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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.
No tiene experiencia
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.
Alexander the Sixth,
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.
he desired to show that, if any cruelty had been practised, it had not originated with him, but in the natural sternness of the minister.
Blame
no longer have depended on the luck and the forces of others, but solely on his own power and ability.
No skill issue
He who believes that new benefits will cause great personages to forget old injuries is deceived.
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.
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 da Fermo, having been left an
No glory but high esteem? Respect perhaps without nobility
seeing that many others, by means of cruelty, have never been able even in peaceful times to hold the state, still less in the doubtful times of war.
Those who practise the first system are able, by aid of God or man, to mitigate in some degree their rule, as Agathocles did. It is impossible for those who follow the other to maintain themselves.
Believes God can help
in seizing a state, the usurper ought to examine closely into all those injuries which it 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.
Manipulación
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 flavour of them may last longer.
Manipulación
I say then that such a principality is obtained either by the favour of the people or by the favour of the nobles.
Creí que tener la regla desde los nobles era como tener la reglas de los ricos?
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.
He who obtains 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 favour finds himself alone, and has none around him, or few, who are not prepared to obey him.
Besides 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.
Those who so bind themselves, and are not rapacious, ought to be honoured and loved; those who do not bind themselves may be dealt with in two ways; they may fail to do this through pusillanimity 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, whilst in prosperity you honour 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
...more
Because men, when they receive good from him of whom they were 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 favours;
Psychology
“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 Gracchi in Rome and to Messer Giorgio Scali2 in Florence.
Mucho del tiempo no es verdad
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 goodwill 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;
No le gustan la República
For such a prince cannot rely upon what he observes in quiet times, when citizens have need of the state, because then every one agrees with him; they all promise, and when death is far distant they all wish to die for him; but in troubled times, when the state has need of its citizens, then he finds but few.
La gente cambian su mente en cual eligen que hacer en el peligro sino en la paz
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.
Haz la gente dependiente en ti así que sigan amándote y que sean fieles a ti
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.
El príncipe debe ser independiente or dependiente?
raise a sufficient army to join battle against any one who comes to attack them;
La independencia consiste en cuanto alguien se puede defender
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 obligations to them now that their houses have been burnt and their possessions ruined in his defence.
it is the nature of men to be bound by the benefits they confer as much as by those they receive.
no foreigner should enter Italy under arms; the other, that none of themselves should seize more territory.
the barons of Rome, who, being divided into two factions, Orsini and Colonnesi,
And although his intention was not to aggrandize 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.
from the ambitions of prelates arise disorders and tumults among the barons.
if others made it great in arms, he will make it still greater and more venerated by his goodness and infinite other virtues.
Strength through virtue
the arms with which a prince defends his state are either his own, or they are mercenaries, auxiliaries, or mixed.
they have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men,
Cristiano!
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.
in one battle they lost that which in eight hundred 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.
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.
Mercenarios
The principle that has guided them has been, first, to lower the credit of infantry so that they might increase their own.
Lower the credit of infantry?
affairs were brought to such a pass that, in an army of twenty thousand soldiers, there were not to be found two thousand foot soldiers.
Foot soldiers? Had they died?
They did not attack towns at night, nor did the garrisons of the towns attack encampments 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 their 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.
Falta la ambición trae la caída
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.
Cautivos de los auxiliares
it so came to pass that he did not become prisoner to his enemies, they having fled, nor to his auxiliaries, he having conquered by other arms than theirs.
Porque usa este ejemplo?
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 are 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 to assume enough authority to injure you.
Los auxiliares tienen la unidad
In conclusion, in mercenaries dastardy is most dangerous; in auxiliaries, valour.
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.
Individualismo
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.
Therefore, if he who rules a principality cannot recognize evils until they are upon him, he is not truly wise;
And if the first disaster to the Roman Empire5 should be examined, it will be found to have commenced only with the enlisting of the Goths; because from that time the vigour of the Roman Empire began to decline, and all that valour which had raised it passed away to others.
Caída de la milicia
