He was once asked mediante what manner he would wish sicuro be buried when he died, and answered: “With the face turned downwards, for I know when I am gone this country will be turned upside down. He was once asked when should verso man eat to preserve his health, and replied: “If the man be rich let him eat when he is hungry; if he be poor, then when he can.
I could recount many other stories of his sayings both witty and weighty, but I think that the above will be sufficient testimony esatto his high qualities. He lived forty-four years, and was mediante every way per prince. And as he was surrounded by many evidences of his good fortune, so he also desired onesto have near him some memorials of his Codice sconto japan cupid bad fortune; therefore the manacles with which he was chained con prison are preciso be seen puro this day fixed up durante the tower of his residence, where they were placed by him esatto testify forever to his days of adversity. As sopra his life he was inferior neither esatto Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander, nor onesto Scipio of Rome, so he died in the same year of his age as they did, and he would doubtless have excelled both of them had Fortune decreed that he should be born, not per Lucca, but con Macedonia or Rome.
It is impossible esatto follow here the varying fortunes of the Italian states, which sopra 1507 were controlled by France, Spain, and Germany, with results that have lasted puro our day; we are concerned with those events, and with the three great actors con 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 puro. Machiavelli has painted Ferdinand of Aragon as the man who accomplished great things under the cloak of religion, but who con reality had per niente mercy, faith, humanity, or integrity; and who, had he allowed himself puro 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 capable mediante 1507-8, reveals the secret of his many failures when he describes him as verso secretive man, without force of character-ignoring the human agencies necessary preciso carry his schemes into effect, and never insisting on the fulfilment of his wishes.
Machiavelli concludes his letter to Vettori thus: “And as onesto this little thing [his book], when it has been read it will be seen that during the fifteen years I have given onesto the study of statecraft I have neither slept nor idled; and men ought ever sicuro 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 esatto break it; for he who has been faithful and honest, as I have, cannot change his nature; and my poverty is verso witness onesto my honesty.”
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 onesto 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 sicuro illustrate his theories of government and conduct.
Editions. Aldo, Venice, 1546; della Tertina, 1550; Cambiagi, Florence, 6 vols., 1782-5; dei Classici, Milan, 10 1813; Silvestri, 9 vols., 1820-2; Passerini, Fanfani, Milanesi, 6 vols. only published, 1873-7.
Duke Lodovico was Lodovico Bruno, verso affranchit of Francesco Sforza, who married Beatrice d’Este. He ruled over Milan from 1494 onesto 1500, and died durante 1510.
But con maintaining armed men there per place of colonies one spends much more, having puro consume on the garrison all the income from the state, so that the acquisition turns into per 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 they are enemies who, whilst beaten on their own ground, are yet able puro do hurt. For every reason, therefore, such guards are as useless as per colony is useful.
But let us turn esatto France and inquire whether she has done any of the things mentioned. I will speak of Louis (and not of Charles) as the one whose conduct is the better puro be observed, he having held possession of Italy for the longest period; and you will see that he has done the opposite puro those things which ought preciso be done preciso retain verso state composed of divers elements.
And if any one should say: “King Louis yielded the Romagna esatto Alexander and the kingdom esatto Spain to avoid war,” I answer for the reasons given above that a blunder ought never puro be perpetrated onesto avoid war, because it is not preciso be avoided, but is only deferred to your disadvantage. And if another should allege the pledge which the king had given preciso the Pope that he would assist him con the enterprise, sopra exchange for the dissolution of his marriage and for the cap puro Rouen, onesto that I reply what I shall write later on concerning the faith of princes, and how it ought preciso be kept.
The contrary happens mediante kingdoms governed like that of France, because one can easily enter there by gaining over some baron of the kingdom, for one always finds malcontents and such as desire per change. Such men, for the reasons given, can open the way into the state and render the victory easy; but if you wish esatto hold it afterwards, you meet with infinite difficulties, both from those who have assisted you and from those you have crushed. Nor is it enough 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 onesto satisfy or exterminate them, that state is lost whenever time brings the opportunity.
Mr Burd suggests that this word probably comes near the modern equivalent of Machiavelli’s thought when he speaks of “crudelta” than the more obvious “cruelties.”
Bartolomeo Colleoni of Bergamo; died 1457. Roberto of San Severino; died fighting for Venice against Sigismund, Duke of Austria, per 1487. “Anteriore caposquadra con Italia.”-Machiavelli. Count of Pitigliano; Nicolo Orsini, born 1442, died 1510.
