wordfreq-input.txt

来自「JAVA 语言的函数式编程扩展」· 文本 代码 · 共 1,031 行 · 第 1/5 页

                                      1515
                                   THE PRINCE
                             by Nicolo Machiavelli
                          translated by W. K. Marriott
                              CHAPTER I
             HOW MANY KINDS OF PRINCIPALITIES 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 principalities.
  Principalities 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 II
                 CONCERNING HEREDITARY PRINCIPALITIES

  I WILL leave out all discussion on republics, inasmuch 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 long 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 toothing for another.
                             CHAPTER III
                   CONCERNING MIXED PRINCIPALITIES

  BUT the difficulties occur in a new principality. And firstly, if it
be not entirely new, but is, as it were, a member of 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 rulers 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 are 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 bound 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 Lodovico'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 Lodovico 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 any one 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. When they are, 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, and 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 a 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, they heard of only when they
are 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 wrested 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 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, are never able to injure him; whilst the rest
being uninjured are easily 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, I 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; therefore 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 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 they are 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 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 will be introduced 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 Aetolians; 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 these subject states he has not to take
any trouble to gain them over to himself, for the whole of them
quickly rally 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 goodwill, 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, without increasing their strength; they kept
down the greater, and did not allow any strong foreign powers to
gain authority. Greece appears to me sufficient for an example. The
Achaeans and Aetolians were kept friendly by them, the kingdom of
Macedonia was humbled, Antiochus was driven out; yet the merits of the
Achaeans and Aetolians 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. Thus 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 every one 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 put off to the advantage of others;
moreover they wished 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 for
ever in the mouths of the wise ones of our time:- Let us enjoy the
benefits of the time- but rather the benefits of their own valour
and prudence, for 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