Content
1. The Prince, Chapters 15-21, 25-26
Chapter 8
- Anyone might wonder how it happened that Agathocles, and anyone like him, after infinite betrayals and cruelties, could live securely in his fatherland for so long,
- and defend himself from external enemies,
- while yet his own citizens never conspired against him;
- and meanwhile many others have not been able to maintain their states by means of cruelty, even in peaceful times, not to mention in the uncertain times of war.
- I believe that this depends on whether cruelties are badly used or well used.
- Cruelties may be called “well used,” if it is permitted to speak well of evil, when
- they are done all at once,
- out of the necessity of securing oneself,
- and when afterward they are not insisted upon,
- but are converted as much as possible into utility for the subjects.
- Cruelties “badly used” are those, even if they are few at the beginning, that instead grow over time rather than extinguish themselves. (65)
Chapter 15
On those things for which men, and especially princes, are praised or blamed
- And many have imagined republics and principalities that have never been seen or known to exist in truth.
- For there is such a distance from how one lives to how one ought to live
- that he who abandons what is done for what ought to be done learns what will ruin him rather than what will save him,
- since a man who would wish to make a career of being good in every detail must come to ruin among so many who are not good.
- Hence it is necessary for a prince, if he wishes to maintain himself,
- to learn to be able to be able to be not good,
- and to use this faculty, and not to use it, according to necessity.
- Thus, leaving behind the things that have been imagined about a prince, and discussing those that are true, I say that
- all men, when they are spoken about, and especially princes, because they are placed higher, are noted for some of the following qualities, which bring them either blame or praise.
- That is to say that one man is held liberal, one a miser (I use a Tuscan word because in our tongue […] we call a “miser” the man who refrains excessively from using his own wealth);
- one is held a giver, one rapacious;
- one cruel, one compassionate. […]
- And I know that everyone will admit that it would be a most praiseworthy thing, among all the qualities listed above, for there to be found in a prince those that are held to be good.
- But since these qualities cannot all be had, and since one cannot wholly observe them, as human conditions do not allow it,
- it is necessary for the prince to be prudent to the extent that he knows how to flee the infamy of those vices that might take the state away from him.
- And as for those that would not take the state away from him, he should guard himself against them if possible, but, if he cannot, here he may let himself proceed with less caution.
- Indeed, let him not worry about incurring the infamy of those vices without which it is difficult for him to save the state.
- For, if everything be well considered,
- one thing will be found that will appear a virtue, but will lead to his ruin if adopted;
- and another thing that will seem a vice, if adopted, will result in his security and well-being. (85)
Chapter 16
- Among all the things that a prince ought to guard himself against is being contemptible and hateful,
- and liberality leads you to both things.
- There is more wisdom, therefore, in keeping for oneself the name of miser,
- which bears an infamy without hatred,
- than, out of wishing for the name of liberal, to incur necessarily the name of rapacious, which bears an infamy coupled with hatred. (88)
Chapter 17
On cruelty and compassion, and whether it is better to be loved than to be feared, or the contrary
- […] each prince ought to desire to be reputed compassionate and not cruel.
- Nonetheless he must be alert not to use this compassion badly.
- Cesare Borgia was reputed to be cruel;
- nonetheless, that cruelty of his restored the Romagna, unified it, and restored it to peace and faithfulness.
- If one considers this well, one will see that he was much more compassionate than the Florentine people, who, to avoid the name of cruelty, allowed the destruction of Pistoia.
- A prince, therefore, must not care about the infamy of cruelty in keeping his subjects united and faithful,
- for by making a very few exemplary punishments he will be more compassionate than those who, through too much compassion, permit the disorders that give rise to killings or robberies.
- For the latter usually harm an entire population, but in the executions ordered by the prince a particular person is harmed.
- Among all the kinds of princes, for the new prince it is impossible to avoid the name of cruelty because new states are full of perils. (88-89)
- From the above a debate arises whether it is better to be loved than feared or the contrary.
- The answer is that one would want to be both the one and the other,
- but because it is difficult to join them together,
- if one has to do without one of the two,
- it is much safer to be feared than loved.
- For the following may be said generally about men:
- that they are ungrateful, changeable, pretenders and dissemblers, avoiders of dangers, and desirous of gain, and while you do them good they are wholly yours, offering you their blood, their property, their life, and their children, […] when the need is far off, but when it comes close to you they revolt.
- And that prince who has founded himself wholly on their words, because he finds himself naked of other preparations, is ruined.
- For the friendships that are acquired at a price, and not with greatness and nobility of spirit, are paid for but they are not owned, and at their expiration they cannot be used.
- Men exhibit less caution in attacking one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared,
- since love is held in place by a bond of obligation that, because men are wretched, is broken at every opportunity for utility to oneself,
- but fear is held in place by a fright of punishment that never abandons you.
- Nonetheless, the prince must make himself feared in such a manner that,
- although he does not acquire love,
- he avoids hatred,
- for being feared and being not hated may exist very well together.
- And this he will always do if he abstains from the property of his citizens and his subjects, and from their women.
- And if he must proceed against someone’s life, he should do it when there is appropriate justification and manifest cause.
- But above all he should abstain from the property of others, for men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony. (89-90)
Chapter 18