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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 watch-word of liberty and its ancient privileges as a
rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it
to forget. And what ever you may do or provide against, they never
forget that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or
dispersed but 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, they, being on the one hand
accustomed to obey and on the other hand 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 VI
           CONCERNING NEW PRINCIPALITIES WHICH ARE ACQUIRED
                    BY ONE'S OWN ARMS AND ABILITY

  LET no one be surprised if, in speaking of entirely new
principalities as I shall do, I adduce 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 to 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 savour
of it. Let him act like the 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 arrow to 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,
accordingly 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 two 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 favour 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 shall 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, which brought
them the material to mould 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 those 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 it with ease. The
difficulties they have in acquiring it arise 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, whilst the others
defend lukewarmly, in such wise 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; but when they can 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 Fra Girolamo 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, honoured, 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 a
like kind: it is Hiero 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.
                             CHAPTER VII
           CONCERNING NEW PRINCIPALITIES WHICH ARE ACQUIRED
           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. Such are those to whom some
state is given either for money or by the favour 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 stand simply upon the goodwill and the
fortune of him who has elevated them- two most inconstant 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, cannot have their foundations and
relations with other states 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 lay 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 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 Duke 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 VI, in wishing to aggrandize the duke, his son, had many
immediate and prospective difficulties. Firstly, he did not see his
way to make him master of 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 aggrandizement of the
Pope, namely, the Orsini and the Colonna and their following. It
behoved him, therefore, to upset this state of affairs and embroil the
powers, so as to make himself securely master of part of their states.
This was easy for him to do, because he found the 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 Colonna, while wishing to hold that and to
advance 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 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 Faenza 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