faithful they injure less and the injured as has been said being poor and scattered cannot hurt upon this one has to remark that men ought either to be well treated or crushed because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries of more serious ones they cannot the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge but in maintaining armed men there in place of colonies one spends much more having to consume on the garrison all the income from the state so that the acquisition turns into a loss and many more are exasperated because the whole state is injured through the shifting of the garrison up and down all become acquainted with hardship and all become hostile and their enemies who whilst beaten on their 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 the above respects ought to make himself the head and defender of his less powerful neighbours and to weaken the more powerful amongst them taking care that no foreigner as powerful as himself shall by any accident get a footing there for it will always happen that such a one is used by those who are discontented either through excess of ambition or through fear as one has seen already the Romans were brought into Greece by the Itolians and in every other country where they obtained a footing they were brought in by the inhabitants and the usual course of affairs is that as soon as a powerful foreigner enters a country all the subject states are drawn to him moved by the hatred which they feel against the ruling power so that in respect to those subject states not to take any trouble to gain them over to himself for the whole of them quickly rallied to the state which he has acquired there he has only to take care that they do not get hold of too much power and too much authority and then with his own forces and with their good will he can easily keep down the more powerful of them so as to remain entirely master in the country and he who does not properly manage this business will soon lose what he has acquired and whilst he does hold it he will have endless difficulties and troubles the Romans in the countries which they annexed observed closely these measures they sent colonies and maintained friendly relations with the minor powers footnotes see remark in the introduction on the word intratenere without increasing their strength they kept down the greater and did not allow any strong foreign powers to gain authority Greece appears to be sufficient for an example the Archaeans and Itolians were kept friendly by them the kingdom of Macedonia was humbled Antiochus was driven out yet the merits of the Archaeans and Itolians never secured for them permission to increase their power nor did the persuasions of Philip ever induce the Romans to be his friends without first humbling him nor did the influence of Antiochus make them agree that he should retain any lordship over the country because the Romans did in these instances what all prudent princes ought to do who have to regard not only present troubles but also future ones for which they must prepare with every energy because when foreseen it is easy to remedy them but if you wait until they approach the medicine is no longer in time because the malady has become incurable for it happens in this as the physicians say it happens in hectic fever that in the beginning of the malady it is easy to cure but difficult to detect but in the course of time not having been either detected or treated in the beginning it becomes easy to detect but difficult to cure this it happens in affairs of state for when the evils that arise have been foreseen which it is only given to a wise man to see they can be quickly redressed but when through not having been foreseen they have been permitted to grow in a way that everyone can see them there is no longer a remedy therefore the Romans foreseeing troubles dealt with them at once and even to avoid a war would not let them come to a head for they knew that war is not to be avoided but is only to be put off to the advantage of others moreover they wish to fight with Philip and Antiochus in Greece so as not to have to do it in Italy they could have avoided both but this they did not wish nor did that ever please them which is forever in the mouths of the wise ones about time let us enjoy the benefits of the time but rather the benefits of their own valour and prudence the time drives everything before it and is able to bring with it good as well as evil and evil as well as good but let us turn to France and inquire whether she has done any of the things mentioned I will speak of Louis footnote Louis XII King of France the father of the people born 1462 died 1515 and not of Charles footnote Charles VIII King of France born 1470 died 1498 I will speak of Louis and not of Charles as the one whose conduct is the better to be observed he having held possession of Italy for the longest period and you will see that he has done the opposite to those things which ought to be done to retain a state composed of diverse elements King Louis was brought into Italy by the ambition of the Venetians who desired to obtain half the state of Lombardy by his intervention I will not blame the course taken by the king because wishing to get a foothold in Italy and having no friends there seeing rather that every door was shut to him owing to the conduct of Charles he was forced to accept those friendships which he could get and he would have succeeded very quickly in his design if in other matters he had not made some mistakes the king however having acquired Lombardy regained at once the authority which Charles had lost Genoa yielded the Florentines became his friends the Marquis of Mantua the Duke of Ferrara the Bentivoli the Lords of Forenza of Pissaro of Rimini of Camarino of Piumbino the Lucezi the Pizans the Sienes everybody made advances to him to become his friend then could the Venetians realize that they might secure two towns in Lombardy had made the king master of two thirds of Italy let anyone now consider with what little difficulty the king could have maintained his position in Italy had he observed the walls above laid down and kept all his friends secure and protected for although they were numerous they were both weak and timid some afraid of the church some of the Venetians and thus they would always have been forced to stand in with him and by their means he could easily have made himself secure of those who remained powerful but he was no sooner in Milan than he did the contrary by assisting Pope Alexander to occupy the Romagna it never occurred to him that by this action he was weakening himself depriving himself of friends and of those who had thrown themselves into his lap whilst he had grandied the church by adding much temporal power to the spiritual thus giving it greater authority and having committed 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 was himself forced to come into Italy and as if it were not enough to have a grand eyes to the church and deprived himself of friends he, wishing to have the kingdom of Naples divides it with the king of Spain and where he was the prime arbiter in Italy he takes an associate so that the ambitious of that country and the malcontents of his own should have somewhere to shelter left in the kingdom his own pensioner as king he drove him out to put one there who is able 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 will be praised not blamed but when they cannot do so yet wish to do so by any means then there is folly and blame therefore if France could have attacked Naples with her own forces she ought to have done so and divided it and if the partition which she made with the Venetians in Lombardy was justified by the excuse that by it she got a foothold in Italy this other partition merited blame for it had not the excuse of that necessity therefore Louis made these five errors he destroyed the minor powers he increased the strength of one of the greater powers in Italy he brought in a foreign power he did not settle in the country he did not send coloners were not enough to injure him had he not made a sixth by taking away their dominions from the Venetians because had he not aggrandized the church nor brought Spain into Italy it would have been very reasonable and necessary to humble them but having first taken these steps he ought never to have consented to their ruin for they, being powerful would always have kept off others from designs on Lombardy to which the Venetians would never have consented except to become masters themselves there also because the others would not wish to take Lombardy from France in order to give it to the Venetians and to run counter to both they would not have had the courage and if anyone should say King Louis yielded the Romagna to Alexander and the kingdom to Spain to avoid war I answer for the reasons given above that a blunder ought never to be perpetrated to avoid war because it is not to be avoided but is only deferred to your disadvantage and if another should allege the pledge which the king had given to the Pope that he would assist him in the enterprise and exchange the dissolution of his marriage and for the cap to Rouen to that I reply what I shall write later on concerning the faith of princes and how it ought to be kept Footnote, Louis XII divorced his wife Jean, daughter of Louis XI and married in 1499 and of Brittany widow of Charles VIII in order to retain the Duchy of Brittany for the crown Footnote, the Archbishop of Rouen was created a cardinal by Alexander VI born 1460 died 1510 Thus King Louis lost Lombardy by not having followed any of the conditions observed by those who have taken possession of countries and wished to retain them nor is there any miracle in this but much that is reasonable and quite natural and on these matters I spoke at Nantes with Rouen when Valentino as Césaire Borgia the son of Pope Alexander was usually called occupied the Romagna and on cardinal Rouen observing to me that the Italians did not understand war I replied to him that the French did not understand statecraft meaning that otherwise they would not have allowed the church to reach such greatness and in fact as has been seen that greatness of the church and of Spain in Italy has been caused by France and her Rouen may be attributed to them from this a general rule is drawn which never or rarely fails that he who is the cause of another becoming powerful is ruined because that predominancy has been brought about either by astuteness or else by force and both are distrusted by him who has been raised to power End of Chapter 3 Recording by Paul Adams www.jaungei.com Chapters 4 to 6 of The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli This Librivox recording is in the public domain Recording by Paul Adams Chapter 4 The Kingdom of Darius, conquered by Alexander did not rebel against the successors of Alexander at his death Considering the difficulties which men have had to hold to a newly acquired state some might wonder how seeing that Alexander the Great became the master of Asia in a few years and died whilst it was scarcely settled whence it might appear reasonable that the whole empire would have rebelled nevertheless his successors maintained themselves and had to meet no other difficulty than that which arose among themselves from their own ambitions I answer that the principalities of which one has record are found to be governed in two different ways either by a prince with a body of servants who assist him to govern the kingdom as ministers by his favour and permission or by a prince and barons who hold that dignity by antiquity of blood and not by the grace of the prince such barons have states and their own subjects who recognise them as lords and hold them in natural affection those states that are governed by a prince and his servants hold their prince in more consideration because in all the country there is no one who is recognised as superior to him and if they yield 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 are the Turk and the king of France the entire monarchy of the Turk is governed by one lord the others are his servants and dividing his kingdom into sandjacks he sends their different administrators and shifts and changes them as he chooses but the king of France is placed in the midst of an ancient body of lords acknowledged by their own subjects and beloved by them they have their own prerogatives nor can the king take these away except at his peril therefore he who considers both of these states will recognise great difficulties in seating the state of the Turk but once it is conquered they are inholding it the causes of the difficulties in seating the kingdom of the Turk are that the usurper cannot be called in by the princes of the kingdom nor can he hope to be assisted in his designs by the revolt of those whom the lord has around him this arises from the reasons given above for his ministers being all slaves and bond men can only be corrupted with great difficulty and one can expect little advantage from them when they have been corrupted by the reasons assigned hence he who attacks the Turk must bear in mind that he will find him united and he will have to rely more on his own strength than on the revolt of others but if once the Turk has been conquered and routed in the field in such a way that he cannot replace his armies 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 conqueror did not rely on them so he ought not to fear them after it the contrary happens in kingdoms governed like that of France because one can easily enter there by gaining over some baron of the kingdom for one always finds mal-contents and such as desire a change such men for the reasons given can open the way into the state and render the victory easy but if you wish to hold it afterwards you meet with infinite difficulties both from those who have assisted you and from those you have crushed both for you to have exterminated the family of the prince because the lords that remain make themselves the heads of fresh movements against you and as you are unable either to satisfy or exterminate them that state is lost whenever time brings the opportunity now if you will consider what was the nature of the government of Darius you will find it similar to the kingdom of the Turk and therefore it was only necessary for Alexander first to overthrow him in the field and then to take the country from him after which victory Darius being killed the state remained secure to Alexander for the above reasons and if his successors had been united they would have enjoyed it securely and at their ease for there were no tumults raised in the kingdom except those they provoked themselves but it is impossible to hold with such tranquility states constitute it like that of France hence arose those frequent rebellions 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 the Romans always held an insecure possession but with the power and long continuance of the empire the memory of them passed away and the Romans then became secure possessors and when fighting afterwards amongst themselves each one was able to attach to himself his own parts of the country according to the authority he had assumed there 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 at the ease with which Alexander held the empire of Asia or at the difficulties which others have had to keep in acquisition such as Pyrrhus and many more this is not occasioned by the little or abundance of ability in the conqueror but by the want of uniformity in the subject state Chapter 5 concerning the way to govern cities or principalities which lived under their own laws before they were annexed whenever those states which have been acquired are stated have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom there are three courses for those who wish to hold them the first is to ruin them the next is to reside there in person the third is to permit them to live under their own laws drawing a tribute and establishing within it an oligarchy which will keep it friendly to you because such a government being created by the prince knows that it cannot stand without his friendship and interest and does its utmost to support him and therefore he who would keep a city accustomed to freedom will hold it more easily by the means of its own citizens than in any other way there are for example the Spartans and the Romans the Spartans held Athens and Thebes establishing there an oligarchy nevertheless they lost them the Romans in order to hold Capua, Carthage and New Mancha dismantled them and did not lose them they wished to hold Greece as the Spartans held it making it free and permitting its laws and did not succeed so to hold it they were compelled to dismantle many cities in the country for in truth there is no safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them and he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it may expect to be destroyed by it for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget and whatever you may do or provide against they never forget that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or dispersed and at every chance they immediately rally to them as Pisa after the hundred years she had been held in bondage by the Florentines but when cities or countries are accustomed to live under a prince and his family is exterminated by being on the one hand accustomed to obey and on the other hand and not having the old prince cannot agree in making one from amongst themselves and they do not know how to govern themselves for this reason they are very slow to take up arms and a prince can gain them to himself and secure them much more easily but in republics there is more vitality greater hatred and more desire for vengeance which will never permit them to allow the memory of their former liberty to rest so that the safest way is to destroy them or to reside there chapter 6 concerning new principalities which are required by one's own arms and ability let no one be surprised if in speaking of entirely new principalities as I shall do I deduce the highest examples both of prince and of state because men walking almost always in paths beaten by others and following by imitation their deeds are yet unable to keep entirely the ways of others or attain to the power of those they imitate a wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men and to imitate those who have been supreme so that if his ability does not equal theirs at least it will savor of it let him act like a clever archers who, designing to hit the mark which yet appears too far distant and knowing the limits to which the strength of their bow attains take aim much higher than the mark not to reach by their strength or arrows at so great a height but to be able with the aid of so high an aim to hit the mark they wish to reach I say therefore that in entirely new principalities where there is a new prince more or less difficulty is found in keeping them according as there is more or less ability in him who has acquired the state now as the fact of becoming a prince from a private station presupposes either ability or fortune it is clear that one or other of these things will mitigate in some degree many difficulties nevertheless he who has relied least on fortune is established the strongest further it facilitates matters when the prince having no other state is compelled to reside there in person but to come to those who by their own ability and not through fortune have risen to be princes I say that Moses, Cyrus Romulus, Theseus and such like are the most excellent examples and although one may not discuss Moses he having been a mere executor of the will of God yet he ought to be admired if only for that favor which made him worthy to speak with God but in considering Cyrus and others who have acquired or founded kingdoms all will be found admirable and if their particular deeds and conduct will be considered they will not be found inferior to those of Moses although he had so great a preceptor and in examining their actions and lives one cannot see that they owed anything to fortune beyond opportunity they brought them the material to mold into the form which seemed best to them without that opportunity their powers of mind would have been extinguished and without those powers the opportunity would have come in vain it was necessary therefore to Moses that he should find the people of Israel in Egypt enslaved and oppressed by the Egyptians in order that they should be disposed to follow him so as to be delivered out of bondage it was necessary that Romulus should not remain in Alba and that he should be abandoned at his birth in order that he should become king of Rome and founder of the fatherland it was necessary that Cyrus should find the Persians discontented with the government of the Medes and the Medes soft and effeminate through their long peace Theseus could not have shown his ability had he not found the Athenians dispersed these opportunities therefore made these men fortunate and their high ability enabled them to recognize the opportunity whereby their country was ennobled and made famous Those who by valorous ways become princes like these men acquire a principality with difficulty but they keep it with ease the difficulties they have in acquiring it rise in part from the new rules and methods which they are forced to introduce to establish their government and its security and it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new this coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents who have the laws on their side and partly from the incredulity of men who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them thus it happens that whenever those who are hostile have the opportunity to attack they do it like partisans while the others defend lukewarmly in such ways that the prince is endangered along with them it is necessary therefore if we desire to discuss this matter thoroughly to inquire whether these innovators can rely on themselves or have to depend on others that is to say whether to consummate their enterprise have they to use prayers or can they use force in the first instance they always succeed badly and never compass anything they rely on themselves and use force then they are rarely endangered hence it is that all armed prophets have conquered and the unarmed ones have been destroyed besides the reasons mentioned the nature of the people is variable and whilst it is easy to persuade them it is difficult to fix them in that persuasion and thus it is necessary to take such measures that when they believe no longer it may be possible to make them believe by force if Moses Cyrus Theseus and Romulus had been unarmed they could not have enforced their constitutions for long as happened in our time to Fragerolamo Savonarola who was ruined with his new order of things immediately the multitude believed in him no longer and he had no means of keeping steadfast those who believed or of making the unbelievers to believe therefore such as these have great difficulties in consummating their enterprise for all their dangers are in the ascent yet with ability they will overcome them but when these are overcome and those who envied them their success are exterminated they will begin to be respected and they will continue afterwards powerful, secure, honored and happy to these great examples I wish to add a lesser one still it bears some resemblance to them and I wish it to suffice me for all of the like kind it is Hiro the Syracusan Footnote born about 307 BC died 216 BC it is Hiro the Syracusan this man rose from a private station to be prince of Syracuse nor did he either owe anything to fortune but opportunity for the Syracusans 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 one who writes of him says he wanted nothing but a kingdom to be a king this man abolished the old soldiery organized the new gave up old alliances made new ones and as he had his own soldiers and allies on such foundations he was able to build any edifice thus whilst he had endured much trouble in acquiring he had but little in keeping End of Chapter 6 Recording by Paul Adams www.yonguy.com Chapter 7 to 8 of The Prince translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams Chapter 7 concerning new principalities which are required either by the arms of others or by good fortune those who solely by good fortune become princes from being private citizens have little trouble in rising but much in keeping atop they have not any difficulties on the way up because they fly but they have many when they reach the summit all those to whom some state is given either for money or by the favor of him who bestows it as happened to many in Greece in the cities of Ionia and of the Hellespont where princes were made by Darius in order that they might hold the cities both for his security and his glory as also were those emperors who by the corruption of the soldiers from being citizens came to empire such stands simply elevated upon the good will and the fortune of him who has elevated them and placed in constant and unstable things neither have they the knowledge requisite for the position because unless they are men of great worth and ability it is not reasonable to expect that they should know how to command having always lived in a private condition besides they cannot hold it because they have not forces which they can keep friendly and faithful states that rise unexpectedly then like all other things in nature which are born and grow rapidly the foundations and correspondences footnote the radici e correspondenzi their roots i.e. foundations and correspondences or relations with other states a common meaning of correspondence and correspondency in the 16th and 17th centuries cannot leave their foundations and correspondences fixed in such a way that the first storm will not overthrow them unless as is said those who unexpectedly become princes are men of so much ability that they know they have to be prepared at once to hold that which fortune has thrown into their laps and that those foundations which others have laid before they became princes they must delay afterwards concerning these two methods of rising to be a prince by ability or fortune i wish to adduce two examples within our own recollection and these are francesco sforza footnote francesco sforza born 1401 1466 he married Bianca Maria Visconti a natural daughter of Filippo Visconti the Duke of Milan on whose death he procured his own elevation to the duchy Machiavelli was the accredited agent of the Florentine Republic to Cesare Borgia 1478-1507 during the transactions which led up to the assassinations of the Orsini and Vitelli at Cinegalia and along with his letters to his chiefs in Florence he has left an account within ten years before the prince of the proceedings of the Duke in his descrittioni del modo tenuto del Ducca Valentino Nello a mazzare vitellozzo vitelli etc. a translation of which is appended to the present work i wish to adduce two examples within our own recollection and these are francesco sforza and Cesare Borgia francesco by proper means and with great ability from being a private person rose to be Duke of Milan and that which he had acquired with a thousand anxieties he kept with little trouble on the other hand Cesare Borgia, called by the people Ducca Valentino, acquired his state during the ascendancy of his father and on its decline he lost it notwithstanding that he had taken every measure and done all that ought to be done by a wise and able man to fix firmly his roots in the states which the arms and fortunes of others had bestowed on him because as is stated above he who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building if, therefore, all the steps taken by the Duke be considered it will be seen that he laid solid foundations for his future power and I do not consider it superfluous to discuss them because I do not know what better precepts to give a new prince than the example of his actions and if his dispositions were of no avail that was not his fault but the extraordinary and extreme malignity of fortune Alexander the 6th in wishing to aggrandise the Duke his son had many immediate and prospective difficulties firstly he did not see his way to make him master of any state that was not a state of the church and if he was willing to rob the church he knew that the Duke of Milan and the Venetians would not consent because Faenza and Rimini were already under the protection of the Venetians besides this he saw the arms of Italy especially those by which he might have been assisted in hands that would fear the aggrandisement of the Pope namely the Orsini and the Colonisi and their following it behoved him, therefore, to upset this state of affairs and embroiled 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 Venetians moved by other reasons inclined to bring back the French into Italy he would not only not oppose this but he would render it more easy by dissolving the former marriage of King Louis therefore the King came into Italy with the assistance of the Venetians and the consent of Alexander he was no sooner in Milan than the Pope had soldiers from him for the attempt on the Romagna which yielded to him on the reputation of the King the Duke, therefore, having acquired the Romagna and beaten the Colonisi while wishing to hold that further was hindered by two things the one, his forces did not appear loyal to him the other, the goodwill of France that is to say, he feared that the forces of the Orsini which he was using would not stand to him that not only might they hinder him from winning more but might themselves seize what he had won and that the King might also do the same of the Orsini he had a warning when, after taking Firenze and attacking Bologna he saw them go very unwillingly to that attack and as to the King he learned his mind when he himself after taking the Duchy of Urbino attacked Tuscany and the King made him desist from that undertaking hence the Duke decided to depend no more upon the arms and the luck of others for the first thing he weakened the Orsini and Colonisi parties in Rome by gaining to himself all their adherents who were gentlemen making them his gentlemen giving them good pay according to their rank honouring them with office and command in such a way that in a few months all attachment to the factions was destroyed and turned entirely to the Duke after this he awaited an opportunity to crush the Orsini having scattered the adherents of the Kelowna House this came to him soon and he used it well for the Orsini perceiving at length that the aggrandisement of the Duke and the Church was ruined to them called a meeting of the Magione in Perugia this sprung the rebellion at Urbino and the tumults in the Romagna with endless dangers to the Duke all of which he overcame with the help of the French having restored his authority not to leave it at risk by trusting either to the French or other outside forces he had recourse to his wiles and he knew so well how to conceal his mind that by the mediation of Senior Pagolo whom the Duke did not fail to secure with all kinds of attention the Orsini, apparel and horses the Orsini were reconciled so that their simplicity brought them into his power at Senegalia footnote Senegalia 31st December 1502 having exterminated the leaders and turned their partisans into his friends the Duke laid sufficiently good foundations to his power having all the Romagna and the Duchy of Urbino and the people now beginning to appreciate the prosperity over to himself and as this point is worthy of notice and to be imitated by others I'm not willing to leave it out when the Duke occupied the Romagna he found it under the rule of weak masters who rather plundered their subjects than ruled them and gave them more cause to disunion than for union so that the country was full of robbery, quarrels and every kind of violence and so wishing to bring back peace and obedience to authority it was necessary to give it a good governor thereupon he promoted Mesa Romero Dorco footnote Romero Dorco Romero de Lorca therefore he promoted Mesa Romero Dorco a swift and cruel man to whom he gave the fullest power this man in a short time restored peace and unity with the greatest success afterwards the Duke considered that it was not advisable to confer such excessive authority for he had no doubt that he would become odious so he set up a court of judgment in the country under a most excellent president where in all cities had their advocates and because he knew that the past severity had caused some hatred against himself so to clear himself in the minds of the people and gain them entirely to himself he desired to show that if any cruelty had been practiced it had not originated with him but in the natural sternness of the minister under this pretense he took Romero and one morning caused him to be executed and left on the piazza at Cessena with a block and a bloody knife at his side the barbarity of this spectacle caused the people to be at once satisfied and dismayed but let us return once we started I say that the Duke finding himself now sufficiently powerful and partly secured from immediate dangers by having armed himself in his own way and having in a great measure crushed those forces in his vicinity that could injure him if he wished to proceed with his conquest had next to consider France for he knew that the king who too late was aware of his mistake would not support him and from this time he began to seek new alliances and to temporise with France in the expedition which he was making towards the kingdom of Naples against the Spaniots who would be sieging Gaeta it was his intention to secure himself against them and this he would have quickly accomplished had Alexander lived such was his line of action as to present affairs but as to the future he had to fear in the first place that a new successor to the church might not be friendly to him and might seek to take from him that which Alexander had given him so he decided to act in four ways firstly by exterminating the families of those lords whom he had dispoiled so as to take away that pretext from the Pope by winning to himself all the gentlemen of Rome so as to be able to curb the Pope with their aid as has been observed thirdly by converting the college more to himself fourthly by acquiring so much power before the Pope should die that he could by his own measures resist the first shock of these four things at the death of Alexander he had accomplished three for he had killed as many of the dispossessed lords as he could lay hands on and escaped he had won over the Roman gentlemen and he had the most numerous party in the college and as to any fresh acquisition he intended to become master of Tuscany for he already possessed Perugia and Pionbino and Pisa was under his protection and as he had no longer to study France for the French were already driven out of the kingdom of Naples by the Spaniards and in this way both were compelled to buy his good will he pounced down upon Pisa and Luca and Siena yielded at once partly through hatred and partly through fear of the Florentines and the Florentines would have had no remedy had he continued to prosper as he was prospering the year that Alexander died for he had acquired so much power and reputation that he would have stood by himself and no longer had depended on the luck and the forces of others but solely on his own power and ability but Alexander died five years after he had first drawn the sword he left the Duke with the state of Romagna alone consolidated with the rest in the air between two most powerful hostile armies and sick unto death yet there were in the Duke such boldness and ability and he knew so well how men are to be won or lost and so firm were the foundations which in so short a time he had laid that if he had not had those armies on his back or if he had been in good health he would have overcome all difficulties and it is seen that his foundations were good for the Romagna awaited him for more than a month in Rome although but half alive he remained secure and whilst the Baglioni the Vitelli and the Orsini might come to Rome they could not effect anything against him if he could not have made Pope him whom he wished at least the one whom he did not wish would not have been elected but if he had been in sound health at the death of Alexander footnote on the 6th died of fever 18th August 1503 but if he had been in sound health at the death of Alexander everything would have been different to him on the day that Julius II footnote Julius II was Giuliano della Rivera cardinal of San Pietro adventula born 1443 died 1513 on the day that Julius II was elected he told me that he had thought of everything to occur at the death of his father and to provide a remedy for all except that he had never anticipated that when the death did happen he himself would be on the point to die when all the actions of the Duke are recalled I do not know how to blame him but rather it appears to be as I have said that I ought to offer him the imitation to all those who by the fortune or the arms of others are raised to government because he having a lofty spirit and far reaching aims would not have regulated his conduct otherwise and only the shortness of the life of Alexander and his own sickness frustrated his designs therefore he who considers it necessary to secure himself in his new principality to win friends to overcome either by force or fraud to make himself beloved and feared by the people to be followed and revered by the soldiers to exterminate those who have power or reason to hurt him to change the old order of things to be severe and gracious magnanimous and liberal to destroy a disloyal soldiery and to create new to maintain friendship with kings and princes in such a way that they must help him with zeal and offend with caution cannot find a more lively example than the actions of this man only can he be blamed for the election of Julius II in whom he made a bad choice because as is said not being able to elect a pope to his own mind he could have hindered any other from being elected pope and he ought never to have consented the election of any cardinal whom he had injured or who had caused to fear him if they became pontiffs for men injured either from fear or hatred those whom he had injured amongst others was San Pietro Adventula, Colonna, San Giorgio and Ascarnio footnote San Giorgio is Raffaello Riario Ascarnio is Ascarnio's forza. The rest in becoming pope had to fear him, Rouen and the Spaniards accepted the latter from their relationship and obligations the former from his influence the kingdom of France having relations with him therefore above everything the Duke ought to have created a Spaniard pope and failing him he ought to have consented to Rouen and not San Pietro Adventula he who believes that new benefits will cause great personages to forget injuries is deceived therefore the Duke in his choice and it was the cause of his ultimate Rouen Chapter 8 concerning those who have obtained a principality by wickedness although a prince may rise from a private station in two ways neither of which can be entirely attributed to fortune or genius yet it is manifest to me that I must not be silent on them although one could be more copiously treated when I discuss republics methods of when either by some wicked or nefarious ways one ascends to the principality or when by the favour of his fellow citizens a private person becomes the prince of his country and speaking of the first method it will be illustrated by two examples one ancient the other modern and without entering further into the subject I consider these two examples will suffice those who may be compelled to follow them Agatha Cleese the Sicilian footnote Agatha Cleese the Sicilian born 361 BC died 289 BC Agatha Cleese the Sicilian became king of Syracuse not only from a private but from a low and abject position this man, the son of a potter through all the changes in his fortunes always led an infamous life nevertheless he accompanied his infamous with so much ability of mind and body that having devoted himself to the military profession he rose through its ranks to be praetor of Syracuse being established in that position and having deliberately resolved to make himself prince and to seize by violence without obligation to others that which had been conceded to him by ascent he came to an understanding for this purpose with Amalcar the Carthaginian who with his army was fighting in Sicily one morning he assembled the people and the senate of Syracuse as if he had to discuss with them things relating to the republic and at a given signal the soldiers killed or the senators and the richest of the people. These dead he seized and held the princedom of that city without any civil commotion and although he was twice routed by the Carthaginians and ultimately besieged yet not only was he able to defend his city but leaving part of his men for its defense with the others he attacked Africa and in a short time raised the siege of Syracuse. The Carthaginians reduced to extreme necessity were compelled to come to terms with Agatha Cleese and leaving Sicily to him had to be content with the possession of Africa. Therefore he who considers the actions and the genius of this man will see nothing or little which can be attributed to fortune in as much as he attained preeminence as is shown above not by the favor of anyone but step by step in the military profession which steps were gained with a thousand perils and were afterwards boldly held by him with many hazardous dangers yet it cannot be called talent to slay fellow citizens to deceive friends to be without faith without mercy without religion such methods may gain empire but not glory. Still if the courage of Agatha Cleese in entering into and extricating himself from dangers be considered together with his greatness of mind in enduring and overcoming hardships it cannot be seen why he should be esteemed less than the most notable captain. Nevertheless his barbarous cruelty and inhumanity with infinite wickedness do not permit him to be celebrated among the most excellent men what he achieved cannot be attributed either to fortune or genius. In our times during the rule of Alexander the sixth Oliverotto de Thermo having been left an orphan many years before was brought up by his maternal uncle Giovanni Fogliani and in the early days of his youth sent to fight under Pagolo Vitelli that being trained under his discipline he might attain some high position in the military profession. After Pagolo died he fought under his brother Vitellozzo and in a very short time being endowed with wit and a vigorous body and mind he became the first man in his profession but it appearing a thing to serve under others he resolved with the aid of some citizens of Thermo to whom the slavery of their country was dearer than its liberty and with the help of the Vitelleschi to seize Thermo. So he wrote to Giovanni Fogliani that having been away from home for many years he wished to visit him and his city and in some measure to look upon his patrimony. And although he had not laboured to acquire anything except honour yet in order that the citizen should see his time in vain he desired to come honourably so would be accompanied by one hundred horsemen his friends and retainers and he entreated Giovanni to a rate that he should be received honourably by the fermions all of which would be not only to his honour but also to that of Giovanni himself who had brought him up. Giovanni therefore did not fail in any attention due to his nephew and he caused him to be honourably received by the fermions and he lodged him after having passed some days and having arranged what was necessary for his wicked designs. Oliverotto gave a solemn banquet to which he invited Giovanni Fogliani and the chiefs of Thermo. When the Viennes and all the other entertainments that are usual in such banquets were finished, Oliverotto artfully began certain grave discourses speaking of the greatness of Pope Alexander and his son Cesare and of their enterprises to which discourse Giovanni and others but he rose at once saying that such matters ought to be discussed in a more private place and he betook himself to a chamber where the Giovanni and the rest of the citizens went in after him. No sooner were they seated than soldiers issued from secret places and slaughtered Giovanni and the rest. After these murders Oliverotto mounted on horseback rode up and down the town and besieged the chief magistrate in the palace so that in fear the people were forced to obey him and to form a government of which he made himself the prince. He killed all the malcontents who were able to injure him and strengthened himself with new civil and military ordinances in such a way that in the year during which he held the principality not only was he secure in the city of Thermo but he had become formidable to all his neighbours and his destruction would have been as difficult as that of a Gathocles if he had not allowed himself to be over-reached by Cesare Borgia who took him with the Orsini and Vitelli at Synagalia as was stated above thus one year after he had committed this parasite he was strangled together with Vitello so whom he had made his leader in valour and a wickedness. Some may wonder how it can happen that a Gathocles and his like after infinite treacheries and crawlties should live for long secure in his country and defend himself from external enemies and never be conspired against by his own citizens saying that many others by means of crawlties have never been able even in peaceful times to hold the state still less in the doubtful times of war I believe that this follows from Severitis Mr Bird suggests that this word probably comes near the modern equivalent of Machiavelli's thought when he speaks of Crudelta than the more obvious crawlties I believe that this follows from Severitis being badly or properly used it's of evil it is possible to speak well that are applied at one blow and are necessary to one's security and that are not persisted in afterwards unless they can be turned to the advantage of the subjects the badly employed are those which notwithstanding they may be few in the commencement multiply with time rather than decrease those who practice the first system are able by aid of God or man to mitigate in some degree their roar as a Gathocles did it is impossible for those who follow the other to maintain themselves hence it is to be remarked that in seizing a state the usurper ought to examine closely into all those injuries which is necessary for him to inflict and to do them all at one stroke so as not to have to repeat them daily and thus by not unsettling men he will be able to reassure them and win them to himself by benefits he who does otherwise either from timidity or evil advice is always compelled to keep the knife in his hand neither can he rely on his subjects nor can they attach themselves to him owing to their continued and repeated wrongs for injuries ought to be done all at one time so that being tasted less they offend less benefits ought to be given little by little so that the flavor of them may last longer and above all things a prince ought to live amongst his people in such a way that no unexpected circumstances whether of good or evil shall make him change because if the necessity for this comes in troubled times you are too late for harsh measures and mild ones will not help you for they will be considered as forced from you and no one will be under any obligation to you for them End of Chapter 8 Recording by Paul Adams www.yornguy.com Chapters 9 to 11 of The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams Chapter 9 concerning a civil principality but coming to the other point where a leading citizen becomes the prince of his country not by wickedness or any intolerable violence but by the favor of his fellow citizens this may be called a civil principality nor is genius or fortune altogether necessary to attain to it but rather a happy shrewdness I say then that such a principality is obtained either by the favor of the people or by the favor of the nobles because in all cities these two distinct parties are found and from this it arises that the people do not wish to be ruled nor oppressed by the nobles and the nobles wish to rule and oppress the people and from these two opposite desires there arises in cities one of three results either a principality self-government or anarchy a principality is created either by the people or by the nobles accordingly as one or other of them has the opportunity for the nobles seeing they cannot withstand the people begin to cry up the reputation of one of themselves and they make him a prince so that under his shadow they can give vent to their ambitions the people fighting they cannot resist the nobles also cry up the reputation of one of themselves and make him a prince so as to be defended by his authority he who obtained sovereignty by the assistance of the nobles maintains himself with more difficulty than he who comes to it by the aid of the people because the former finds himself with many around him who consider themselves his equals and because of this he can neither rule nor manage them to his liking but he who reaches sovereignty by popular favor finds himself alone and has none around him or few who are not prepared to obey him beside this one cannot by fair dealing and without injury to others satisfy the nobles but you can satisfy the people for their object is more righteous than that of the nobles the latter wishing to oppress while the former only desire not to be oppressed it is to be added also that a prince can never secure himself against a hostile people because of their being too many whilst from the nobles he can secure himself the worst that a prince may expect from a hostile people is to be abandoned by them but from hostile nobles he has not only to fear abandonment but also that they will rise against him for they being in these affairs more far seeing and astute always come forward in time to save themselves and to obtain favors from him whom they expect to prevail further the prince is compelled to live always with the same people but he can do well without the same nobles being able to make and unmake them daily and to give or take away authority when it pleases him therefore to make this point clearer I say that the nobles ought to be looked at mainly in two ways that is to say they either shape their course in such a way as bind them entirely to your fortune or they do not those who so bind themselves and are not rapacious ought to be honored and loved those who do not bind themselves may be dealt within two ways they may fail to do this through and a natural want of courage in which case you ought to make use of them especially of those who are of good counsel and thus while in prosperity you honor them in adversity you do not have to fear them but when for their own ambitious ends they shun binding themselves it is a token that they are giving more thought to themselves than to you and a prince ought to guard against such and to fear them as if they were open enemies because in adversity they always help to ruin him therefore one who becomes a prince through the favor of the people ought to keep them friendly and thus he can easily do seeing they only ask not to be oppressed by him but one who in opposition to the people becomes a prince by the favor of the nobles ought above everything to seek to win the people over to himself and this he may easily do if he takes them under his protection because men when they receive good from him expecting evil are bound more closely to their benefactor thus the people quickly become more devoted to him than if he had been raised to the principality by their favors and the prince can win their affections in many ways but as these vary according to the circumstances one cannot give fixed rules so I admit them but I repeat it is necessary for a prince to have the people friendly otherwise he has no security in adversity Nabis footnote Nabis tyrant of Sparta conquered by the Romans under Flaminius in 195 BC killed 192 BC Nabis prince of the Spartans sustained the attack of all Greece and of the victorious Roman army and against them he defended his country and his government and for the overcoming of this peril it was only necessary for him to make himself secure against a few but this would not have been sufficient had it been hostile and do not let anyone impugn the statement with the trite proverb that he who builds on the people builds on the mud for this is true when a private citizen makes a foundation there and persuades himself that the people will free him when he is oppressed by his enemies or by the magistrates wherein he would find himself very often deceived as happened to the Graci in Rome and to Messa Giorgio Scali in Florence footnote Messa Giorgio Scali this event is to be found in Machiavelli's Florentine history book 3 but granted a prince who has established himself as above who can command and is a man of courage undismayed in adversity who does not fail in other qualifications and who by his resolution and energy keeps the whole people encouraged such a one will never find himself deceived in them and it will be shown that he has latest foundations well these principalities are liable to danger when they are passing from the civil to the absolute order of government for such princes either rule personally or through magistrates in the latter case their government is weaker and more insecure because it rests entirely on the good will of those citizens who are raised to the magistracy and who especially in troubled times can destroy the government with great ease either by intrigue or open defiance and the prince has not the chance amid tumults absolute authority because the citizens and subjects are accustomed to receive orders from magistrates and not of a mind to obey him amid these confusions and there will always be in doubtful times a scarcity of men whom he can trust for such a prince cannot rely upon what he observes in quiet times when citizens have need of the state because then everyone agrees with him they all promise and when death is far distant they all wish to die for him but in troubled times if the state has need of its citizens then he finds but few and so much the more is this experiment dangerous in as much as it can only be tried once therefore a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him and then he will always find them faithful Chapter 10 concerning the way in which the strength of all principalities ought to be measured it is necessary to consider another point in examining the character of these principalities that is whether a prince has such power that in case of need he can support himself with his own resources or whether he has always need of the assistance of others and to make this quite clear I say that I consider those who are able to support themselves by their own resources who can either by abundance of men or money raise a sufficient army to join battle against anyone who comes to attack them and I consider those always to have need of others who cannot show themselves against the enemy in the field but are forced to defend themselves by sheltering behind walls the first case has been discussed but we will speak of it again should it recur in the second case one could say nothing except to encourage such princes to provision and fortify their towns and not on any account to defend the country and whoever shall fortify his town well and shall have managed the other concerns of his subjects in the way stated above and to be often repeated will never be attacked without great caution for men are always adverse to enterprises where difficulties can be seen and it will be seen not to be an easy thing to attack one who has his town well fortified and is not hated by his people the cities of Germany are absolutely free they own but little country around them and they yield obedience to the emperor when it suits them nor do they fear this other power they may have near them because they are fortified in such a way that everyone thinks the taking of them by assault would be tedious and difficult seeing they have proper ditches and walls they have sufficient artillery and they always keep in public depots enough for one years eating drinking and firing and beyond this to keep the people quiet and without loss to the state they always have the means of giving work to the community in those labours that are the life and strength of the city and on the pursuit of which the people are supported they also hold military exercises in repute and moreover have many ordinances to uphold them therefore a prince who has a strong city and has not made himself odious will not be attacked or if anyone should attack he will only be driven off with disgrace again because of the affairs of this world are so changeable it is almost impossible to keep an army a whole year in the field without being left behind and whoever should reply if the people have property outside the city and see it burnt they will not remain patient and the long siege and self-interest will make them forget their prince to this I answer that a powerful and courageous prince will overcome all such difficulties by giving at one time hope to his subjects that the evil will not be for long at another time fear of the cruelty of the enemy then preserving himself adroitly from those subjects who seem cold further the enemy would naturally on his arrival at once burn and ruin the country at the time when the spirits of the people are still hot and ready for the defense and therefore so much the less ought the prince to hesitate because after a time when spirits have called the damages already done the ills are incurred and there is no longer any remedy and therefore they are so much the more ready to unite with their prince he appearing to be under positions to them now that their houses have been burnt and their possessions ruined in his defense for it is the nature of men to be bound by the benefits they confer as much as by those they receive therefore if everything is well considered it will not be difficult for a wise prince to keep the minds of his citizens steadfast from first to last when he does not fail to support and defend them chapter 11 concerning ecclesiastical principalities it only remains now to speak of ecclesiastical principalities touching which all difficulties are prior to getting possession because they are acquired either by capacity or good fortune and they can be held without either for they are sustained by the ancient ordinances of religion which are so all powerful and of such a character that the principalities may be held no matter how their princes behave and live these princes alone have states and do not defend them they have subjects and do not rule them and the states although unguarded are not taken from them and the subjects although not ruled do not care and they have neither the desire nor the ability to alienate themselves such principalities only are secure and happy but being upheld by powers to which the human mind cannot reach I shall speak no more of them because being exalted and maintained by God it would be the act of a presumptuous and rash man to discuss them nevertheless if anyone should ask of me how comes it that the church has attained such greatness in temporal power seeing that from Alexander backwards the Italian potentates not only those who have been called potentates but every baron and lord though the smallest have valued the temporal power very slightly yet now a king of France trembles before it and it has been able to drive him from Italy and to ruin the Venetians it will be very manifest it does not appear to me superfluous to recall it in some measure to memory before Charles king of France passed into Italy footnote Charles VIII invaded Italy in 1494 before Charles king of France passed into Italy this country was under the dominion of the pope the Venetians the king of Naples the Duke of Milan and the Florentines these potentates had two principal anxieties the one that no foreigner should enter Italy under arms the other that none of themselves should seize more territory those about whom there was the most anxiety were the pope and the Venetians to restrain the Venetians the union of all the others was necessary as it was for the defense of Ferrara and to keep down the pope they made use of the barons of Rome who, being divided into two factions Orsini and Colonisi had always a pretext for disorder and, standing with arms in their hands under the eyes of the pontiff kept the pontificate weak and powerless and although there might arise sometimes a courageous pope such as Sixtus yet neither fortune nor wisdom could rid him of these annoyances and the short life of a pope is also a cause of weakness for in the ten years which is the average life of a pope he can with difficulty lower one of the factions and if so to speak almost destroy the Colonisi another would arise hostile to the Orsini who would support their opponents and yet would not have time to ruin the Orsini this was the reason why the temporal powers of the pope were a little esteemed in Italy Alexander VI rose afterwards who, of all the pontiffs that have ever been showed how a pope with both money and arms was able to prevail and through the instrumentality of the Duke Valentino and by reason of the entry of the French he brought about all those things which I have discussed above in the actions of the Duke and although his intention was not to aggrandise the church but the Duke nevertheless what he did contributed to the greatness of the church which after his death and the ruin of the Duke became the heir to all his labours Pope Julius came afterwards and found the church strong possessing all the Romagna the barons of Rome reduced to impotence and at Alexander the factions wiped out he also found the way open to accumulate money in a manner such had never been practised before Alexander's time such things Julius not only followed but improved upon and he intended to gain Bologna to ruin the Venetians and to drive the French out of Italy all of these enterprises prospered with him and so much the more to his credit in as much as he did everything to strengthen the church and not any private person he kept also the Orsini and Colonisi factions within the bounds in which he found them and although there was among them some mind to make disturbance nevertheless he held two things firm the one the greatness of the church with which he terrified them and the other not allowing them to have their own cardinals who caught the disorders among them for whenever these factions have their cardinals they do not remain quiet for long because cardinals foster the factions in Rome and out of it the barons are compelled to support them and thus from the ambitions of prelates arise disorders and tumulks among the barons for these reasons his holiness Pope Leo footnote Pope Leo X was the cardinal de Medici for these reasons his holiness Pope Leo found the pontificate most powerful and it is to be hoped that if others made it great in arms he will make it still greater and more venerated by his goodness and infinite other virtues end of chapter 11 recording by Paul Adams www.jaungei.com chapters 12 to 13 of the Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recordings in the public domain recording by Paul Adams chapter 12 how many kinds of soldiery there are and concerning mercenaries having discourse particularly on the characteristics of such principalities as in the beginning I proposed to discuss and having considered in some degree the causes of there being good or bad and having shown the methods by which many have sought to acquire them and to hold them it now remains for me to discuss generally the means of offence and defense which belong to each of them we have seen above how necessary it is for a prince to have his foundations well laid otherwise it follows of necessity he'll go to ruin the chief foundations of all states new as well as old or composite are good laws and good arms and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws I shall leave the laws out of the discussion and shall speak of the arms I say therefore that the arms with which a prince defends his state are either his own or they are mercenaries auxiliaries or mixed mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous and if one holds his state based on these arms he will stand neither firm nor safe for they are disunited ambitious and without discipline unfaithful, valiant before friends cowardly before enemies they have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men and destruction is deferred only so long as the attack is for in peace one is robbed by them and in war by the enemy the fact is they have no other attraction or reason for keeping the field than a trifle of stipend which is not sufficient to make them willing to die for you they are ready enough to be your soldiers whilst you do not make war but if war comes they take themselves off or run from the foe which I should have little trouble to prove for the ruin of Italy has been caused by nothing else than by resting all her hopes for many years on mercenaries and although they formally made some display they appeared valiant amongst themselves yet when the foreigners came they showed what they were thus it was that Charles king of France was allowed to seize Italy with chalk in hand footnote with chalk in hand called Gesso this is one of the born moe of Alexander the sixth and refers to the ease with which Charles the eighth seized Italy 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 compare the history of Henry the seventh by Lord Bacon King Charles had conquered the realm of Naples and lost it again in a kind of a felicity of a dream he passed the whole length of Italy without resistance so that it was true what Pope Alexander was want to say that the Frenchman came into Italy with chalk in their hands to mark up their lodgings rather than with swords to fight thus it was that Charles king of France was allowed to seize Italy with chalk in hand and he who told us that our sins were the cause of it told the truth but they were not the sins he imagined but those which I have related and as they were the sins of princes it is the princes who have also suffered the penalty I wish to demonstrate further the infelicity of these arms the mercenary captains are either capable men or they are not if they are you cannot trust them because they always aspire to their own greatness they are pressing you who are their master or others contrary to your intentions but if the captain is not skillful you are ruined in the usual way and if it be urged that whoever is armed will act in the same way whether mercenary or not I reply that when arms have to be resorted to either by a prince or a republic then the prince ought to go in person and perform the duty of a captain the republic has to send its citizens and when one is sent who does not turn out satisfactorily it ought to recall him and when one is worthy to hold him by the laws so that he does not leave the command an experience has shown princes and republics single handed making the greatest progress and mercenary is doing nothing except damage and it is more difficult to bring a republic armed with its own arms under the sway of one of its citizens than it is to bring one armed with foreign arms Rome and Sparta stood for many ages armed and free the switzes are completely armed and quite free of ancient mercenaries for example there are the carthaginians who were oppressed by their mercenary soldiers after the first war with the romans although the carthaginians had their own citizens for captains after the death of Epaminondas Philip of Macedon was made captain of their soldiers by the Thebans and after victory he took away their liberty Duke Filippo being dead Milanese enlisted Francesco Sforza against the Venetians and he having overcome the enemy at Caravaggio allied himself with them to crush the Milanese his masters footnote Battle of Caravaggio 15th September 1448 his father Sforza having been engaged by Queen Joanna of Naples footnote Joanna II of Naples the widow of Ladislao his father Sforza having been engaged by Queen Joanna of Naples left her unprotected so that she was forced to throw herself into the arms of the king of Aragon in order to save her kingdom and if the Venetians and Florentines formally extended their dominions by these arms and yet their captains did not make themselves princes but have defended them I reply that the Florentines in this case have been favoured by Charm for of the able captains that have stood in fear some have not conquered some have been opposed and others have turned their ambitions elsewhere one who did not conquer was Giovanni Accuto footnote Giovanni Accuto an English knight whose name was Sir John Hawkewood he fought in the English wars in France and was knighted by Edward III afterwards he collected a body of troops and went into Italy these became the famous White Company and died in Florence in 1394 he was born about 1320 at Sibyl Headingham a village in Essex he married Domnia a daughter of Bernabó Visconti one who did not conquer was Giovanni Accuto and since he did not conquer his fidelity cannot be proved but everyone will acknowledge that had he conquered the Florentines would have stood at his discretion Sforza had the Bracheschi always against him he watched each other Francesco turned his ambition to Lombardy Braccio against the church and the kingdom of Naples but let us come to that which happened a short while ago the Florentines are pointed as their captain Pagolo Vitelli a most prudent man who from a private position had risen to the greatest renown if this man had taken Pisa nobody can deny that it would have been proper for the Florentines to keep in with him furtively became the soldier of their enemies they had no means of resisting and if they held to him they must obey him the Venetians, if their achievements are considered will be seen to have acted safely and gloriously so long as they sent to war their own men when with armed gentlemen and plebeians they did valiantly this was before they turned to enterprises on land but when they began to fight on land they forsook this virtue and followed the custom of Italy and in the beginning of their expansion on land they were not having much territory and because of their great reputation they had not much to fear from their captains but when they expanded as under Carminiola footnote, Carminiola Francesco Bessone born at Carminiola about 1390 executed at Venice 5th May 1432 but when they expanded as under Carminiola they had a taste for this mistake for having found him a most valiant man they beat the Duke of Milan under his leadership and on the other hand knowing how lukewarm he was in the war they feared they would no longer conquer under him and for this reason they were not willing nor were they able to let him go and so not to lose again that which they had acquired they were compelled in order to secure themselves to murder him they had afterwards for their captains Bartolomeo da Bergamo Roberto da San Severino the Count of Petiliano footnote, Bartolomeo Collione of Bergamo died 1457 Roberto da San Severino died fighting for Venice against Sigismund Duke of Austria in 1487 Primo Capitano in Italia Machiavelli Count of Petiliano Nicolo Orsini born 1442 died 1510 the Count of Petiliano and the like under whom they had to dread loss and not gain as happened afterwards at Vila footnote battle of Vila in 1509 where in one battle they lost that which in 800 years they had acquired with so much trouble because from such arms conquests come but slowly long delayed and inconsiderable but the losses sudden and portentous and as with these examples I have reached Italy which has been ruled for many years by mercenaries I wish to discuss them more seriously in order that having seen their rise and progress one may be better prepared to counteract them you must understand that the empire has recently come to be repudiated in Italy that the Pope has acquired more temporal power and that Italy has been divided up into more states for the reason that many of the great cities took up arms against their nobles who formerly favoured by the emperor were oppressing them whilst the church was favouring them so as to gain authority in temporal power in many others their citizens became princes from this it came to pass that Italy fell partly into the hands of the church and of republics and the church consisting of priests and the republic of citizens unaccustomed to arms both commenced to enlist foreigners the first who gave renown to the soldiery was Alburigo da Cognio the romanian footnote Alburigo da Cognio Alburigo da Barbiano Count of Cunio in Romania he was the leader of the famous company of Saint George composed entirely of Italian soldiers he died in 1409 from the school of this man sprang among others Abraccio and Sforza who in their time were the arbiters of Italy after these came all the other captains who till now have directed the arms of Italy and the end of all their valor has been that she has been overrun by Charles robbed by Louis ravaged by Ferdinand and insulted by the Swissers the principal that has guided them has been first to lower the credit of infantry so that they might increase their own they did this because subsisting on their pay and without territory they were unable to support many soldiers and a few infantry did not give them any authority so they were led to employ cavalry with a moderate force of which they were maintained and honoured and affairs were brought to such a pass that in an army of 20,000 soldiers there were not to be found 2,000 foot soldiers they had beside this used every art to lessen fatigue and danger to themselves and their soldiers not killing in the fray but taking prisoners and liberating without ransom they did not attack towns at night nor did the garrisons of the towns attacking campments at night they did not surround the camp either with stockade or ditch nor did they campaign in the winter all these things were permitted by the military rules and devised by them to avoid as I have said both fatigue and dangers thus they have brought Italy to slavery and contempt Chapter 13 concerning auxiliaries mixed soldiery and one's own auxiliaries which are the other useless arm are employed when a prince is called in with his forces to aid and defend as was done by Pope Julius in the most recent times for he having in the enterprise against Ferrara had poor proof of his mercenaries turned to auxiliaries and stipulated with Ferdinand King of Spain for his assistance with men and arms footnote Ferdinand the fifth Ferdinand the second of Aragon and Sicily Ferdinand the third of Naples surnamed the Catholic born 1516 died 1542 these arms may be useful and good in themselves but for him who calls them in they are always disadvantageous for losing one is undone and winning one is their captive and although ancient histories may be full of examples I do not wish to leave this recent one of Pope Julius the second the peril of which cannot fail to be perceived for he wishing to get Ferrara through himself entirely into the hands of the foreigner the fortune brought about a third event so that he did not reap the fruit of his rash choice because having his auxiliaries routed at Ravenna and the Swissers having risen and driven out the conquerors against all expectation both his and others it so came to pass that he did not become prisoner to his enemies they having fled not his auxiliaries he having conquered by other arms than theirs the Florentines being entirely without arms sent 10,000 Frenchmen to take Pisa whereby they ran more danger than at any other time of their troubles the Emperor of Constantinople footnote Johannes Cantacusinus born 1300 died 1383 the Emperor of Constantinople to oppose his neighbors sent 10,000 Turks into Greece who on the war being finished were not willing to quit this was the beginning of the servitude to the infidels therefore let him who has no desire to conquer make use of these arms for they are much more hazardous than mercenaries because with them the ruin is ready made they are all united all yield obedience to others but with mercenaries when they have conquered more time and better opportunities and needed to injure you they are not all of one community they are found and paid by you and a third party which you have made their head is not able all at once there is no authority to injure you in conclusion in mercenaries Dastadi is most dangerous in auxiliaries Valar the wise prince therefore has always avoided these arms and turned to his own and has been willing rather to lose with them than to conquer with the others not deeming that a real victory which is gained with the arms of others I shall never hesitate to cite Cesare Borgia and his actions this Duke entered the Romania auxiliaries taking their only French soldiers and with them he captured Imola and Forley but afterwards such forces not appearing to him reliable he turned to mercenaries discerning less danger in them and enlisted the Orsini and Vitelli whom presently on handling and finding them doubtful, unfaithful and dangerous he destroyed and turned to his own men and the difference between one and the other of these forces can easily be seen when one considers the difference there was in the reputation of the Duke when he had the French when he had the Orsini and Vitelli and when he relied on his own soldiers on whose fidelity he could always count and found it ever increasing he was never esteemed more highly than when everyone saw that he was complete master of his own forces I was not intending to go beyond Italian and recent examples but I am unwilling to leave out Syracusan he being one of those I have named above this man as I have said made head of the army by the Syracusans soon found out that a mercenary soldiery constituted like our Italian condottieri was of no use and it appearing to him that he could neither keep them nor let them go he had them all cut to pieces and afterwards made war with his own forces and not with aliens I wish also to recall to memory from the Old Testament applicable to this subject David offered himself to Saul to fight with Goliath the Philistine champion and to give him courage Saul armed him with his own weapons which David rejected as soon as he had them on his back saying he could make no use of them and that he wished to meet the enemy with his sling and his knife in conclusion the arms of others either fall from your back or they weigh you down or they bind you fast Charles VII the father of King Louis XI footnotes Charles VII of France surnamed the Victorious born 1403 died 1461 Louis XI son of the above born 1423 died 1483 Charles VII the father of King Louis XI having by good fortune and valor liberated France from the English recognized the necessity of being armed with forces of his own and he established in his kingdom ordinances concerning men at arms and infantry afterwards his son King Louis abolished the infantry and began to enlist the Switzers which mistake followed by others is as is now seen a source of peril to that kingdom because having raised the reputation of the Switzers he has entirely diminished the value of his own arms for he has destroyed the infantry altogether and his men at arms he has subordinated to others for being as they are so accustomed to fight along with Switzers it does not appear that they can now conquer without them hence it arises that the French cannot stand against the Switzers and without the Switzers they do not come off well against others the armies of the French have thus become mixed partly mercenary and partly national both of which arms together are much better than mercenaries alone or auxiliaries alone they are inferior to one's own forces and this example proves it for the kingdom of France would be unconquerable if the ordinance of Charles had been enlarged or maintained but the scanty wisdom of man on entering into an affair which looks well at first cannot discern the poison that is hidden in it as I have said above of hectic fevers therefore if he who rules a principality cannot recognize evils until they are upon him it is not truly wise and this insight is given to few and if the first disaster to the Roman Empire footnote many speakers to the house the other night in the debate on the reduction of armament seem to show a most lamentable ignorance of the conditions under which the British Empire maintains its existence when Mr Balfour replied to the allegations that the Roman Empire sank under the weight of its military obligations he said that this was wholly unhistorical he might well have added that the Roman power was at its zenith when every citizen acknowledged his liability to fight for the state but that it began to decline as soon as this obligation was no longer recognized Pal mal Gazette 15th May 1906 and if the first disaster to the Roman Empire should be examined it will be found to have commenced only with the enlisting of the Goths because from that time the vigor of the Roman Empire began to decline and all that valor which had raised it passed away to others I conclude therefore that no principality is secure without having its own forces on the contrary it is entirely dependent on good fortune not having the valor which in adversity would defend it and it has always been the opinion a judgment of wise men that nothing can be so uncertain or unstable as fame or power or strength and one's own forces are those which are composed either of subjects, citizens or dependents all others are mercenaries or auxiliaries and the way to make ready one's own forces will be easily found if the rules suggested by me shall be reflected upon and if one will consider how Philip the father of Alexander the Great and many republics and princes have armed and organized themselves to which rules I entirely commit myself End of Chapter 13 Recording by Paul Adams www.yonguy.com Chapters 14 to 16 of The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams Chapter 14 that which concerns a prince on the subject of the art of war a prince ought to have no other aim or thought nor select anything else for his study than war and its rules and discipline for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank and on the contrary it is seen that when princes have thought more of ease than of arms they have lost their states and the first cause of your losing it is to collect this art and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of the art Francesco Sforza through being marshal from a private person became Duke of Milan and the sons through avoiding the hardships and troubles of arms from Dukes became private persons for among other evils which being unarmed brings you it causes you to be despised and this is one of those ignominance against which a prince ought to guard himself because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants because they are being in the one disdain and in the other's suspicion it is not possible for them to work well together and therefore a prince who does not understand the art of war over and above the other misfortunes already mentioned cannot be respected by his soldiers nor can he rely on them he ought never therefore to have out of his thoughts this subject of war and in peace he should addict himself more to his exercise than in war this he can do in two ways the one by action the other by study as regards action he ought above all things to keep his men well organized and drilled to follow incessantly the chase by which he accustomed his body to hardships and learned something of the nature of localities and gets to find out how the mountains rise how the valleys open out how the plains lie and to understand the nature of rivers and marshes and in all this to take the greatest care which knowledge is useful in two ways firstly he learns to know his country and is better able to undertake its defense afterwards by means of the knowledge and observation of that locality he understands with ease any other which it may be necessary for him to study hereafter because the hills valleys and plains and rivers and marshes that are for instance in Tuscany have a certain resemblance to those of other countries so that with the knowledge of the aspect of one country one can easily arrive at a knowledge of others and the prince that lacks this skill lacks the essential which it is desirable that a captain should possess for it teaches him to surprise his enemy to select quarters to lead armies to array the battle to besiege towns to advantage Philip Poaman footnote Philip Poaman the last of the Greeks born 252 BC died 183 BC Philip Poaman prince of the Achaeans among other praises which writers have bestowed on him is commended because in time of peace he never had anything in his mind but the rules of war and when he was in the country with friends with them if the enemy should be upon that hill and we should find ourselves here with our army with whom would be the advantage how should one best advance to meet him keeping the ranks if we should wish to retreat how ought we to pursue and he would set forth to them as he went all the chances that could be fallen army he would listen to their opinion and state his confirming it with reasons so that by these continual discussions they could never arise in time of war any unexpected circumstances that he could not deal with but to exercise the intellect the prince should read histories and study there the actions of illustrious men to see how they have born themselves in war to examine the courses of their victories and defeat so as to avoid the latter and imitate the former and above all do as an illustrious man did who took as an exemplar one who had been praised and famous before him and whose achievements and deeds he always kept in his mind as it is said Alexander the great imitated Achilles sees Alexander Scipio Cyrus and whoever reads the life of Cyrus written by Xenophon will recognize afterwards in the life of Scipio how that imitation was his glory and how chastity, affability, humanity and liberality Scipio conformed to those things which have been written of Cyrus by Xenophon a wise prince ought to observe some such rules and never in peaceful times stand idle but increases resources with industry in such a way that may be available to him in adversity so that if fortune chances may find him prepared to resist her blows Chapter 15 concerning things for which men and especially princes are praised or blamed it remains now to see what ought to be the rules of conduct for a prince towards subjects and friends and as I know that many have written on this point I expect I shall be considered presumptuous in mentioning it again especially as in discussing it I shall depart from the methods of other people but it being my intention to write a thing which shall be useful to him who apprehends it it appears to me more appropriate to follow up the real truth of the matter than the imagination of it for many have pictured republics and principalities which in fact have never been known or seen because how one lives is so far distant from how one ought to live that he who neglects what is done for what ought to be done sooner affects his ruin than his preservation for a man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong and to make use of it or not according to necessity therefore putting on one side imaginary things concerning a prince and discussing those which are real I say that all men when they are spoken of and chiefly princes for being more highly placed are remarkable for some of those qualities which bring them either blame or praise and thus it is that one is reputed liberal another miserly using a Tuscan term because an avaricious person in our language is still he who desires to possess by robbery whilst we call one miserly who deprives himself much of the use of his own one is reputed generous one rapacious one cruel one compassionate one faithless another faithful one effeminate and cowardly another bold and brave one affable another haughty one lascivious another chaste one sincere another cunning one hard another easy one grave another frivolous one religious another unbelieving and the like and I know that everyone will confess that it would be most praiseworthy inner prince to exhibit all the above qualities that are considered good but because they can neither be entirely possessed nor observed for human conditions do not permit it it is necessary for him to be sufficiently prudent that he may know how to avoid the reproach of those vices which would lose him his state and also to keep himself if it be possible from those which would not lose him it but not being possible he may with less hesitation abandon himself to them and again he need not make himself uneasy at incurring a reproach for those vices without which the state can only be saved with difficulty for if everything is considered carefully it will be found that something which looks like virtue if followed would be his ruin while something else which looks like vice yet followed brings him security and prosperity Chapter 16 concerning liberality and meanness commencing them with the first of the above named characteristics I say that it would be well to be reputed liberal nevertheless liberality exercise in a way that does not bring you the reputation for it injures you for if one exercises it honestly and as it should be exercised it may not become known and you will not avoid the reproach of its opposite therefore anyone wishing to maintain among men the name of liberal is obliged to avoid no attribute of magnificence so the prince thus inclined will consume in such acts all his property and will be compelled in the end if he wishes to maintain the name of liberal to unduly weigh down his people and tax them and do everything he can to get money this will soon make him odious to his subjects and becoming poor he will be little valued by anyone just with his liberality having offended many and rewarded few he is affected by the very first trouble and imperiled by whatever may be the first danger recognizing this himself and wishing to draw back from it he runs at once into the reproach of being miserly therefore a prince not being able to exercise this virtue of liberality in such a way that it is recognized except to his cost if he is wise he ought not to fear the reputation of being mean for in time he will come to be more considered than if liberal seeing that with his economy his revenues are enough that he can defend himself against all attacks and is able to engage in enterprises without burdening his people thus it comes to pass that he exercises liberality towards all from whom he does not take who are numberless and meanness towards those to whom he does not give who are few we have not seen great things done in our time except by those who have been considered mean the rest have failed Pope Julius II was assisted in reaching the papacy by a reputation for liberality yet he did not strive afterwards to keep it up when he made war on the King of France and he made many wars without imposing any extraordinary attacks on his subjects for he supplied his additional expenses out of his long thriftiness the present King of Spain would not have undertaken or conquered in so many enterprises if he had been reputed liberal a prince for provided that he has not to rob his subjects that he can defend himself that he does not become poor and abject that he is not forced to become rapacious ought to hold of little account a reputation for being mean for it is one of those vices which will enable him to govern and if anyone should say Caesar obtained empire by liberality and many others have reached the highest positions by having been liberal and by being considered so I answer either you are a prince in fact or in a way to become one in the first case this liberality is dangerous in the second it is very necessary to be considered liberal and Caesar was one of those who wished to become preeminent in Rome but if he had survived after becoming so and had not moderated his expenses he would have destroyed his government and if anyone should reply many have been princes and have done great things with armies who have been considered very liberal I reply either a prince spends that which is his own or his subjects or else that of others in the first case he ought to be sparing in the second he ought not to neglect any opportunity for liberality and to the prince who goes forth with his army supporting it by pillage sack and extortion handling that which belongs to others this liberality is necessary otherwise he would not be followed by soldiers and if that which is neither yours nor your subjects you can be a ready giver as were Cyrus Caesar and Alexander because it does not take away your reputation if you squander that of others but adds to it it is only squandering your own that injures you and there is nothing waste so rapidly as liberality for even whilst you exercise it you lose the power to do so and so become either poor or despised or else in avoiding poverty rapacious and hated and a prince should guard himself above all things against being despised and hated and liberality leads you to both therefore it is wiser to have a reputation for meanness which brings reproach without hatred than to be compelled through seeking a reputation for liberality to incur a name for rapacity which begets reproach with hatred. 18 of the Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams Chapter 17 concerning cruelty and clemency and whether it is better to be loved than feared coming now to the other qualities mentioned above I say that every prince ought to desire to be considered clement and not cruel nevertheless he ought to take care not to misuse this clemency. Cesare Borgia was considered cruel notwithstanding his cruelty reconciled the Romagna unified it and restored it to peace and loyalty and if this be rightly considered he will be seen to have been much more merciful than the Florentine people who to avoid a reputation for cruelty permitted Pistoia to be destroyed. Footnote during the rioting between the Cancellieri and Panciatici factions in 1502 and 1503 therefore a prince so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal ought not to mind the reproach of cruelty because with a few examples he will be more merciful than those who through too much mercy allow disorders to arise from which follow murders or robberies for these are want to injure the whole people whilst those executions which originate with a prince offend the individual only and of all princes it is impossible for the new prince to avoid the imputation of cruelty owing to new states being full of dangers hence Virgil through the mouth of Dido excuses the inhumanity of her reign owing to it's being new saying race juror at Regni Norbitas Metalia Cogunt Moliri at Larte Fines Costode Tueri Footnote against my will my fate a throne settled and an infant state bid me defend my realms with all my powers and guard with these severities my shores Christopher Pitt nevertheless he ought to be slow to believe and to act nor should he himself show fear but proceed in a temperate manner with prudence and humanity so that too much confidence may not make him in cautious and too much distrust render him intolerable upon this a question arises whether it be better to be feared than feared or feared than loved it may be answered that one should wish to be both but because it is difficult to unite them in one person it is much safer to be feared than loved when of the two either must be dispensed with because this is to be asserted in general of men that they are ungrateful fickle false cowardly covetous and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely they will offer you their blood property life and children as is said above when the need is far distant but when it approaches they turn against you and that Prince who relying entirely on their promises has neglected other precautions is ruined because friendships that are obtained by payments and not by greatness or an ability of mind may indeed be earned but they are not secured and in time of need cannot be relied upon and men have less scruple in offending one who is beloved than one who is feared the love preserved by the link of obligation which owing to the baseness of men is broken at every opportunity for their advantage but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails nevertheless a Prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that if he does not win love he avoids hatred because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women but when it is necessary for him to proceed against the life of someone he must do it on proper justification and for manifest cause but above all things he must keep his hands off the property of others because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony besides pretexts for taking away the property are never wanting for he who has once begun to live by robbery will always find pretexts for what belongs to others but reasons for taking life on the contrary are more difficult to find and sooner lapse but when a Prince is with his army and has under control a multitude of soldiers then it is quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty for without it he would never hold his army united or disposed to its duties among the wonderful deeds of Hannibal this one is enumerated that having led an enormous army and many various races of men to fight in foreign lands no dissensions arose either among them or against the Prince whether in his bad or in his good fortune this arose from nothing else than his inhuman cruelty which with his boundless valor made him revered and terrible in the sight of his soldiers but without that cruelty his other virtues were not sufficient to produce this effect and short-sighted writers admire his deeds from one point of view from another condemn the principal cause of them that it is true his other virtues would not have been sufficient for him may be proved by the case of Scipio that most excellent man not only of his own times but within the memory of man against whom nevertheless his army rebelled in Spain this arose from nothing but his too great forbearance which gave his soldiers more license than is consistent with military discipline for this who is upbraided in the senate by Fabius Maximus and called the corrupter of the Roman soldiery the Locrians were laid waste by legate of Scipio yet they were not avenged by him nor was the insolence of the legate punished owing entirely to his easy nature in so much that someone in the senate wishing to excuse him said there were many men who knew much better how not to err than to correct the errors of others this disposition if he had been continued in the command would have destroyed in time the fame and glory of Scipio but he being under the control of the senate this injurious characteristic not only concealed itself but contributed to his glory returning to the question of being feared or loved I come to the conclusion that men loving according to their own will and fearing according to that of the prince a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and not in that of others he must endeavour only to avoid hatred as is noted chapter 18 concerning the way in which princes should keep faith footnote the present chapter has given greater offence than any other portion of Machiavelli's writings Byrd, il prince de paix page 297 everyone admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith and to live with integrity and not with craft nevertheless our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft and in the end have overcome those who have relied on their word you must know there are two ways of contesting footnote contesting i.e. striving for mastery Mr. Byrd points out that this passage is imitated directly from Cicero's day of Fissies n'am qu'on sainte de la Cicero's day s'attendi unum per disceptatio nem altum per vim qu'on qu'il eud proprium s'it hominis hock beluarum confiugiendum est ad posterius si uti n'on liset supierore you must know there are two ways of contesting the one by the law the other by force the first method is proper to men the second to beasts but because the first is frequently not sufficient it is necessary to have recourse to the second therefore it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the beast and the man this has been figuratively taught to princes by ancient writers who describe how Achilles and many other princes of old were given to the centaur Chiron to nurse who brought them up in his discipline which means solely that as they had for a teacher one who was half beast and half man so it is necessary for a prince to know how to make use of both natures and that one without the other is not durable a prince therefore being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast ought to choose the fox and the lion because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves therefore it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they are about therefore a wise lord cannot not oughty to keep faith when such observance may be turned against him and when the reasons that cause him to pledge it exist no longer if men were entirely good this precept would not hold but because they are bad and will not keep faith with you you too are not bound to observe it with them nor will they ever be wanting to a prince legitimate reasons to excuse this non-observance of this endless modern examples could be given showing how many treaties and engagements have been made void and of no effect through the faithlessness of princes and he who has known best how to employ the fox has succeeded best but it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic and to be a great pretender and dissembler and men are so simple and so subject to present necessities that he who seeks to deceive will be someone who will allow himself to be deceived. One recent example I cannot pass over in silence Alexander the sixth did nothing else but deceive men nor ever thought of doing otherwise and he always found victims for there never was a man who had greater power in asserting or who with greater oaths would affirm a thing yet would observe it less nevertheless his deceits always succeeded according to his wishes because he well understood this man kind. Footnote non-demancers semperi glisuccedorono gli ingani ad votum the words ad votum are omitted in the testina edition 1550. Alexander never did what he said Cesare never said what he did Italian proverb therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated but it is very necessary to appear to have them and I shall dare to say this also that to have them and always to observe them is injurious and that to appear to have them is useful to appear merciful faithful humane religious upright and to be so but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so you may be able and know how to change to the opposite and you have to understand this that a prince especially a new one cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed being often forced in order to maintain the state to act contrary to fidelity friendship humanity and religion. Footnote contrary to fidelity or faith contro alla fede and tuto fede altogether faithful in the next paragraph it is noteworthy that these two phrases contro alla fede and tuto fede were omitted in the testina edition which was published with the sanction of the papal 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 fidelity and faithful observed that the word religione was suffered to stand in the text of the testina being used to signify indifferently every shade of belief as witness the religion a phrase inevitably employed to designate the Huguenot heresy south in his sermon 9 page 69 edition 1843 comments on this passage as follows that great patron and quarry fierce of this tribe Nicolò Machiavelle laid down this for a master rule in his political scheme that the show of religion was helpful to the politician but the reality of it hurtful and pernicious therefore it is necessary for him to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it yet as I have said above not to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing so but if compelled then to know how to set about it for this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip from his lips that is not replete with the above named five qualities that he may appear to him who sees and hears him altogether merciful faithful humane upright and religious there is nothing more necessary to appear to have than this last quality in as much as men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand because it belongs to everybody to see you to few to come in touch with you everyone sees what you appear to be few really know what you are and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many who have the majesty of the state to defend them and in the actions of all men and especially of princes which it is not prudent to challenge one judges by the result for that reason let a prince have the credit of conquering and holding the state the means will always be considered honest and he will be praised by everybody because the vulgar are always taken by what a thing seems to be and by what comes of it and in the world there are only the vulgar for the few find a place there only when the many have no ground to rest on one prince of the present time footnote Ferdinand of Aragon when Machiavelli was writing the prince it would have been clearly impossible to mention Ferdinand name here without giving a fence birds ill princey pay page 308 one prince of the present time whom it is not well to name never preaches anything else but peace and good faith and to both he is most hostile and either if he kept it would have deprived him of reputation and kingdom many a time end of chapter 18 recording by Paul Adams www.jaungei.com chapter 19 of the prince by Niccolò Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams chapter 19 that one should avoid being despised and hated now concerning the characteristics of which mention is made above I have spoken of the more important ones the others I wish to discuss briefly under this generality that the prince must consider as has been in part said before how to avoid those things which will make him hated or contemptible and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his part and he need not fear any danger in other reproaches it makes him hated above all things as I have said to be rapacious and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects from both of which he must abstain and when neither their property nor their honor is touched the majority of men live content with the ambition of a few whom he can curb with ease in many ways it makes him contemptible to be considered fickle, frivolous, effeminate mean-spirited, irresolute from all of which a prince should guard himself as from a rock and he should endeavor to show in his actions greatness, courage, gravity and fortitude and in his private dealings with his subjects let him show that his judgments are irrevocable and maintain himself in such reputation that no one can hope either to deceive him or to get round him that prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself and he who is highly esteemed is not easily conspired against for, provided it is well known that he is an excellent man and revered by his people he can only be attacked with difficulty for this reason a prince ought to have two fears one from within on account of his subjects the other from without on account of external powers from the latter he is defended by being well armed and having good allies and if he is well armed he will have good friends and affairs will always remain quiet within when they are quiet without unless they should have been already disturbed by conspiracy and even should affairs outside be disturbed if he has carried out his preparations and has lived as I have said as long as he does not despair he will resist every attack that the Spartan did but concerning his subjects when affairs outside are disturbed he is only to fear that they will conspire secretly from which a prince can easily secure himself by avoiding being hated and despised and by keeping the people satisfied with him which it is most necessary for him to accomplish as I said above at length and one of the most efficacious remedies that a prince can have against conspiracies is not to be hated and despised by the people he who conspires against a prince always expects to please them by his removal but when the conspirator can only look forward to offending them he will not have the courage to take such a course for the difficulties that confront a conspirator are infinite and as experience shows many have been the conspiracies but few have been successful because he who conspires cannot act alone nor can he take a companion except from those who he believes to be as soon as you have opened your mind to a malcontent you have given him the material with which to content himself for by denouncing you he can look for every advantage so that seeing the gain from this course to be assured and seeing the other to be doubtful and full of dangers he must be a very rare friend or a thoroughly obstinate enemy of the prince to keep faith with you and to reduce the matter into a small compass I say that on the side of the conspirator there is nothing but fear, jealousy prospect of punishment to terrify him but on the side of the prince there is the majesty of the principality the laws, the protection of friends and the state to defend him so that adding to all these things the popular goodwill it is impossible that anyone should be so rash as to conspire for whereas in general the conspirator has to fear before the execution of his plot in this case he has also to fear the sequel to the crime because on account of it he has the people for an enemy and thus cannot hope for any escape endless examples could be given on this subject but I will be content with one brought to pass within the memory of our fathers Mesa Anibali Benti Voli who is prince in Bologna grandfather of the present Anibali having been murdered by the Kaneski who had conspired against him not one of his family survived but Mesa Giovanni footnote Giovanni Benti Voli born in Bologna 1438 died at Milan 1508 he ruled Bologna from 1462 to 1506 Machiavelli's strong condemnation of conspiracies may get its edge from his own very recent experience February 1513 when he had been arrested and tortured for his alleged complicity in the Boscoli conspiracy immediately after his assassination he simply rose and murdered all the Kaneski this sprung from the popular Goodwill which the house of Benti Voli enjoyed in those days in Bologna which was so great that although none remained there after the death of Anibali who was able to rule the state the Bolognese having information that there was one of the Benti Voli family in Florence who up to that time had been considered the son of a blacksmith sent to Florence for him until Messa Giovanni came in due course to the government for this reason I consider that a prince ought to reckon conspiracies of little account when his people hold him in esteem but when it is hostile to him and bears hatred towards him he ought to fear everything and everybody and well-ordered states and wise princes have taken every care not to drive the nobles to desperation and to keep the people satisfied and contented the most important objects a prince can have among the best ordered and governed kingdoms of that time is France and in it have found many good institutions on which depend the liberty and security of the king of these the first is the parliament and its authority because he who founded the kingdom knowing the ambition of the nobility and the boldness considered that a bit to their mouths would be necessary to hold them in and on the other side knowing the hatred of the people who founded in fear against the nobles he wished to protect them yet he was not anxious for this to be the particular care of the king therefore to take away the reproach which he would be liable to from the nobles for favouring the people and from the people for favouring the nobles he set up an arbiter who should be the one who could beat down the great and favour the lesser without reproach to the king neither could you have a better or a more prudent arrangement and kingdom from this one can draw another important conclusion that princes ought to leave affairs of reproach to the management of others and keep those of grace in their own hands and further I consider that a prince ought to cherish the nobles but not so as to make himself hated by the people it may appear perhaps to some who have examined the lives and deaths of the Roman emperors that many of them would be an example contrary to my opinion seeing that some of them lived nobly and showed great qualities of soul nevertheless they have lost their empire or have been killed by subjects who have conspired against them wishing therefore to answer these objections I will recall the characters of some of the emperors and will show that the causes of their ruin were not different to those alleged by me at the same time I will only submit for consideration those things that are noteworthy to him who studies the affairs of those times it seems to me it is important to take all those emperors who succeeded to the empire from Marcus the Philosopher down to Maximinus they were Marcus and his son Commodus, Pertinax Julian, Severus and his son Antonius Caracalla Macrinus, Heliogabalus Alexander and Maximinus there is first to note that whereas in other principalities the ambition of the nobles and the insolence of the people only have to be contended with that had a third difficulty in having to put up with the cruelty and avarice of their soldiers a matter so beset with difficulties that it was the ruin of many for it was a hard thing to give satisfaction both to soldiers and people because the people loved peace and for this reason they loved the unaspiring prince whilst the soldiers loved the war like prince who was bold, cruel and rapacious which qualities they were quite willing he should exercise upon the people to double pay and give vent to their own greed and cruelty hence it arose that those emperors were always overthrown who either by birth or training had no great authority and most of them, especially those who came new to the principality recognising the difficulties of those two opposing humours were inclined to give satisfaction to the soldiers caring little about injuring the people which course was necessary because as princes cannot help by someone they ought in the first place to avoid being hated by everyone and when they cannot compass this they ought to endeavour with the utmost diligence to avoid the hatred of the most powerful therefore those emperors who through inexperience had a need of special favour had heared more readily to the soldiers than to the people a course which turned out advantageous to them or not accordingly as the prince knew how to maintain authority over them the first causes it arose that Marcus Pertinax and Alexander being all men of modest life lovers of justice, enemies to cruelty humane and benign came to a sad end except Marcus, he alone lived and died honoured because he had succeeded to the throne by hereditary title and owed nothing either to the soldiers or the people and afterwards being possessed of many virtues which made him respected he always kept both orders in their place whilst he lived and was neither hated nor despised but Pertinax was created emperor against the wishes of the soldiers who, being accustomed to live licentiously under Commodus could not endure the honest life to which Pertinax wished to reduce them thus having given cause for hatred to which hatred there was added contempt for his old age he was overthrown at the very beginning of his administration and here it should be noted that hatred had as much by good works as by bad ones therefore, as I said before a prince wishing to keep his state is very often forced to do evil for when that body is corrupt whom you think you have need of to maintain yourself it may be either the people or the soldiers or the nobles you have to submit to its humours and to gratify them and then good works will do you harm but let us come to Alexander who is a man of such great goodness that among the other praises which are afforded him is this that in the fourteen years he held the empire no one was ever put to death by him unjudged nevertheless being considered effeminate and a man who allowed himself to be governed by his mother he became despised the army conspired against him and murdered him turning now to the opposite characters of Commodus, Severus, Antonius Caracalla and Maxim Minas will find them all crawl and rapacious men who to satisfy their soldiers did not hesitate to commit every kind of iniquity against the people and all except Severus came to a bad end but in Severus there was so much valor that keeping the soldiers friendly although the people were oppressed by him he reigned successfully for his valor made him so much admired in the sight of the soldiers and people that the latter were kept in a way astonished and awed and the former respectful and satisfied and because the actions of this man as a new prince were great I wish to show briefly that he knew well how to counterfeit the fox and the lion which natures as I said above it is necessary for a prince to imitate knowing the sloth of the Emperor Julian he persuaded the army in Sclavonia of which he was captain that it would be right to go to Rome and avenge the death of Pertinax who had been killed by the Praetorian soldiers and under this pretext without appearing to aspire to the throne he moved the army on Rome and reached Italy before it was known that he had started on his arrival at Rome the senate through fear elected him Emperor and killed Julian after this there remained for Severus who wished to make himself master of the whole empire two difficulties one in Asia where Nigah head of the Asiatic army had caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor the other in the west where Albinus was who also aspired to the throne and as he considered it dangerous to declare himself hostile to both he decided to attack Nigah and to deceive Albinus to the latter he wrote that being elected Emperor by the senate he was willing to share that dignity with him and sent him the title of Caesar and moreover that the senate had made Albinus his colleague which things were accepted by Albinus is true but after Severus had conquered and killed Nigah and settled Oriental affairs he returned to Rome and complained to the senate that Albinus little recognizing the benefits that he had received from him had by treachery sought to murder him and for this ingratitude he was compelled to punish him afterwards he sought him out in France and took from him his government and life he who will therefore carefully examine the actions of this man will find him a most valiant lion and a most cunning fox he will find him feared by everyone and not hated by the army and it need not be wondered that he, a new man was able to hold the empire so well because his supreme renown always protected him from that hatred which the people might have conceived against him for his violence but his son Antoninas was a most eminent man and had very excellent qualities which made him admirable in the sight of the people and acceptable to the soldiers for he was a war like man he was bearing of fatigue a despiser of all delicate food and other luxurers which caused him to be beloved by the armies nevertheless his ferocity and cruelties were so great and so unheard of that after endless single murders he killed a large number of the people of Rome and all those of Alexandria he became hated by the whole world and also feared by those he had around him to such an extent that he was murdered in the midst of his army by a centurion and here it must be noted that such like deaths which are deliberately inflicted with a resolved and desperate courage cannot be avoided by princes because anyone who does not fear to die can inflict them but a prince may fear them the less because they are very rare he has only to be careful not to do any grave injury to those whom he employs or has around him in the service of the state Antoninas had not taken this care but had conchumeleously killed a brother of that centurion whom also he daily threatened yet retained in his bodyguard which as it turned out was a rash thing to do and proved the emperor's ruin but let us come to Commodus to whom it should have been very easy to hold the empire for being the son of Marcus he had inherited it and he had only to follow in the footsteps of his father to please his people and soldiers but being by nature cruel and brutal he gave himself up to amusing the soldiers and corrupting them so that he might indulge his rapacity upon the people on the other hand not maintaining his dignity often descending to the theatre to compete with gladiators and doing other vile things little worthy of the imperial majesty he fell into contempt with the soldiers and being hated by one party and despised by the other he was conspired against and was killed it remains to discuss the character of Maxim Minas he was a very warlike man disgusted with the effeminacy of Alexander of whom I have already spoken killed him and elected Maxim Minas to the throne this he did not possess for long for two things made him hated and despised the one his having kept sheep in thrass which brought him into contempt it being well known to all and considered a great indignity by everyone and the other his having at the accession to his dominions deferred going to Rome and taking possession of the imperial seat he had also gained a reputation for the utmost ferocity by having through his prefects in Rome and elsewhere in the empire practiced many cruelties so that the whole world was moved to anger at the meanness of his birth and to fear at his barbarity first Africa rebelled then the senate with all the people of Rome and all Italy conspired against him to which maybe added his own army this latter besieging Aquilaia and meeting with difficulties in taking it were disgusted with his cruelties and fearing him less when they found so many against him murdered him I do not wish to discuss Helio Gabalus Macrinus or Julian who being thoroughly contemptible were quickly wiped out but I will bring this discourse to a conclusion by saying that princes in our times have this difficulty of giving inordinate satisfaction to their soldiers in a far less degree because notwithstanding one has to give them some indulgence that is soon done none of these princes have armies that are veterans in the governments that administration of provinces as were the armies of the Roman empire and whereas it was then more necessary to give satisfaction to the soldiers than to the people it is now more necessary to all princes except the Turk and the soldon to satisfy the people rather the soldiers because the people are the more powerful from the above I have accepted the Turk this keeps round him 12,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry on which depend the security and strength of the kingdom and it is necessary that putting aside every consideration for the people he should keep them his friends the kingdom of the soldon is similar being entirely in the hands of soldiers it follows again that without regard to the people he must keep them his friends but you must note that the state of the soldon is unlike all other principalities for the reason that it is like the Christian pontificate which cannot be called either an hereditary or a newly formed principality because the sons of the old prince are not the heirs but he who is elected to that position by those who have authority and the sons remain only noblemen and this being an ancient custom it cannot be called a new principality because there are none of those difficulties in it that are met within new ones for although the prince is new the constitution of the state is old and it is framed so as to receive him as if he were its hereditary lord but returning to the subject of our discourse I say that whoever will consider it will acknowledge that either hatred or contempt has been fatal to the above named emperors and it will be recognized also how it happened that a number of them acting in one way and a number in another only one in each way came to a happy end and the rest to unhappy ones because it would have been useless and dangerous for Pertinax and Alexander being new princes to imitate Marcus who was heir to the principality and likewise it would have been utterly destructive to Caracalla, Commodus and Maximinus to have imitated Severus they not having sufficient valor to enable them to tread in his footsteps therefore a prince new to the principality cannot imitate the actions of Marcus nor again is it necessary to follow those of Severus but he ought to take from Severus those parts which are necessary to found his state and from Marcus those which are proper and glorious to keep a state that may already be stable and firm End of Chapter 19 Recording by Paul Adams www.yonguy.com Chapters 20-22 of The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams Chapter 20 are fortresses and many other things to which princes often resort advantageous or hurtful 1. Some princes so as to hold securely the state have disarmed their subjects others have kept their subject towns distracted by factions others have fostered enmities against themselves others have laid themselves out to gain over those whom they distrusted in the beginning of their governments some have built fortresses some have overthrown and destroyed them and although one cannot give a final judgment on all of these things unless one possesses the particulars of those states in which a decision has to be made nevertheless I will speak as comprehensively as the matter of itself will admit 2. There never was a new prince who has disarmed his subjects rather when he has found them disarmed he has always armed them because by arming them there was those men who were distrust to become faithful and those who were faithful are kept so and your subjects become your adherents and whereas all subjects cannot be armed yet when those whom you do arm are benefited the others can be handled more freely and this difference in their treatment which they quite understand makes the former your dependence and the latter considering it to be necessary that those who have the most danger and service should have the most reward when you disarm them you at once offend them by showing that you distrust them either for cowardice or for want of loyalty and either of these opinions breeds hatred against you and because you cannot remain unarmed it follows that you turn to mercenaries which are of the character already shown even if they should be good they would not be sufficient to defend you against powerful enemies and distrusted subjects therefore as I have said a new prince in a new principality has always distributed arms histories are full of examples but when a prince acquires a new state which he adds as a province to his old one then it is necessary to disarm the men of that state except those who have been his adherents in acquiring it and these again with time and opportunity should be rendered soft and effeminate and matters should be managed in such a way that all the armed men in the state should be your own soldiers who in your old state were living near you three our forefathers and those who were reckoned wise were accustomed to say that it was necessary to hold pistoyer by factions and pizza by fortresses and with this idea they foster quarrels in some of their tributary towns so as to keep possession of them the more easily this may have been well enough in those times when Italy was in a way balanced but I do not believe that it can be accepted as a precept for today because I do not believe that factions can ever be of use it is certain that when the enemy comes upon you in divided cities you are quickly lost because the weakest party will always assist the outside forces and the other will not be able to resist the Venetians moved as I believe by the above reasons fostered the Guelph and gibberly infactions in their tributary cities and although they never allowed them to come to bloodshed yet they nursed these disputes amongst them so that the citizens distracted by their differences did not unite against them which as we saw did not afterwards turn out as expected because after the rout at Vila one party at once took courage and seized the state such methods argue therefore weakness in the prince because these factions will never be permitted in a vigorous principality such methods for enabling one the more easily to manage subjects are only useful in times of peace but if war comes this policy proves fallacious for without doubt princes become great when they overcome the difficulties and obstacles by which they are confronted and therefore fortune especially when she desires to make a new prince great who has a greater necessity to earn renown than in hereditary one causes enemies to arise and form designs against him in order that he may have the opportunity of overcoming them and buy them to mount higher as by a ladder which his enemies have raised for this reason many consider that a wise prince when he has the opportunity ought with craft to foster some animosity against himself so that having crushed it his renown may rise higher five princes especially new ones have found more fidelity and assistance in those men who in the beginning of their rule were distrusted than among those who in the beginning were trusted Pandolfo Protruzzi Prince of Siena ruled his state more by those who had been distrusted than by others but on this question one cannot speak generally for it varies so much with the individual I will only say this that those men who at the commencement of the princedom have been hostile if they are of a description to need assistance to support themselves can always be gained over with the greatest ease and they will be tightly held to serve the prince with fidelity in as much as they know it to be very necessary for them to cancel by deeds the bad impression which he had formed of them and thus the prince always extracts more profit from them than from those who serving him in too much security may neglect his affairs and since the matter demands it I must not fail to warn a prince who by means of secret favors has acquired a new state that he must well consider the reasons which induced those to favor him who did so and if it be not a natural affection towards him but only discontent with their government then he will only keep them friendly with great trouble and difficulty for it will be impossible to satisfy them and weighing well the reasons for this in those examples which can be taken from ancient and modern affairs we shall find that it is easier for the prince to make friends of those men who were contented under the former government and therefore his enemies than of those who being discontented with it were favorable to him and encouraged him to seize it six it has been accustomed with princes in order to hold their states more securely to build fortresses that may serve as a bridle and bit to those who might design to work against them and as a place of refuge from a first attack I praise this system because it has been made use of formally notwithstanding that Mesa Nicolo Vitelli in our times has been seen to demolish two fortresses in Sita di Castello so that he might keep that state Guido Orbaldo Duke of Urbino on returning to his dominion whence he had been driven by Cesare Borgia raised to the foundations all the fortresses in that province and considered that without them it would be more difficult to lose it the Bentivoile returning to Bologna came to a similar decision fortresses therefore are useful or not according to circumstances if they do you good in one way they injure you in another and this question can be reasoned thus the prince who has more to fear from the people ought to build fortresses but he who has more to fear from foreigners than from the people ought to leave them alone the castle of Milan built by Francesco Sforza has made and will make more trouble for the house of Sforza than any other disorder in the state for this reason the best possible fortress is not to be hated by the people because although you may hold the fortresses yet they will not save you if the people hate you for they will never be wanting foreigners to assist the people who have taken arms against you it has not been seen in our times that such fortresses have been of use to any prince unless to the countess of Fawley when the count of Girolamo her consort was killed footnote Catherine Sforza a daughter of Galliazzo Sforza and Lucrezia Landriardi born 1463 died 1509 it was to the countess of Fawley that Machiavelli was sent as envoy on 1499 a letter from Fortunati to the countess announces the appointment I have been with the signori wrote Fortunati to learn whom they would send and when they tell me that Niccolò Machiavelli a learned young Florentine noble secretary to my lord of the ten is to leave with me at once compare Catherine Sforza by Count Pasolini translated by P. Sylvester 1898 it has not been seen in our times that such fortresses have been of use to any prince unless to the countess of Fawley when the count Girolamo her consort was killed for by that means she was able to withstand the popular attack and wait for assistance from Milan and thus recover her state and the posture of affairs was such at that time that the foreigners could not assist the people but fortresses were of little value to her afterwards when Cesare Borgia attacked her and when the people her enemy allied with foreigners therefore it would have been safer for her both then and before not to have been hated by the people than to have had the fortresses all these things considered then I shall praise him who builds fortresses as well as him who does not and I shall blame whoever trusting in them cares little about being hated by the people Chapter 21 how a prince should conduct himself so as to gain renown nothing makes a prince so much esteemed great enterprises and setting a fine example we have in our time Ferdinand of Aragon the present king of Spain he can almost be called a new prince because he has risen by fame and glory from being an insignificant king to be the foremost king in Christendom and if you will consider his deeds you'll find them all great and some of them extraordinary in the beginning of his reign he attacked Granada and this enterprise was the foundation of his dominions he did this quietly at first and without any fear of hindrance for he held the minds of the barons of Castile occupied in thinking of the war and not anticipating any innovations thus they did not perceive that by these means he was acquiring power and authority over them he was able with the money of the church and of the people to sustain his armies and by that long war to lay the foundation for the military skill which has since distinguished him further always using religion as a plea so as to undertake greater schemes he devoted himself with pious cruelty to driving out and clearing his kingdom of the Moors nor could there be a more admirable example nor one more rare under the same cloak he assailed Africa he came down on Italy he has finally attacked France and thus his achievements and designs have always been great and have kept the minds of his people in suspense and admiration and occupied with the issue of them and his actions have arisen in such a way one out of the other that men have never been given time to work steadily against him again it much assists a prince to set unusual examples in internal affairs similar to those which are related of Mesa Bernabo da Milano who, when he had the opportunity by any one in civil life doing some extraordinary thing either good or bad the method of rewarding or punishing him which would be much spoken about and a prince ought above all things always endeavour in every action to gain for himself the reputation of being a great and remarkable man a prince is also respected when he is either a true friend or a downright enemy that is to say when without any reservation he declares himself in favour of one party against the other which course will always be more advantageous than standing neutral because if two of your powerful neighbours come to blows they are of such a character that if one of them conquers you have either to fear him or not in either case it will always be more advantageous for you to declare yourself and to make war strenuously because in the first case if you do not declare yourself you will invariably fall a prey to the conqueror to the pleasure and satisfaction of him who has been conquered that is to offer nor anything to protect or to shelter you because he who conquers does not want doubtful friends who will not aid him in the time of trial and he who loses will not harbour you because you did not willingly sword in hand caught his fate Antiochus went into Greece being sent for by the Itolians to drive out the Romans he sent envoys to the Achaeans who were friends of the Romans exhorting them to remain neutral on the other hand the Romans urged them to take up arms this question came to be discussed in the council of the Achaeans where the legate of Antiochus urged them to stand neutral to this the Roman legate answered as for that which has been said that it is better and more advantageous for your state not to interfere in our war nothing can be more erroneous because by not interfering you will be left without favour or consideration the girdon of the conqueror yes it will always happen that he who is not your friend will demand your neutrality whilst he who is your friend will entreat you to declare yourself with arms and irresolute princes to avoid present dangers generally follow the neutral path and are generally ruined but when a prince declares himself gallantly in favour of one side if the party with whom he allies himself conquers although the victor may be powerful and may have him at his mercy yet he is indebted to him and there is established a bond of amity and men are never so shameless as to become a monument of ingratitude by oppressing you victor is after all and never so complete that the victim must not show some regard especially to justice but if he with whom you ally yourself loses you may be sheltered by him and whilst he is able he may aid you you may become companions on a fortune that may rise again in the second case when those who fight are of such a character that you have no anxiety as to who may conquer so much the more is it greater prudence to be allied because you assist at the destruction of one by the aid of another who if he had been wise would have saved him and conquering as it is impossible that he should not do with your assistance he remains at your discretion and here it is to be noted that a prince ought to take care never to make an alliance with one more than himself for the purposes of attacking others unless necessity compels him as is said above because if he conquers you are at his discretion and princes ought to avoid as much as possible being at the discretion of anyone the Venetians joined with France against the Duke of Milan and this alliance which caused their ruin could have been avoided but when it cannot be avoided as happened to the Florentines when the Pope and Spain sent armies then in such a case for the above reasons the prince ought to favour one of the parties never let any government imagine that it can choose perfectly safe courses rather let it expect to have to take very doubtful ones because it is found in ordinary affairs that one never seeks to avoid one trouble without running into another but prudence consists in knowing how to distinguish the character of troubles and for choice to take the lesser evil a prince ought also to show himself a patron of ability and to honour the proficient in every art at the same time he should encourage his citizens to practice their callings peaceably both in commerce and agriculture and in every other following so that the one should not be deterred from improving his possessions for fear lest they be taken away from him or another from opening up trade for fear of taxes but the prince ought to offer rewards to do these things and designs in any way to honour his city or state further he ought to entertain the people with festivals and spectacles at convenient seasons of the year and as every city is divided into guilds or into societies footnote guilds or societies in artio in tribute arti were craft or trade guilds compare florio artio a whole company of any trade in any city or corporation town the guilds of florants are most admirably described by mr. edgcomb staley in his work on the subject methu in 1906 institutions of a somewhat similar character called artel exist in russia today compare sir mckenzie wallace's russia edition 1905 the sons were always during the working season members of an artel in some of the larger towns there are artels of a much more complex kind of permanent associations possessing large capital and peculiarly responsible for the acts of the individual members the word artel despite its apparent similarity has mr. elmer moored assures me no connection with ours or arte its root is that of the verb rotticia to binder oneself by an oath and it is generally admitted to be only another form of rota which now signifies a regimental company the underlying idea is that of a body of men united by an oath tribute were possibly gentile groups united by common descent and including individuals connected by marriage perhaps our words sects or clans will be most appropriate further he ought to entertain the people with festivals and spectacles at convenient seasons of the year and as every city is divided into guilds or into societies he ought to hold such bodies in a steam and associate with them sometimes and show himself an example of courtesy and liberality nevertheless always maintaining the majesty of his rank for this he must never consent to a bait in anything chapter 22 concerning the secretaries of princes the choice of servants is of no little importance to a prince and they are good or not according to the discrimination of the prince and the first opinion which one forms of a prince and of his understanding is by observing the men he has around him and when they are capable and faithful he may always be considered wise because he has known how to recognize the capable and to keep them faithful but when they are otherwise one cannot form a good opinion of him for the prime error which he made was in choosing them there were none who knew Mesa Antonio Davanafro as the servant of Pandolfo Petruzzi prince of Siena who would not consider Pandolfo to be a very clever man in having Vanafro for his servant because there are three classes of intellects one which comprehends by itself another which appreciates what others comprehended and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others the first is the most excellent the second is good the third is useless therefore it follows necessarily that if Pandolfo was not in the first rank he was in the second for whenever one has judgment to know good and bad when it is said and done although he himself may not have the initiative yet he can recognize the good and the bad in his servant and the one he can praise and the other correct thus the servant cannot hope to deceive him and is kept honest but to enable a prince to form an opinion of his servant there is one test which never fails when you see the servant thinking more of his own interest than of yours and seeking his own profit in everything such a man will never make a good servant nor will you ever be able to trust him because he who has the state of another in his hands or never to think of himself but always of his prince and never pay any attention to matters in which the prince is not concerned on the other hand to keep his servant honest the prince ought to study him honoring him enriching him doing him kindnesses sharing with him the honors he cares and at the same time let him see that he cannot stand alone so that many honors may not make him desire more many riches make him wish for more and that many cares may make him dread chances when therefore servants and princes toward servants are thus disposed they can trust each other but when it is otherwise the end will always be disastrous for either one or the other end of chapter chapter 22 recording by Paul Adams www.yonguy.com chapters 23 to 26 of the prince by Niccolò Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams chapter 23 how flatterers should be avoided I do not wish to leave out an important branch of the subject for it is a danger from which they are with difficulty preserved unless they are very careful and discriminating it is that of flatterers of whom courts are full because men are so self complacent in their own affairs and in a way so deceived in them that they are preserved with difficulty from this pest and if they wish to defend themselves they run the danger of falling into contempt because there is no other way of guarding oneself from flatterers except letting men understand that to tell you the truth they will defend you but when everyone may tell you the truth respect for you abates therefore a wise prince ought to hold a third course by choosing the wise men in his state and giving to them only the liberty of speaking the truth to him and then only of those things of which he inquires and of none others but he ought to question them upon everything and listen to their opinions and afterwards form his own conclusions selectively he ought to carry himself in such a way that each of them should know that the more freely he shall speak the more he shall be preferred outside of these he should listen to no one pursue the thing resolved on and be steadfast in his resolutions he who does otherwise is either overthrown by flatterers or is so often changed by varying opinions that he falls into contempt I wish on the subject to adduce a modern example Fraluca the man of affairs to Maximilien footnote Maximilien the first born in 1459 died 1519 emperor of the Holy Roman Empire he married first Mary daughter of Charles the bold after her death Bianca's forcer and thus became involved in Italian politics Fraluca the man of affairs to Maximilien the present emperor speaking of his majesty said he consulted with no one yet never got his own way in anything this arose because of his following a practice the opposite to the above for the emperor is a secretive man he does not communicate his designs to anyone nor does he receive opinions on them but as in carrying them into effect they become revealed and known they are at once obstructed by those men whom he has around him and he being client is diverted from them hence it follows that those things he does one day he undoes the next and no one ever understands what he wishes or intends to do and no one can rely on his resolutions a prince therefore ought always to take counsel but only when he wishes and not when others wish he ought rather to discourage everyone from offering advice unless he asks it but however he ought to be a constant inquirer and afterwards a patient listener concerning the things of which he inquired also on learning that anyone on any consideration has not told him the truth he should let his anger be felt and if there are some who think that a prince who conveys an impression of his wisdom is not so through his own ability but through the good advisers that he has around him beyond doubt they are deceived because this is an axiom which never fails that a prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice unless by chance he has yielded his affairs entirely to one person he seems to be a very prudent man in this case indeed he may be well governed but it would not be for long because such a governor would in a short time take away his state from him but if a prince who is not inexperienced should take counsel from more than one he will never get united counsels nor will he know how to unite them each of the counselors will think of his own interests and the prince will not know how to control them or to see through them otherwise because men will always prove untrue to you unless they are kept honest by constraint therefore it must be inferred that good counsels when so ever they come are born of the wisdom of the prince and not the wisdom of the prince from good counsels chapter 24 why the princes of Italy have lost their states the previous suggestions carefully observed will enable a new prince to appear well established and render him at once more secure and fixed in the state than if he had been long seated there for the actions of a new prince are more narrowly observed than those of an hereditary one and when they are seen to be able they gain more men and bind far tighter than ancient blood because men are attracted more by the present than by the past and when they find the present good they enjoy it and seek no further they will also make the utmost defense with prince if he fails them not other things thus it will be a double glory for him to have established a new principality and adorned and strengthened it with good laws good arms good allies and with a good example so will it be a double disgrace to him who born a prince shall lose his state by want of wisdom and if those seniors are considered who have lost their states in Italy in our times such as the king of Naples the Duke of Milan and others there will be found in them firstly one common defect in regard to arms from the courses which have been discussed at length in the next place some one of them will be seen either to have had the people hostile or if he has had the people friendly he has not known how to secure the nobles in the absence of these defects states that have power enough to keep an army in the field cannot be lost Philip of Macedon not the father of Alexander the great but he who was supported by Titus Quintius had not much territory compared to the greatness of the Romans and of Greece who attacked him yet being a war like man who knew how to attract the people and secure the nobles he sustained the war against his enemies for many years and if in the end he lost the dominion of some cities nevertheless he retained the kingdom therefore do not let our princes accuse fortune for the loss of their principalities after so many years of succession but rather their own sloth because in quiet times they never thought there could be a change it is a common defect in man not to make any provision in the calm against the tempest and when afterwards the bad times came they thought of flight and not of defending themselves and they hoped that the people disgusted with the insolence of the conquerors would recall them this course when others fail may be good but it is very bad for that since you would never wish to fall because you trusted to be able to find someone later on to restore you this again either does not happen or if it does it will not be for your security because that deliverance is of no avail which does not depend upon yourself those only are reliable certain and durable that depend on yourself and your valor Chapter 25 what fortune can affect in human affairs and how to withstand her it is not unknown to me how many men have had and still have the opinion that the affairs of the world are in such wise governed by fortune and by God that men with their wisdom cannot direct them and that no one can even help them and because of this they would have us believe that it is not necessary to labor much in affairs but to let chance govern them this opinion has been more credited in our times because of the great changes in affairs which have been seen and may still be seen every day beyond all human conjecture sometimes pondering over this I am in some degree inclined to their opinion nevertheless not to extinguish our free will I hold it to be true that fortune is the arbiter of one half of our actions footnote Frederick the great was accustomed to say the older one gets the more convinced one becomes that his majesty king chance does causes of the business of this miserable universe sorel's eastern question nevertheless not to extinguish our free will I hold it to be true that fortune is the arbiter of one half of our actions but that she still leaves us to direct the other half or perhaps a little less I compare her to one of those raging rivers which when in flood overflows the plains sweeping away trees and buildings bearing away the soil from place to place everything flies before it all yield to its violence without being able in any way to withstand it and yet though its nature be such it does not follow therefore that men when the weather becomes fair shall not make provision both with defences and barriers in such a manner that rising again the waters may pass away by canal and their force be neither so unrestrained nor so dangerous so it happens with fortune who shows her power the valour has not prepared to resist her and thither she turns her forces where she knows that barriers and defences have not been raised to constrain her and if you will consider Italy which is the seat of these changes and which has given to them their impulse you will see it to be an open country without barriers and without any defense for if it had been defended by proper valour as are Germany Spain and France either this invasion would not have made the great changes made or it would not have come at all and this I consider enough to say concerning resistance to fortune in general but confining myself more to the particular I say that a prince may be seen happy today and ruined tomorrow without having shown any change of disposition or character this I believe arises firstly from causes that have already been discussed at length namely that the prince who relies entirely on fortune is lost when it changes I believe also that he will be successful who directs his actions according to the spirit of the times and that he whose actions do not accord with the times will not be successful because men are seen in affairs that lead to the end which every man has before him namely glory and riches to get there by various methods one with caution, another with haste one by force, another by skill one by patience another by its opposite succeeds in reaching the goal by a different method one can also see of two cautious men the one attain his end the other fail and similarly two men by different observances are equally successful the one being cautious, the other impetuous all this arises from nothing else than whether or not they can form in their methods to the spirit of the times this follows from what I have said that two men working differently bring about the same effect one attains his object and the other does not changes in estate also issue from this for if, to one who governs himself with caution and patience times and affairs converge in such a way that his administration is successful, his fortune is made but if times and affairs change he is ruined if he does not change his course of action but a man is not often found sufficiently circumspect to know how to accommodate himself to the change both because he cannot deviate from what nature inclines him to do and also because having always prospered by acting in one way he cannot be persuaded that it is well to leave it and therefore the cautious man when it is time to turn adventurous does not know how to do it hence he is ruined but had he changed his conduct with the times fortune would not have changed Pope Julius II went to work impetuously in all his affairs and found the times and circumstances conform so well to that line of action that he always met with success consider his first enterprise against Bologna, Mesa Giovanni Bentivoli being still alive the Venetians were not agreeable to it nor was the king of Spain and he had the enterprise still under discussion with the king of France, nevertheless he personally entered upon the expedition with his accustomed boldness and energy a move which made Spain and the Venetians stand irresolute and passive the latter from fear the former from desire to recover the kingdom of Naples on the other hand he drew after him the king of France because that king having observed the movement and desiring to make the Pope his friend so as to humble the Venetians found it impossible to refuse him therefore Julius with his impetuous action accomplished what no other pontiff with simple human wisdom could have done for if he had waited in Rome until he could get away with his plans arranged and everything fixed as any other pontiff would have done he would never have succeeded because the king of France would have made a thousand excuses and the others would have raised 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 not let him experience the contrary but if circumstances had arisen which required him to go cautiously his ruin would have followed those ways to which nature inclined him I conclude therefore that fortune being changeful and mankind steadfast in their ways so long as the two are in agreement men are successful but unsuccessful when they fall out for my part I consider that it is better to be adventurous than cautious because fortune is a woman and if 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 mastered by the adventurous rather than by those who go to work more coldly she is therefore always a woman like a lover of young men because they are less cautious, more violent and with more audacity command her Chapter 26 an ex-hortation to liberate Italy from the barbarians having carefully considered the subject of the above discourses and wondering within myself whether the present times were propitious and whether there were elements that would give an opportunity to a wise and virtuous one to introduce a new order of things which would do honour to him and good to the people of this country it appears to me that so many things concur to favour a new prince that I never knew a time more fit than the present and if, as I said it was necessary that the people of Israel should be captive so as to make manifest the ability of Moses that the person should be oppressed by the means so as to discover the greatness of the soul of Cyrus and that the Athenian should be dispersed to illustrate the capabilities of Theseus then, at the present time in order to discover the virtue of an Italian spirit it was necessary that Italy should be reduced to the extremity that she is now in that she should be more enslaved than the Hebrews more oppressed than the Persians more scattered than the Athenians without head, without order beaten, despoiled, torn overrun and to have endured every kind of desolation although lately some spark may have been shown by one which made us think he was ordained by God for our redemption nevertheless it was afterwards seen in the height of his career that Fortune rejected him so that Italy, left us without life waits for him who shall yet heal her wounds and put an end to the ravaging and plundering of Lombardy to the swindling and taxing of the kingdom and of Tuscany and cleanse those sores that for long have festered it is seen how she entreats God to send someone who shall deliver her from these wrongs and barbarous insolences it is seen also that she is ready and willing to follow a banner if only someone will raise it nor is there to be seen at present one in whom she can place more hope than in your illustrious house footnote Giulano 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 nor is there to be seen at present one in whom she can place more hope than in your illustrious house with its valour and Fortune favoured by God and by the church of which it is now the chief and which could be made the head of this redemption this will not be difficult if you will recall to yourself the actions and lives of the men I have named and although they were great and wonderful men yet they were men and each one of them had no more opportunity than the present offers for their enterprises were neither more just nor easier than this nor was God more their friend than he is yours with us there is great justice because that war is just which is necessary and arms are hallowed when there is no other hope but in them here there is the greatest willingness and where the willingness is great the difficulties cannot be great if you will only follow those men to whom I have directed your attention further than this how extraordinary the ways of God have been manifested beyond example the sea is divided a cloud has led the way the rock has poured forth water it has rained manner everything has contributed to your greatness you ought to do the rest God is not willing to do everything and thus take away our free will thanks to us and it is not to be wondered at if none of the above named Italians have been able to accomplish all that is expected from your illustrious house and if in so many revolutions in Italy and in so many campaigns it has always appeared as if military virtue were exhausted this has happened because the old order of things was not good and none of us have known how to find a new one and nothing honors a man more than to establish new laws but he himself was newly risen such things when they are well founded and dignified will make him revered and admired and in Italy there are not wanting opportunities to bring such into use in every form here there is great valour in the limbs whilst it fails in the head look attentively at the duels and the hand-to-hand combats how superior the Italians are in strength, dexterity and subtlety armies they do not bear comparison and this brings entirely from the insufficiency of the leaders since those who are capable are not obedient and each one seems to himself to know they are having never been anyone so distinguished above the rest either by valour or fortune that others would yield to him hence it is that for so long a time and during so much fighting in the past twenty years whenever there has been an army wholly Italian it has always given a poor account of itself the first witness to this is Il Taro afterwards Alessandria Capua Genoa Vila Bologna Mestri footnote the battles of Il Taro 1495 Alessandria 1499 Capua 1501 Genoa 1507 Vila 1509 Bologna 1511 Mestri 1513 if therefore your illustrious house wishes to follow these remarkable men who have redeemed their country it is necessary before all things as a true foundation for every enterprise to be provided with your own forces because there can be no more faithful, truer or better soldiers and although singly they are good altogether they will be much better when they find themselves commanded by their prince honoured by him and maintained at his expense therefore it is necessary to be prepared for such arms so that you can be defended against foreigners by Italian Valar and although Swiss and Spanish infantry may be considered very formidable nevertheless there is a defect in both by reason of which a third order would not only be able to oppose them but might be relied upon to overthrow them for the Spaniards cannot resist cavalry and the Swiss are afraid of infantry whenever they encounter them in close combat owing to this as has been and may again be seen the Spaniards are unable to resist French cavalry and the Swiss are overthrown by Spanish infantry and although a complete proof of this latter cannot be shown nevertheless there was some evidence of it at the battle of Ravenna when the Spanish infantry were confronted by German battalions who follow the same tactics as the Swiss when the Spaniards by agility of body and with the aid of their shields got in under the pikes of the Germans and stood out of danger able to attack while the Germans stood helpless and if the cavalry had not dashed up all would have been over with them it is possible therefore knowing the defects of both these infantry to invent a new one which will resist cavalry and not be afraid of infantry this need not create a new order of arms but a variation upon the old and these are the kind of improvements which confer reputation and power upon a new prince this opportunity therefore ought not to be allowed to pass for letting Italy at last see her liberator appear nor can one express the love with which he would be received in all those provinces which have suffered so much from these foreign scourings with what thirst for revenge with what stubborn faith with what devotion with what tears what door would be closed to him who would refuse obedience to him what envy would hinder him what Italian would refuse him homage to all of us this barbarous dominion stinks let therefore your illustrious house take up this charge with that courage and hope with which all just enterprises are undertaken so that under its standard our native country may be ennobled and under its auspices may be verified that saying of Petrarch virtue contro al furore prendere lame batte corto c'è lantico valore negli italici che c'u anone ancor morto virtue against fury shall advance the fight and it is the combat shall soon be put to flight for the old roman vala is not dead nor in the italian's breasts extinguished edward dapper 1640 end of chapter 26 recording by paul adams www.iongai.com Appendix 1 of the Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by paul adams Appendix 1 description of the methods adopted by the Duke Valentino when murdering Vitellozzo Vitelli Oliverotto da Theramo the senior Pagolo and the Duke da Gravina Orsini by Niccolò Machiavelli the Duke Valentino Valentino had returned from Lombardy where he had been to clear himself with the king of France from the Calamners which had been raced against him by the Florentines concerning the rebellion of Arezzo and other towns in the Valdetiana and had arrived at Imola whence he intended with his army to enter upon the campaign against Giovanni Bentivoli the tyrant of Bologna for he intended to bring that city under his domination and to make it the head of his romanian duchy these matters coming to the knowledge of the Vitelli and Orsini and their following it appeared to them that the Duke would become too powerful and it was feared that having seized Bologna he would seek to destroy them in order that he might become supreme in Italy upon this a meeting was called Maggione in the district of Perugia to which came the cardinal Pagolo and the Duke di Gravina Orsini Vitellozzi Vitelli Oliverotto da Theramo Gian Pagolo Baglione the tyrant of Perugia Messa Antonio di Venafro sent by Pandolfo Petruzzi the prince of Siena here would discuss the power and courage of the Duke and the necessity of curbing his ambitions which might otherwise bring danger to the rest of being ruined and they decided not to abandon the Bentivoli but to strive to win over the Florentines and they sent their men to one place and another promising to one party assistance and to another encouragement against the common enemy this meeting was at once reported throughout all Italy and those who were discontented under the Duke among whom were the people of Urbino took hope of effecting a revolution thus it arose that men's minds being thus unsettled it was decided by certain men of Urbino to seize the fortress of San Leo which was held for the Duke and which they captured by the following means the castellan was fortifying the rock and causing timber to be taken there so the conspirators watched and when certain beams which were being carried to the rock were upon the bridge so that it was prevented from being drawn up by those inside they took the opportunity of leaping upon the bridge and thence into the fortress upon this capture being effected the whole state rebelled and recalled the old Duke being encouraged in this not so much by the capture of the fort as by the diet at Magione from whom they expected to get assistance those who heard of the rebellion at Urbino thought they would not lose the opportunity and at once assembled their men so as to take any town should any remain in the hands of the Duke in that state and they sent again to Florence to beg that republic to join with them in destroying the common firebrand showing that the risk was lessened and that they ought not to wait for another opportunity but the Florentines from hatred for sundry reasons of the Vitale and Orsini not only would not ally themselves but sent Niccolò Machiavelli their secretary to offer shelter and assistance to the Duke against his enemies the Duke was found full of fear at Imola because against everybody's expectation his soldiers had at once gone over to the enemy and he found himself disarmed and war at his door but recovering courage from the office of the Florentines he decided to temporise before fighting with the few soldiers that remained to him and to negotiate for a reconciliation and also to get assistance this latter he obtained in two ways by sending to the king of arms the men and by enlisting men at arms and others whom he turned into cavalry of assault to all he gave money notwithstanding this his enemies drew near to him and approached Frossenbrunn where they encountered some men of the Duke and with the aid of the Orsini and Vitale routed them when this happened the Duke resolved at once to see if he could not close to trouble with office of reconciliation and being a most perfect dissembler he did not fail in any practices to make the insurgents understand that he wished every man who had acquired anything to keep 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 senior Pagolo to him to negotiate for a reconciliation and they brought their army to a standstill but the Duke did not stop his preparations and took every care to provide himself with cavalry and infantry and that such preparations might not be apparent to the others he sent his troops in separate parties to every part of the Romagna in the meanwhile there came also to him 500 French Lancers and although he found himself sufficiently strong to take vengeance on his enemies in open war he considered that it would be safer and more advantageous to outwit them and for this reason he did not stop the work of reconciliation and that this might be effected the Duke concluded a peace with them in which he confirmed their former covenants he gave them 4000 ducats at once he promised not to injure the Benti Voile and he formed an alliance with Giovanni and moreover he would not force them to come personally into his presence unless it pleased them to do so on the other hand they promised to restore to him the Duchy of Urbino and other places seized by them to serve him in all his expeditions and not to make war against to ally themselves with anyone without his permission this reconciliation being completed Guido Ubaldo the Duke of Urbino again fled to Venice having first destroyed all the fortresses in his state because trusting in the people he did not wish that the fortresses which he did not think he could defend should be held by the enemy since by these means a check would be kept upon his friends but the Duke Valentino having completed this convention the men throughout the Romagna set out for Imola at the end of November together with his French men at arms thence he went to Cessna where he stayed some time to negotiate with the envoys of the Vitelli and Orsini who had assembled with their men in the Duchy of Urbino as to the enterprise in which they should now take part but nothing being concluded Oliverotto D'Affermo was sent to propose that if the Duke wished to undertake an expedition against Tuscany they were ready to not wish it then they would beseed Senegalia to this the Duke replied that he did not wish to enter into war with Tuscany and thus become hostile to the Florentines but that he was very willing to proceed against Senegalia it happened that not long afterwards the town surrendered but the fortress would not yield to them because the Castellan would not give it up to anyone but the Duke in person therefore they exhorted him to come there this appeared a good opportunity to the Duke as being invited by them and not going of his own will he would awaken no suspicions and the more to reassure them he allowed all the French men at arms who were with him in Lombardy to depart except the 100 Lancers under Monsieur D'Candales his brother-in-law he left Chesna about the middle of December and went to Farno and with the utmost cunning and cleverness he persuaded the Vitelli and Orsini to wait for him at Senegalia pointing out to them that any lack of compliance would cast a doubt upon the sincerity and permanency of the reconciliation and that he was a man who wished to make use of the arms and councils of his friends but Vitellozza remained very stubborn for the death of his brother warned him that he should not offend a prince and afterwards trust him nevertheless persuaded by Pagolo Orsini whom the Duke had corrupted with gifts and promises he agreed to wait upon this the Duke before his departure from Farno on the 30th of December 1502 communicated his designs to eight of his most trusted followers among whom were Don Micelli and the Monsignor Duna who was afterwards cardinal and he ordered that as soon as Vitellozza Pagolo Orsini, the Duke de Gravina and Oliverotto should arrive his followers in pairs should take them one by one entrusting certain men to certain pairs who should entertain them until they reached Senegalia nor should they be permitted to leave until they came to the Duke's quarters where they should be seized the Duke afterwards ordered all his horsemen and infantry of which there were more than 2,000 cavalry and 10,000 footmen to assemble by daybreak at the Matoro a river five miles distant from Farno and await him there he found himself therefore on the last day of December at the Matoro with his men and having sent a cavalcade of about 200 horsemen before him he then moved forward the infantry whom he accompanied with the rest of the men at arms Farno and Senegalia are two cities of La Marca sit to it on the shore of the Adriatic Sea 15 miles distant from each other so that he who goes towards Senegalia has the mountains on his right hand the bases of which are touched by the sea in some places the city of Senegalia is distant from the foot of the mountains a little more than a bow shot and from the shore about a mile on the side opposite to the city runs a little river which bathes that part of the walls looking towards Farno facing the high road thus he who draws near to Senegalia comes for a good space by road along the mountains and reaches the river which passes by Senegalia if he turns to his left hand along the bank of it and goes for the distance of a bow shot he arrives at a bridge which crosses the river he is then almost abreast of the gate that leads into Senegalia a straight line but transversely before this gate there stands a collection of houses with a square to which the bank of the river forms one side the Vitelli and Orsini having received orders to wait for the Duke and to honour him in person sent away their men to several castles distant from Senegalia about six miles so that room could be made for the men of the Duke and they left in Senegalia only Oliverotto and his band which consisted of 1000 infantry and 150 horsemen who were quartered in the suburb mentioned above matters having been thus arranged the Duke Valentino left for Senegalia and when the leaders of the cavalry reached the bridge they did not pass over but having opened it one portion wheeled towards the river and the other towards the country and a way was left in the middle through which the infantry passed without stopping into the town Vitellozzo, Pagolo and the Duke di Gravina on mules accompanied by a few horsemen went towards the Duke Vitellozzo, unarmed and wearing a cape lined with green appeared very dejected as if conscious of his approaching death a circumstance which in view of the ability of the man and his former fortune caused some amazement and it is said that when he parted from his men before setting out for Senegalia to meet the Duke he acted as if it were his last parting from them he recommended his house and its fortunes to his captains and advised his nephews that it was not the fortune of their house but the virtues of their fathers that should be kept in mind these three therefore came before the Duke and saluted him respectfully and were received by him with good will they were at once placed between those who were commissioned to look after them but the Duke noticing that Alevarotto who had remained with his band in Senegalia was missing for Alevarotto was waiting in the square before his quarters near the river keeping his men in order and drilling them signalled with his eye to Don Miccelli to whom the care of Alevarotto had been committed that he should take measures that Alevarotto should not escape therefore Don Miccelli rode off and joined Alevarotto telling him that it was not right to keep his men out of their quarters because these might be taken up by the men of the Duke and he advised him to send them at once to their quarters and to come himself to meet the Duke and Alevarotto having taken this advice came before the Duke when he saw him called to him and Alevarotto having made his abasements joined the others so the whole party entered Senegalia dismounted at the Duke's quarters and went with him into a secret chamber where the Duke made them prisoners he then mounted on horseback and issued orders that the men of Alevarotto and the Orsini should be stripped of their arms those of Alevarotto being at hand were quickly settled but those of the Orsini and Miccelli being at a distance and having a presentiment of the destruction of their masters had time to prepare themselves and bearing in mind the valour and discipline of the Orsini and Vitalean houses they stood together against the hostile forces of the country and saved themselves but the Duke's soldiers not being content with having pillaged the men of Alevarotto began to sack Senegalia and if the Duke had not repressed this outrage by killing some of them they would have completely sacked it night having come and the tumult being silenced the Duke prepared to kill Vitaleotto and Alevarotto he led them into a room and caused them to be strangled neither of them used words in keeping with their past lives Vitaleotto prayed that he might ask of the Pope full pardon for his sins Alevarotto cringed and laid the blame for all injuries against the Duke on Vitaleotto Pagolo and the Duke de Gravina Orsini were kept alive until the Duke of Rome that the Pope had taken the cardinal Orsino the Archbishop of Florence and Messer Jacopo do Sant Croce after which news on 18th January 1502 in the castle of Piev they also were strangled in the same way End of Appendix 1 Recording by Paul Adams www.yornguy.com The life of Castruccio Castracani of Luca written by Niccolò Machiavelli isolated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams Part 1 and sent to his friends Zanobi, Buon Del Monte and Luigi Alamunni Castruccio Castracani 1284 to 1328 It appears, dearest Zanobi and Luigi a wonderful thing to those who have considered the matter that all men are the larger number of them who have performed great deeds in the world and excelled all others in their day have had their birth and beginning in baseness and obscurity or have been aggrieved by fortune in some outrageous way they have either been exposed to the mercy of wild beasts or they have had so mean a parentage that in shame they have given themselves out to be sons of Jove or of some other deity it would be wearisome to relate who these persons may have been because they are well known to everybody and as such tales would not be particularly edifying to those who read them they are omitted. I believe that these lowly beginnings of great men occur because fortune is desirous of showing to the world that such men owe much to her and little to wisdom because she begins to show her hand when wisdom can really take no part in their career thus all success must be attributed to her Castruccio Castracani of Luca was one of those men who did great deeds if he is measured by the times in which he lived and the city in which he was born but like many others he was neither fortunate nor distinguished in his birth as the course of this history will show it appeared to be desirable to recall his memory because I have discerned in him such indications of valor and fortune as should make him a great exemplar to men I think also that I ought to call your attention to his actions because you of all men I know might most in noble deeds the family of Castrucani was formally numbered among the noble families of Luca but in the days of which I speak it had somewhat fallen in a state as so often happens in this world to this family was born a son Antonio who became a priest of the order of San Michele of Luca and for this reason was honoured with the title of Messa Antonio he had an only sister who had been married to Buona Corso but Buona Corso dying she became a widow and not wishing to marry again went to live with her brother Messa Antonio had a vineyard behind the house where he resided and as it was bounded on all sides by gardens any person could have access to it without difficulty one morning shortly after sunrise Madonna de Anora as the sister of Messa Antonio was called had occasion to go into the vineyard as usual to gather herbs for seasoning the dinner and hearing a slight rustling among the leaves of the vine she turned her eyes in that direction and heard something resembling the cry of an infant whereupon she went towards it and saw the hands and face of a baby who was lying enveloped in the leaves and who seemed to be crying for its mother partly wondering and partly fearing yet full of compassion she lifted it up and carried it to the house where she washed it and clothed it with clean linen as his customary and showed it to Messa Antonio when he returned home when he heard what had happened and saw the child he was not less surprised or compassionate than his sister they discussed between themselves what should be done and seeing that he was priest and that she had no children they finally determined to bring it up they had a nurse for it and it was reared and loved as if it were their own child they baptised it and gave it the name of Castruccio after their father as the years passed Castruccio grew very handsome and gave evidence of wit and discretion and learnt with a quickness beyond his years those lessons which Messa Antonio imparted to him Messa Antonio intended to make a priest of him and in time would have inducted him into his cannery and other benefits and all his instruction was given with this object but Antonio discovered that the character of Castruccio was quite unfitted for the priesthood as soon as Castruccio reached the age of 14 he began to take less notice of the chiding of Messa Antonio and Madonna di Anora and no longer to fear them he left off reading ecclesiastical books and turned to playing with arms delighting in nothing so much as in learning their uses and in running, leaping and wrestling with other boys in all exercises he far excelled his companions in courage and bodily strength and if at any time he did turn to books only those pleased him which told of wars and the mighty deeds of men Messa Antonio beheld all this with vexation and sorrow there lived in the city of Luca a gentleman of the Guinegi family named Messa Francesco whose profession was arms and who in riches bodily strength and valor excelled all other men in Luca he had often fought under the command of the Visconti of Milan and as a gibber lean was the valued leader of that party in Luca this gentleman resided in Luca and was accustomed to assemble with others most mornings and evenings under the balcony of the Podesta which is at the top of the square of San Michele the finest square in Luca and he had often seen Castruccio taking part with other children of the street in those games of which I have spoken noticing that Castruccio far excelled the other boys and that he appeared to exercise a royal authority over them and that they loved and obeyed him Messa Francesco became greatly desirous of learning who he was being informed of the circumstances of the bringing up of Castruccio he felt a greater desire to have him near to him therefore he called one day and asked him whether he would more willingly live in the house of a gentleman where he would learn to ride horses and use arms or in the house of a priest where he would learn nothing but masses and the services of the church Messa Francesco could see that it pleased greatly to hear horses and arms spoken of even though he stood silent blushing modestly but being encouraged by Messa Francesco to speak he answered that if his master were agreeable nothing would please him more than to give up his priestly studies and take up those of a soldier this reply delighted Messa Francesco and in a very short time he obtained the consent of Messa Antonio who has driven to yield by his knowledge of the nature of the lad he could not be able to hold him much longer thus Castruccio passed from the house of Messa Antonio the priest to the house of Messa Francesco Guineghi the soldier and it was astonishing to find that in a very short time he manifested all that virtue and bearing which we are accustomed to associate with a true gentleman in the first place he became an accomplished horseman and could manage with ease the most fiery charger and in all jousts and tournaments although still a youth was observed beyond all others and he excelled in all exercises of strength and dexterity but what enhanced so much the charm of these accomplishments was the delightful modesty which enabled him to avoid offence in either act or word to others for he was deferential to the great men modest with his equals and courteous to his inferiors these gifts made him beloved not only by all the Guineghi family but by all Luca Castruccio had reached his 18th year the Ghibellines were driven from Pavia by the Guelphs and Messa Francesco was sent by the Visconti to assist the Ghibellines and with him went Castruccio in charge of his forces Castruccio gave ample proof of his prudence and courage in this expedition acquiring greater reputation than any other captain and his name and fame were known not only in Pavia but throughout all Lombardy Castruccio having returned to Luca in far higher estimation than he left it did not omit to use all the means in his power to gain as many friends as he could neglecting none of those arts which are necessary for that purpose about this time Messa Francesco died leaving a son 13 years of age named Pagolo and having appointed Castruccio to be his son's tutor and administrator of his estate before he died Francesco called Castruccio to him to show Pagolo that good will which he, Francesco, had always shown to him and to render to the son the gratitude which he had not been able to repay to the father upon the death of Francesco Castruccio became the governor and tutor of Pagolo which increased enormously his power and position and created a certain amount of envy against him in Luca in place of the former universal good will for many men suspected him of harboring tyrannical intentions among these the leading man was Giorgio Degliopisi the head of the Guelph party this man hoped after the death of Messa Francesco to become the chief man in Luca but it seemed to him that Castruccio with the great abilities which he already showed and holding the position of governor deprived him of his opportunity therefore he began to sow those seeds which should rob Castruccio of his eminence Castruccio at first treated this born but afterwards he grew alarmed thinking that Messa Giorgio might be able to bring him into disgrace with the deputy of King Roberto of Naples and have him driven out of Luca the lord of Pisa at that time was Yugacioni of the Fagiola of Arezzo who being in the first place elected their captain afterwards became their lord they resided in Paris some exiled gibbalines from Luca with whom Castruccio held communications with the object of effecting their restoration by the help of Yugacioni Castruccio also brought into his plans friends from Luca who would not endure the authority of the Opeci having fixed upon a plan to be followed Castruccio cautiously fortified the tower of the Onesti filling it with supplies and musicians of war in order that it might stand a siege for a few days in case of need when the night came which had been agreed upon with Yugacioni who had occupied the plane between the mountains and Pisa with many men the signal was given and without being observed Yugacioni approached the gate of San Piero and set fire to the portcullis Castruccio raised a great uproar within the city calling the people to arms and forcing open the gate from his side Yugacioni entered with his men poured through the town and killed Mesa Giorgio with all his family and many of his friends and supporters the governor was driven out and the government reformed according to the wishes of Yugacioni to the detriment of the city because it was found that more than 100 families were exiled at that time of those who fled part went to Florence and part to Pistoia which city was the headquarters of the Guelph party and for this reason it became most hostile to Yugacioni and the Lucezi as it now appeared to the Florentines and others of the Guelph party that the gibbalines absorbed too much power and in Tuscany they determined to restore the exiled Guelphs to Luca they assembled a large army in the Val di Nievele and seized Monticatini from thence they marched to Monte Carlo in order to secure the free passage into Luca upon this Yugacioni assembled his Pisan and Lucezi forces and with a number of German cavalry which he drew out of Lombardy he moved against the quarters of the Florentines who upon the appearance of the enemy went to Monte Carlo and posted themselves between Monticatini and Peschia Yugacioni now took up a position near to Monte Carlo and within about two miles of the enemy and slight skirmishes between the horse of both parties were of daily occurrence owing to the illness of Yugacioni the Pisan and Lucezi delayed coming to battle with the enemy Yugacioni finding himself growing worse went to Monte Carlo to be cured and left the command in the hands of Castruccio this change brought about the ruin of the Guelphs who, thinking that a hostile army having lost its captain had lost its head, grew overconfident Castruccio observed this and allowing some days to pass in order to encourage this belief he also showed signs of fear and did not allow any of the munitions of the camp to be used on the other side the Guelphs grew more insolent the more they saw these evidences of fear and every day they drew out the order of battle in front of the army of Castruccio presently, deeming that the enemy was sufficiently emboldened and having mastered their tactics he decided to join battle with them first he spoke a few words of encouragement to his soldiers and pointed out to them the certainty of victory if they would but obey his commands Castruccio had noticed how the enemy had placed all his best troops in the center of the line of battle and his less reliable men on the wings whereupon he did exactly the opposite putting his most valiant men on the flanks while those on whom he could not so strongly rely he moved to the center observing this order of battle he drew out of his lines and quickly came in sight of the hostile army who as usual had come in their insolence to defy him he then commanded his center squadrons to march slowly whilst he moved rapidly forward those on the wings thus when they came into contact with the enemy the wings of the two armies became engaged while the center battalions remained out of action for these two portions of the line of battle were separated from each other by a long interval and thus unable to reach each other by this expedient the more valiant part of Castruccio's men were opposed to the weaker part of the enemy's troops and the most efficient men of the enemy were disengaged and thus the Florentines were unable to fight with those who were arrayed opposite to them or to give any distance to their own flanks so without much difficulty Castruccio put the enemy to flight on both flanks and the center battalions took to flight when they found themselves exposed to attack without having a chance of displaying their valour the defeat was complete and the loss in men very heavy there being more than ten thousand men killed with many officers and knights of the Guelph party in Tuscany and also many princes who had come to help them among whom were Piero King Roberto and Carlo his nephew and Filippo the lord of Taranto on the part of Castruccio the loss did not amount to more than three hundred men among whom was Francesco the son of Ugucioni who being young and rash was killed in the first onset this victory so greatly increased the reputation of Castruccio that Ugucioni conceived some jealousy and suspicion of him because it appeared to Ugucioni that this victory had given him no increase of power but rather diminished it because of this mind he only waited for an opportunity to give effect to it this occurred on the death of Pier Agnolo Michelli a man of great repute and abilities in Luca the murderer of whom fled to the house of Castruccio for refuge on the sergeants of the captain going to arrest the murderer they were driven off by Castruccio and the murderer escaped this affair coming to the knowledge of Ugucioni who was then at pizza it appeared to him a proper opportunity to punish Castruccio he therefore sent for his son Neri who was the governor of Luca and commissioned him to take Castruccio prisoner at a banquet and put him to death Castruccio fearing no evil went to the governor in a friendly way was entertained at supper and then thrown into prison but Neri fearing to put him to death lest the people should be incensed kept him alive in order to hear further from his father concerning his intentions Ugucioni cursed the hesitation and cowardice of his son and at once set out from pizza to Luca with 400 horsemen to finish the business in his own way but he had not yet reached the baths when the peasants rebelled and put his deputy to death and created Count Gado de la Guerra their lord before Ugucioni reached Luca he heard of the occurrences at pizza but it did not appear wise to him lest the Lucizi with the example of Pisa before them should close their gates against him but the Lucizi having heard of what happened at pizza availed themselves of this opportunity to demand the liberation of Castruccio notwithstanding that Ugucioni had arrived in their city they first began to speak of it in private circles afterwards openly in the squares and streets then they raised a tumult and with arms in their hands went to Ugucioni and demanded that Castruccio should be set at liberty Ugucioni fearing that worse might happen released him from prison whereupon Castruccio gathered his friends around him and with the help of the people attacked Ugucioni who, finding he had no resource but in flight rode away with his friends to Lombardy to the Lords of Scala where he died in poverty but Castruccio from being a prisoner became almost a prince in Luca and he carried himself so discreetly with his friends and the people captured him of their army for one year having obtained this and wishing to gain renown in war he planned the recovery of the many towns which had rebelled after the departure of Ugucioni and with the help of the peasants with whom he had concluded a treaty he marched to Sarezzana to capture this place he constructed a fort against it which is called today Sarezzanello in the course of two months Castruccio captured the town with the reputation gained at that siege he seized Massa, Carrara and Levenza and in short time had overrun the whole of Lunigiana in order to close the pass which leads from Lombardy to Lunigiana he besieged Pontremoli and rested it from the hands of Messa Anastagio Pallaviccini who was the Lord of it after this victory he returned to Luca and was welcomed by the whole people and now Castruccio, deeming it imprudent any longer to defer making himself a prince got himself created the Lord of Luca by the help of Patsino del Poggio Puccinello del Portico Francesco Boccansacci and Cecco Guineggi all of whom he had corrupted and he was afterwards solemnly and deliberately elected prince by the people at this time Frederick of Bavaria the king of the Romans came into Italy to assume the imperial crown and Castruccio in order that he might make friends with him met him at the head of 500 horsemen Castruccio had left as his deputy in Luca Pagolo Guineggi who was held in high estimation because of the people's love for the memory of his father Castruccio was received in great honour by Frederick and many privileges were conferred upon him and he was appointed the emperor's lieutenant in Tuscany at this time the peasants were in great fear of Garodela Garadesca whom they had driven out of Pisa and they had recourse for assistance to Frederick Frederick created Castruccio the lord of Pisa and the peasants in dread of the Guelph party and particularly of the Florentines were constrained to accept him as their lord Frederick having appointed a governor in Rome to watch his Italian affairs returned to Germany all the Tuscan and Lombardian gibbalines who followed the imperial lead had recourse to Castruccio for help and counsel and all promised him the governorship of his country was enabled to recover it with his assistance among these exiles were Matteo Guidi, Nardo Scolari, Lapo Uberti, Gerotso Nardi and Piero Buena-Causi all exiled Florentines and gibbalines Castruccio had the secret intention of becoming the master of all Tuscany by the aid of these men and of his own forces and in order to gain greater weight in affairs he entered into a lead with mess of Matteo Visconti with the assistance of Milan and organized for him the forces of his city and the country districts as Luca had five gates he divided his own country districts into five parts which he supplied with arms and enrolled the men under captains and ensigns so that he could quickly bring into the field twenty thousand soldiers without those whom he could summon to his assistance from Pisa while he surrounded himself with these forces and allies it happened that Messa Matteo Visconti was one of the main forces of Piacenza who had driven out the gibbalines with the assistance of a Florentine army and the King Roberto Messa Matteo called upon Castruccio to invade the Florentines in their own territories so that being attacked at home they should be compelled to draw their army out of Lombardy in order to defend themselves Castruccio invaded the Valdarno and seized Fucecchio and San Miniatto inflicting immense damage upon the country and upon the Florentines recalled their army which had scarcely reached Tuscany when Castruccio was forced by other necessities to return to Luca they resided in the city of Luca the Poggio family who were so powerful that they could not only elevate Castruccio but even advance him to the dignity of Prince and it appearing to them they had not received such rewards for their services as they deserved they incited other families to rebel Castruccio out of Luca they found their opportunity one morning and arming themselves they set upon the lieutenant whom Castruccio had left to maintain order and killed him they endeavoured to raise the people in revolt but Stefano di Poggio a peaceable old man who had taken no hand in the rebellion intervened and compelled them by his authority to lay down their arms and he offered to be their mediator with Castruccio to obtain from him what they desired therefore they laid down their arms with no greater intelligence than they had taken them up Castruccio having heard the news of what had happened at Luca at once put Paggolo Guinigi in command of the army and with a troop of cavalry set out for home contrary to his expectations he found the rebellion at an end yet he posted his men in the most advantageous places throughout the city as it appeared to Stefano that Castruccio ought to be very much obliged to him he sought him out and without saying anything on his own behalf for he did not recognise any need for doing so he begged Castruccio to pardon the other members of his family by reason of their youth their former friendships and the obligations which Castruccio was under to their house to this Castruccio graciously responded and begged Stefano to reassure himself declaring that it gave him more pleasure to find the tumult at an end than it had ever caused him anxiety to hear of its inception he encouraged Stefano to bring his family to him saying that he thanked God for having given him 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 and put to death meanwhile the Florentines have recovered San Miniatto whereupon it seemed advisable to Castruccio to make peace as it did not appear to him that he was sufficiently secure at Luca to leave him he approached the Florentines with the proposal of a truce which they readily entertained for they were weary of the war and desirous of getting rid of the expenses of it a treaty was concluded with them for two years by which both parties agreed to keep the conquest they had made Castruccio thus released from this trouble turned his attention to affairs in Luca and in order that he should not again be subject to the perils from which he had just escaped he under various pretenses and reasons first wiped out all those who by their ambition might aspire to the principality not sparing one of them but depriving them of country and property and those whom he had in his hands of life also stating that he had found by experience that none of them were to be trusted then for his further security he raised a fortress in Luca with the stones of the towers of those whom he had killed or hunted out of the state whilst Castruccio made peace with the Florentines and strengthened his position in Luca he neglected no opportunity short of open war of increasing his importance elsewhere it appeared to him that if he could get possession of Pistoia he would have one foot in Florence which was his great desire he therefore in various ways made friends with the mountaineers and worked matters so in Pistoia that both parties confided their secrets to him Pistoia was divided as it always had been into the Bianchi and Neri parties the head of the Bianchi was Bastiano di Pascente and of the Neri Giacopo da Gia each of these men held secret communications with Castruccio and each desired to drive the other out of the city and after many threatenings they came to blows Giacopo fortified himself at the Florentine gate Bastiano at that of the Lucici side both trusted more in Castruccio than in the Florentines because they believed that Castruccio was far more ready and willing to fight than the Florentines and they both sent to him for assistance he gave promises to both saying to Bastiano that he will come in person and to Giacopo that he will send his pupil Pagola Guinigi at the appointed time he sent forward Pagola by way of Pisa and went himself direct to Pistoia at midnight both of them met outside the city and both were admitted as friends thus the two leaders entered and as a signal given by Castruccio one killed Giacopo da Gia and the other Bastiano di Percenti and both took prisoners or killed the partisans of either faction without further opposition Pistoia passed into the hands of Castruccio who having forced the Signora to leave the palace compelled the people to yield obedience to him making the many promises and remitting their old debts the countryside flocked to the city to see the new prince and all were filled with hope and quickly settled down influenced in a great measure by his great valour end of the life of Castruccio Castracani of Luca part one recording by Paul Adams www.jaunguy.com the life of Castruccio Castracani of Luca written by Niccolo Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott this Librivox recording is in the public domain recording by Paul Adams part two about this time great disturbances arose in Rome owing to the dearness of living which was caused by the absence of the pontiff at Avignon the German governor Enrico was much blamed for what happened murders and tumults following each other daily without his being able to put an end to them this caused Enrico much anxiety lest the Roman should call in Roberto the king of Naples who would drive the Germans out of the city and bring back the Pope having no nearer friend to whom he could apply for help than Castruccio he sent to him begging him not only to give him assistance but also to come in person to Rome Castruccio considered that he ought not to hesitate to render the emperor this service because he believed that he himself would not be safe at any time the emperor ceased to hold Rome leaving Pagolo Guinegian command Castruccio set out for Rome the 600 horsemen where he was received by Enrico with the greatest distinction in a short time the presence of Castruccio obtained such respect for the emperor that without bloodshed or violence good order was restored chiefly by reason of Castruccio having set by sea from the country round Pisa large quantities of corn and thus removed the source of the trouble when he had chastised some of the Roman leaders and admonished others voluntary obedience was rendered to Enrico Castruccio received many honors and was made a Roman senator this dignity was assumed with the greatest pomp Castruccio being clothed in a brocaded toga which had the following words embroidered on its front I am what God wills what God desires shall be during this time the Florentines who were much in rage that Castruccio should have seized Pistoia during the truce considered how they could tempt the city to rebel to do which they thought would not be difficult in his absence among the exiled Pistoians in Florence were Baldo Czecki and Giacopo Baldini both men of leading and ready to face danger these men kept up communications with their friends in Pistoia and with the aid of the Florentines entered the city by night and after driving out some of Castruccio's officials and partisans and killing others they restored the city to its freedom the news of this greatly angered Castruccio and taking leave of Enrico he pressed on in great haste to Pistoia when the Florentines heard of his return knowing that he would lose no time they decided to intercept him with their forces in the Val di Nievole and under the belief that by doing so they would cut off his road to Pistoia assembling a great army of the supporters of the Guelph cause the Florentines entered the Pistoian territories on the other hand Castruccio reached Monte Carlo with his army and having heard whether Florentines lay he decided not to encounter it in the plains of Pistoia nor to await it in the plains of Pescia but as far as he possibly could to attack it boldly in the past of Saravale the fact that if he succeeded in this design victory was assured although he was informed that the Florentines had 30,000 men whilst he had only 12,000 although he had every confidence in his own abilities and the valor of his troops yet he hesitated to attack his enemy in the open that he should be overwhelmed by numbers Saravale is a castle between Pescia and Pistoia situated on a hill which blocks the Val di Nievole about a bow shot beyond the pass itself is in place is narrow and steep whilst in general it ascends gently but is still narrow especially at the summit where the waters divide so that 20 men side by side could hold it the lord of Saravale was Manfred a German who before Castruccio became Lord of Pistoia had been allowed to remain in possession of the castle it being common to the Lucizi and the Pistoians and unclaimed by either of them wishing to displace Manfred as long as he kept his promise of neutrality and came under obligations to no one for these reasons and also because the castle was well fortified he had always been able to maintain his position it was here that Castruccio had determined to fall upon his enemy for here his few men would have the advantage and there was no fear lest seeing the large masses of the hostile force before they became engaged they should not stand even as this trouble with Florence arose Castruccio saw the immense advantage which possession of this castle would give him and having an intimate friendship with the resident in the castle he managed matters so with him that 400 of his men were to be admitted into the castle the night before the attack on the Florentines and the castle put to death Castruccio having prepared everything had now to encourage the Florentines to persist in their desire to carry the seat of war away from Pistoia into the Val di Nievele therefore he did not move his army from Monte Carlo thus the Florentines hurried on until they reached their encampment under Serra Valle intending to cross the hill on the following morning in the meantime Castruccio had seized the castle at night had also moved his army from Monte Carlo and marching from thence at midnight in dead silence had reached the foot of Serra Valle thus he and the Florentines commenced the ascent of the hill at the same time in the morning Castruccio sent forward his infantry by the main road and a troop of 400 horsemen by a path on the left towards the castle the Florentines sent forward 400 cavalry ahead of their army which was following never expecting to find Castruccio in possession of the hill nor were they aware of his having seized the castle thus it happened that the Florentine horsemen mounting the hill were completely taken by surprise they discovered the infantry of Castruccio and so close were they upon it they had scarcely time to pull down their visors it was a case of unready soldiers being attacked by ready and they were sailed with such vigor that with difficulty they could hold their own although some few of them got through when the noise of the fighting reached the Florentine camp below it was filled with confusion the cavalry and infantry became inextricably mixed the captains were unable to get their men either backward or forward owing to the narrowness of the past and amid all this tumult no one knew what ought to be done or what could be done in a short time the cavalry who were engaged with the enemy's infantry were scattered or killed without having made any effective defence because of their unfortunate position although in sheer desperation they had offered a stout resistance retreat had been impossible with the mountains on both flanks whilst in front were their enemies and in the rear their friends Osio saw that his men were unable to strike a decisive blow at the enemy and put them to flight he sent 1,000 infantrymen round by the castle with orders to join the 400 horsemen he had previously dispatched there and commanded the whole force to fall upon the flank of the enemy these orders they carried out with such fury that the Florentines could not sustain the attack but gave way and were soon in full retreat conquered more by their unfortunate position than by the valor of their enemy those in the rear turned towards Pistoia and spread through the plains each man seeking only his own safety the defeat was complete and very sanguinary many captains were taken prisoners among whom were Bandini de Rossi Francesco Bunaleschi and Giovanni de La Tosa or Florentine noblemen with many Tuscans and Neapolitan who fought on the Florentine side having been sent by King Roberto to assist the Dwellts immediately the Pistoians heard of this defeat they drove out the friends of the Dwellts and surrendered to Castruzio he was not content with occupying Prato and all the castles on the plains on both sides of the Arno but marched his army into the plain of Peritola about two miles from Florence here he remained many days dividing the spoils and celebrating his victory with feasts and games holding horse races for men and women he also struck medals in commemoration of the defeat of the Florentines he endeavoured to corrupt some of the citizens of Florence who were to open the city gates at night but the conspiracy was discovered and the participators in it taken and beheaded among whom were Tomaso Lupacci and Lambertuccio Frescabaldi this defeat caught the Florentines great anxiety and despairing of preserving their liberty they sent envoys to King Roberto Snaples offering him the dominion of their city and he, knowing of what immense importance the maintenance of the Guelph cause was to him accepted it he agreed with the Florentines to receive from them a yearly tribute of two hundred thousand Florens and he sent his son Carlo to Florence with four thousand horsemen shortly after this the Florentines were relieved in some degree of the pressure of Castruzio's army owing to his being compelled to leave his positions before Florence and march on Pisa in order to suppress a conspiracy that had been raised against him by Benedetto Lanfranchi one of the first men in Pisa who could not endure that his fatherland should be under the dominion of the Lucizi he had formed this conspiracy intending to seize the citadel kill the partisans of Castruzio and drive out the garrison as however in a conspiracy paucity of numbers is essential to secrecy so far his execution a few are not sufficient and in seeking more adherence to his conspiracy Lanfranchi encountered a person who revealed the design to Castruzio this betrayal cannot be passed by without severe reproach to Bonifacio Cherqui and Giovanni Guidi two Florentine exiles who were suffering their banishment in Pisa there upon Castruzio seized Benedetto and put him to death and beheaded many other noble citizens and drove their families into exile it now appeared to Castruzio that both Pisa and Pistoia were thoroughly disaffected he employed much thought and energy upon securing his position there and this gave the Florentines their opportunity to reorganize their army and to await the coming of Carlo the son of the king of Naples when Carlo arrived they decided to lose no more time and assembled a great army of more than 30,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry to aid every Guelph there was in Italy they consulted whether they should attack Pistoia or Pisa first and decided that it would be better to march on the latter a course owing to their recent conspiracy more likely to succeed and have more advantage to them because they believed that the surrender of Pistoia would follow the acquisition of Pisa in the early part of May 1328 the Florentines put in motion this army and quickly occupied Lastra Sinha, Montalupo and Empoli passing from thence on to San Miniatto when Castruzio heard of the enormous army which the Florentines were sending against him he was in no degree alarmed believing that the time had now arrived when Fortun would deliver the empire of Tuscany into his hands for he had no reason to think that his enemy would make a better fight or had better prospects of success than at Pisa or Ceravale he assembled 20,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 horsemen and with this army went to Fucechio whilst he sent Pagolo Guinegi to Pisa with 5,000 infantry Fucechio has a stronger position than any other town in the Pisan district owing to its situation between the rivers Arno and Gasciana and its slight elevation above the surrounding plain moreover the enemy could not hinder its being evittled unless they divided their forces nor could they approach it either from the direction of Luka or Pisa nor could they get through to Pisa or attack Castrucio's forces except at a disadvantage in one case they would find themselves placed between his two armies the one under his command and the other under Pagolo and in the other case they would have to cross the Arno to get to close quarters with the enemy an undertaking of great hazard in order to attempt the Florentines to take this latter course Castrucio withdrew his men from the banks of the river and placed them under the walls of Fucechio leaving a wide expanse of land between them and the river the Florentines having occupied San Miniato held a council of war to decide whether they should attack Pisa or the army of Castrucio and having weighed the difficulties of both courses they decided upon the latter the river Arno was at that time low enough to be affordable yet the water reached to the shoulders of the infantrymen and to the saddles of the horsemen on the morning of 10 June 1328 the Florentines commenced the battle by ordering forward a number of cavalry and 10,000 infantry Castrucio, whose plan of action was fixed and who well knew what to do at once attacked the Florentines with 5,000 infantry and 3,000 horsemen not allowing them to issue from the river before he charged them he also sent 1,000 light infantry up the river back and the same number down the Arno the infantry of the Florentines was so much impeded by their arms and the water that they were not able to mount the banks of the river whilst the cavalry had made the passage of the river more difficult for the others by reason of the few who had crossed having broken up the bed of the river and this being deep with mud many of the horses rolled over with their riders and many of them had stuck so fast that they could not move when the Florentine captains saw the difficulties their men were meeting and moved higher up the river hoping to find the river bed less treacherous and the banks more adapted for landing these men were met at the bank by the forces which Castrucio had already sent forward who, being light armed with bucklers and javelins in their hands let fly with tremendous shouts into the faces and bodies of the cavalry the horses alarmed by the noise and the wounds would not move forward and trampled each other in great confusion the fight between the men of Castrucio and those of the enemy who succeeded in crossing were sharp and terrible both sides fought with the utmost desperation and neither would yield the soldiers of Castrucio fought to drive the others back into the river whilst the Florentines strove to get a footing on land in order to make room for the others pressing forward who, if they could but get out of the water would be able to fight and in this obstinate conflict they were urged on by their captains Castrucio shouted to his men that these were the same enemies whom they had before conquered at Serravale whilst the Florentines reproached each other that the many should be overcome by the few at length Castrucio seeing how long the battle had lasted and that both his men and the enemy were utterly exhausted and that both sides had many killed and wounded pushed forward another body of infantry to take up a position at the rear of those who were fighting then commanded these latter to open their ranks as if they intended to retreat and one part of them to turn to the right and another to the left this cleared a space of which the Florentines once took advantage and thus gained possession of a portion of the battlefield but when these tired soldiers found themselves at close quarters with Castrucio's reserves they could not stand against them and at once fell back into the river the cavalry of either side had not as yet gained any decisive advantage over the other because Castrucio, knowing his inferiority in this arm, had commanded his leaders only to stand on the defensive against the attacks of their adversaries as he hoped that when he had overcome the infantry he would be able to make short work of the cavalry this fell out as he had hoped for when he saw the Florentine army driven back across the river he ordered the remainder of his infantry to attack the cavalry of the enemy this they did with Lance and Javelin and joined by their own cavalry fell upon the enemy with the greatest fury and soon put him to flight the Florentine captains having seen the difficulty their cavalry had met with in crossing the river had attempted to make their infantry cross lower down the river in order to attack the flanks of Castrucio's army but here also the banks were steep and already lined by the men of Castrucio and this movement was quite useless thus the Florentines were so completely defeated at all points that scarcely a third of them escaped and Castrucio was again covered with glory many captains were taken prisoners and Carlo, the son of King Roberto with Michela Nyolo, Falcone and Tadio Dele Albici the Florentine commissioners fled to Empoli if the spoils were great the slaughter was infinitely greater as might be expected in such a battle of the Florentines while 20,231 men whilst Castrucio lost 1,570 men but fortune growing envious of the glory of Castrucio took away his life just at the time when she should have preserved it and thus ruined all those plans which for so long a time he had worked to carry into effect and in the successful prosecution of which nothing but death could have stopped him Castrucio was in the thick of the battle the whole of the day and when the end of it came although fatigued and overheated he stood at the gate of Focechio to welcome his men on their return from victory and personally thank them he was also on the watch for any attempt of the enemy to retrieve the fortunes of the day, he being of the opinion that it was the duty of a good general to be the first man in the saddle and the last out of it here Castrucio stood exposed to a wind which often rises at midday in the banks of the Arno and which is often very unhealthy from this he took a chill of which he thought nothing as he was accustomed to such troubles but it was the cause of his death on the following night he was attacked with high fever which increased so rapidly that the doctor saw it must prove fatal Castrucio therefore called Pagola Guinegi to him and addressed him as follows if I could have believed that fortune would have cut me off in the midst of the career which was leading to that glory which all my success is promised I should have laboured less and I should have left thee if a smaller state at least with fewer enemies and perils because I should have been content with the governorships of Luca and Pisa I should neither have subjugated the Pistoyans nor outraged the Florentines with so many injuries but I would have made both these peoples my friends and I should have lived if no longer at least more peacefully and have left a state without a doubt smaller but one more secure and established on a sureer foundation but fortune, who insists upon having the arbitrement of human affairs did not endow me with sufficient judgment to recognise this from the first nor the time to surmount it thou hast heard, for many have told thee and I have never concealed it how I entered the house of thy father whilst yet a boy, a stranger to all those ambitions which every generous soul should feel and how I was brought by him and loved as though I had been born of his blood how under his governance I learned to be valiant and capable of availing myself of all that fortune of which thou hast been witness when thy good father came to die he committed thee and all his possessions to my care and I have brought thee up with that love and increased thy estate with that care which I was bound to show and in order that thou should not only possess the estate which thy father left but also that which my fortune and abilities have gained I have never married so that the love of children should never deflect my mind from that gratitude which I owed to the children of thy father thus I leave the avast estate of which I am well content but I am deeply concerned in as much as I leave it to the unsettled and insecure, thou hast the city of Luca on thy hands which will never rest contented under thy government, thou hast also under whether men are of nature changeable and unreliable, who although they may be sometimes held in subjection yet they will ever disdain to serve under a lucizi Pistoia is also disloyal to thee she being eaten up with factions and deeply incensed against thy family by reason of the wrongs recently inflicted upon them thou hast for neighbours the offended Florentines injured by us in a thousand ways but not utterly destroyed who will hail the news of my death with more delight than they would the acquisition of all Tuscany in the emperor and in the princes of Milan thou canst place no reliance for they are far distant slow and their help is very long incoming therefore thou hast no hope in anything but in thine own abilities and in the memory of my valour and in the prestige which this latest victory has brought thee which as thou knowest how to use it with prudence will assist thee to come to Florentines who as they are suffering under this great defeat should be inclined to listen to thee and whereas I have sought to make them my enemies because I believe that war with them would conduce to my power and glory thou hast every inducement to make friends of them because their alliance will bring the advantages and security it is of the greatest importance in this world that a man should know himself and the measure of his own strength and means and he who knows that he has not a genius for fighting must learn how to govern by the arts of peace and it will be well for thee to rule thy conduct by my council and to learn in this way to enjoy what my life work and dangers have gained and in this thou wilt easily succeed when thou hast learnt to believe that what I have told thee is true and thou wilt be doubly indebted to me in that I have left thee this realm and have taught thee how to keep it after this they came to Castruzio those citizens of Pisa, Pistoia and Luca who had been fighting at his side and whilst recommending Pagolo to them and making them swear obedience to him as a successor he died. He left a happy memory to those who had known him and no prince of those times was ever loved with such devotion as he was. His obsequious was celebrated with every sign of morning and he was buried in San Francesco at Luca. Fortune was not so friendly to Pagolo Guiniti as she had been to Castruzio for he had not the abilities not long after the death of Castruzio Pagolo lost Pisa and then Pistoia and only with difficulty held on to Luca. This latter city continued in the family of Guiniti until the time of the great grandson of Pagolo From what has been related here it will be seen that Castruzio was a man of exceptional abilities not only measured by men of his own time but also by those of an earlier date. In Stature he was above the ordinary height and perfectly proportioned. He was of a gracious presence and he welcomed men with such a vanity that those who spoke with him rarely left him displeased. His hair was inclined to be red and he wore it cut short above the ears and whether it rained or snowed he always went without a hat. He was delightful among friends but terrible to his enemies just to his subjects ready to play force with unfaithful and willing to overcome by fraud those whom he desired to subdue because he was want to say that it was the victory that brought the glory not the methods of achieving it. No one was bolder in facing danger none more prudent in extricating himself. He was accustomed to say that men ought to attempt everything and fear nothing that God is a lover of strong men because one always sees that the weak are chastised by the strong. He was wonderfully sharp or biting though courteous in his answers and as he did not look for any indulgence in this way of speaking from others so he was not angered if others did not show it to him. It has often happened that he has listened quietly when others have spoken sharply to him as on the following occasions. He had caused a ducket to be given for a partridge and was taken to task for doing so by a friend to whom Castruzio had said you would not have given more than a penny. You answered the friend then said Castruzio to him a ducket is much less to me. Having about him a flatterer on whom he had spat to show that he scorned him the flatterer said to him fishermen are willing to let the waters of the sea saturate them in order that they may take a few little fishes and I allow myself to be wetted by spittle that I may catch a whale and this was not only heard by Castruzio with patience but rewarded when told by a priest that it was wicked for him to live so sumptuously Castruzio said if that be a vice then you should not fare so splendidly at the feasts of our saints. Passing through a street he saw a young man as he came out of a house of ill fame blush at being seen by Castruzio and said to him thou should not be ashamed when thou comest out but when thou goest into such places. A friend gave him a very curiously tied knot to undo and was told of all do you think that I wish to untie a thing which gave so much trouble to farsen? Castruzio said to one who professed to be a philosopher you are like the dogs who always run after those who will give them the best to eat and was answered we are rather like the doctors who go to the houses of those who have the greatest need of them. Going by water from peas at a leg horn Castruzio was much disturbed by a dangerous storm that sprang up and was reproached for cowardice by one of those with him who said that he did not fear anything. Castruzio answered that he did not wonder at that since every man valued his soul for what it was worth. Being asked by one what he ought to do to gain estimation he said when thou goest to a banquet take care that thou dost not seat one piece of wood upon another. To a person who was boasting that he had read many things Castruzio said he knows better than to boast of remembering many things. Someone bragged that he could drink much without becoming intoxicated. Castruzio replied an ox does the same. Castruzio was acquainted with a girl with whom he had had intimate relations and being blamed by a friend who told him that it was undignified for him to be taken in by a woman he said she has not taken me in I have taken her. Being also blamed for eating very dainty foods he answered to spend as much as I do and being told that it was true he continued then thou art more avaricious than I am gluttonous. Being invited by Tadeo Bernardi a very rich and splendid citizen of Lucca to supper he went to the house and was shown by Tadeo into a chamber hung with silk and paved with fine stones representing flowers and foliage of the most beautiful coloring. Castruzio gathered some saliva in his mouth and spat it out upon Tadeo and seeing him much disturbed by this said to him I knew not where to spit in order to offend thee less. Being asked how Caesar died he said God willing I will die as he did. Being one night in the house of one of his gentlemen where many ladies were assembled he was reproved by one of his friends for dancing and amusing himself with them more than was usual in one of his station. So he said he who is considered wise by day will not be considered a fool at night. A person came to demand a favor of Castruzio and thinking he was not listening to his plea threw himself on his knees to the ground and being sharply reproved by Castruzio said thou art the reason of my acting thus for thou hast thy ears in thy feet whereupon he obtained double the favor he had asked. Castruzio used to say that the way to hell was an easy one seeing that it was in a downward direction and you travelled blindfolded. Being asked a favor 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 a similar man with a long aeration who wound up by saying perhaps I have fatigued you by speaking so long Castruzio said you have not because I have not listened to a word you said. He used to say of one who had been a beautiful child and who afterwards became a fine man that he was dangerous because he first took the husbands from the wives and now he took the wives from their husbands. To an envious man who laughed he said do you laugh because you are successful or because another is unfortunate? Whilst he was still in the charge of Mesa Francesco Guinegi one of his companions said to him what shall I give you if you will let me give you a blow on the nose. Castruzio answered a helmet having put to death a citizen of Luca who had been instrumental in raising him to power and being told that he had done wrong to kill one of his old friends he answered that people deceived themselves he had only killed a new enemy. Castruzio praised greatly those men who intended to take a wife and then did not do so saying that they were like men who said they would go to sea and then refused when the time came he said that it always struck him with surprise that whilst men in buying an earthen or glass vase if it were good yet in choosing a wife they were content with only looking at her he was once asked in what manner he would wish to be buried when he died and answered with the face turned downward for I know when I am gone this country will be turned upside down on being asked if it had ever occurred to him to become a friar in order to save his soul he answered that it had not because it appeared strange to him that Fra Laceroni should go to Paradise to the Inferno he was once asked when should a man eat to preserve his health and replied if a man be rich let him eat when he is hungry if he be poor than when he can seeing one of his gentlemen make a member of his family lace him up he said to him I pray God that you will let him feed you also seeing that someone had written upon his house in Latin the words may God preserve this house from the wicked he said the owner must never go in passing through one of the streets he saw a small house with a very large door and remarked that house will fly through the door he was having a discussion with the ambassador of the king of Naples concerning the property of some banished nobles when a dispute arose between them and the ambassador asked him if he had no fear of the king is this king of yours a bad man or a good one? asked Castruzio and was told that he was a good one whereupon he said why should you suggest that I should be afraid of a good man? I could recount many other stories of his sayings both witty and weighty but I think that the above will be sufficient testimony to his high qualities he lived 44 years and was in every way a prince and as he was surrounded by many evidences of his good fortune so he also desired to have near him some memorials of his bad fortune therefore the manacles with which he lived in prison are to be seen to this day fixed up in the tower of his residence where they were placed by him to testify forever to his days of adversity as in his life he was inferior neither to Philip of Macedon the father of Alexander not a Scipio of Rome so he died in the same year of his age as they did and he was doubtless of excelled both of them had fortune decreed that he should be born not in Luca but in Macedonia or Rome end of the life of Castruccio Castracani of Luca part 2 end of the prince by Nicola Machiavelli translated by William K. Marriott recording by Paul Adams www.jaungei.com