with his Cannon This siege continued twenty days during which time the Florentines had got together what force they could and had already under several Officers 3000 foot at Fegghine commanded by Piero Giam Pagolo as General Neri Capponi and Bernardo de Medici as Commissioners The Castle of San Nicolo had sent out four Persons to give them notice of their Condition and press them for relief whereupon the Commissioners examining the situation of the place found it was not to be relieved but by the Alps which came down from the Vale of Arno the tops of which might easily be possess'd by the Enemy before they could come at them in respect they had a shorter cut to them and the Florentines could not stir but they must of necessity be seen so that to attempt a thing which was not like to succeed was to expose and cast away their Men without doing any good upon these considerations the Commissioners having commended their courage pass'd advised them to continue it whilst they were able and when they found they could hold it no longer to surrender upon as good termes as they could hereupon after 32 days siege Nicolo became Master of the Castle but the losing so much time upon so inconsiderable a place was in great part the miscarriage of that enterprize for had he invested Florence or but keep it blocked up at a distance the Governor of that City would have been constrained to raise Mony and Men and must have supplied it with provisions with much more difficulty having the Enemy so near them besids many would have been pressing for peace seeing the War so likely to continue but the desire the Count di Poppi had to be revenged of that Garison which had been his Enemy a long time caused him to give that Counsel and Nicolo to oblige him consented to it which was the destruction of both and indeed it seldom happens but private animosity proves a prejudice to the interest of the publick Nicolo pursuing his Victory took Passina and Chiusi and the Count di Poppi persuaded him to continue in those parts alledging that he might extend his Quarters betwixt Chiusi and Pieve as he pleased and making himself Master of the Alps he might as he saw occasion return to the old post in Casentino and the Vale Arno or falling down into Vale di Chiana and the Vale de Fevere be ready upon the least motion of the Enemy But Nicolo reflecting upon the rockiness of those places only he replyed his Horses could swallow no stones and removed to Borgo a S. Sepulcro where he was received with all demonstration of kindness from whence he endeavoured to debauch the Citizens of Castello but they were too firm to the Florentines to entertain any such motion Being desirous to have Perugia where he was born at his devotion he went either with 40 Horse to make them a visit and was honorably treated but in a few days he rendred himself suspected having been wheedling with the Legate and several of the Citizens and made many proposals to them but none of them succeeded so that receiving 8000 Ducats of them he returned to his Army After this he got intelligence in Cortona and was very busie in seducing it from the Florentines but being discovered before it was ripe that also came to nothing Among the principal of that City there was on Bartolomeo di senso who going the Rounds one night by the Captains order was told by a Country Man his friend that if he had no mind to be killed he should have a care and go back Bartolomeo pressing to know his reason he found the whole series of the Plot and went immediately to the Governor and acquainted him how seizing upon the Conspirators and doubling his Gurards thereupon expected the coming of Nicolo according to agreement who came indeed punctually at his time but finding himself descovered returned to his quarters Whilst things ware carried on in Tuscany at this rate with little advantage to the forces of the Duke his affairs in Lombardy were as unquiet but with more detriment and loss for Count Francesco as soon as the season gave leave took the field with his Army and the Venetians having repaired their fleet in the Lake he thought it best in the first place to make himself Master of that and to drive the Duke out supposing when he had done that the rest would be easie Whereupon he caused the Venetian Fleet to set upon the Dukes which they did and defeated them after which he took all the Castles which they had in their possession so that the Enemy which besieged Brescia by land understanding the destiny of their Comerades drew of from the siege and left the Town free after it had been straitned three years Having finished his business there and obtained so important a Victory the Count thought â—it to seek out the Enemy who was retired to Socino a Castle upon the River of Oglio and dislodging them there they retreated to Cremona where the Duke made a head and resolved to defend that part of his Country But the Count advancing daily against him being fearful he should lose all or a great part of his Territory he began to lament the resolution of sending Nicolo into Tuscany and to redress his error he writ word to Nicolo of the condition he was in pressing him with all speed to come back to his relief The Florentines in the mean time had joyned their forces with the Popes and made a halt at Anghiari a Castle at the foot of the mountains which part Val di Tevere from Valdichiana four miles distant from San Sepulcro betwixt which places the way was plain the Country champain sit for Horse and proper for a Battle Having heard of the Counts Victory and that Nicolo was recalled they thought the Victory might be obtained without more hazard or labour and therefore orders was dispatched in all haste to the Comissaries to avoid an engagement by all means for Nicolo could not stay in Tuscany many days These orders coming to Nicolo's ear finding that of necessity he must part that he might have left nothing untryed he resolved to provoke them to a Battle believing he should take them unprovided seeing according to their intelligence they could have no reason to expect any such thing and to this he was much encouraged by Rinaldo the Conte di Poppi and all the Florentine exiles who knew well enough they were undone if Nicolo departed but if they could bring them to a fight there was a possibility of prevailing and if they did lose the Victory they should lose it with honor This resolution being taken the Army moved and being advanced as far as Borgo before the Florentines perceived it he commanded 2000 Men out of that City who relying much upon the conduct of their General and the promises he made them being also desirous of plunder followed him chearfully Marching on from
or foreign supplies have had various events as fortune was pleased to befriend them Cataline was ruined Hanno of whom we have spoken before failing in his poison arm'd many thousands of his Partisans which were all slain with him Certain of the principal Citizens of Thebes by the help of a Spartan Army made themselves Masters of that City and tyranniz'd over it so that if all conspiracies against their Country be examined there will none or but very few be found to have miscarried in the management but the whole stress of their good or bad fortune has layn upon the execution which being once pass'd they are subject to no more dangers than what depend upon the nature of the Government for when a man usurps and makes himself a Tyrant he exposes himself to those natural and inseparable dangers which are the consequences of Tyranny against which he has no other remedies than what have been described before This is what I have thought convenient to write upon the subject of Conspiracies and if I have discoursed only of those which are executed by the sword and not by poison it is because they have the same orders and methods True it is the way of poison is the most dangerous as being the more uncertain because every one has not convenience but is forc'd to confer with other people and the necessity of that Conference is much to be feared besides many things happen which makes your potion ineffectual as it fell out to those who killed Commodus who having disgorg'd his poison forc'd the Conspirators to strangle him Princes then have no Enemy to which they are more dangerously exposed than to these Conspiracies because they are never undertaken against any of them but they take away his life or reputation If they succeed he dies if they miscarry and the instruments be put to death it is look'd upon as a pretence and invention of the Prince to satiate his avarice or cruelty upon the blood or fortunes of his enemies My advice therefore is both to Prince and Commonwealth that upon the discovery of a Conspiracy before they think of revenge seriously to consider the quality of it and to compare the condition of the Conspirators with their own if they find them potent and strong till they have furnished themselves with a proportionable force no notice is to be taken if notice be taken they are unable to defend themselves and certainly ruined for the Conspirators finding themselves discovered will grow desperate and be under a necessity of venturing let the success be what it will The Romans may be an example of this way of dissembling for having as we said before left two of their Legions at Capua for the security of that City against the Samnites the Commanders of the said Legions conspir'd to make themselves Masters of the Town The Romans having notice of their designs committed the prevention of it to Rutilius their new Consul who to lull and delude the Conspirators gave out that the Senate had confirmed that Station to those Legions for another winter which the Legions believed and thinking then they should have time enough they neglected to hasten their design till at length observing the Consul to draw them away insensibly and dispose them into other parts they began to suspect and that suspicion made them discover themselves and put their plot in execution Nor can an example be brought more properly for either sides for by it we may see how cool and remiss people are when they think they have time enough and how sudden and vigorous when necessity presses them And the Prince or Commonwealth which would defer the discovery of a Plot cannot do it with more advantage to himself than by giving the Conspirators some handsom occasion to believe that they may execute it with more ease and security another time for thereby the Prince or Commonwealth will have more leisure to provide for their defence they who have proceeded otherwise have but hastened their own ruine as we have seen in the case of the Duke of Athens and Gulielmo de Pazzi The Duke having made himself Sovereign in Florence and understanding there were Conspiracies against him without enquiring farther into the business caused one of them to be apprehended which giving an alarm to the rest they immediately took arms and turn'd the Duke out of his Supremacy Gulielmo being Commissary for that City in the Val di Chiana in the year 1501 having news of a great Plot in Arezzo in favour of the Vitelli and that their design was to renounce the dominion of the Florentines he marched thither directly without considering the power of the Conspirators or his own or so much as furnishing himself with what Forces he might have done and by the advice of the Bishop his Son causing one of the Conspirators to be seized the rest fell presently to their arms disclaim'd the Florentines and took their Commissary prisoner But when Conspiracies are weak and in their infancy if they be discovered they are to suppress them out of hand without any suspence and not to follow the example either of the Duke of Athens or Dion of Syracuse of whom the first caused a Citizen who had discovered a plot to him to be put to death that the rest observing how unwilling he was to believe any thing of them might be the more secure and hold themselves obliged Dion on the other side suspecting the affections of some people caused one of his Confidents called Calippus to pretend a Conspiracy and see if he could draw them in but both these practices succeeded very ill for by the first all people were discouraged from making any discovery and all Conspirators confirmed and by the other a way was recommended for the murdering of himself for Calippus finding he had an opportunity to practice without danger he did it so effectually that it cost Dion both his Government and Life CHAP. VII How it comes to pass that in the changes of State from liberty to servitude and from servitude to liberty some are very innocent and others very bloody SOme people perhaps may wonder how it should come to pass that Governments should be changed from one form to another sometimes easily and without blood and sometimes with great difficulty and slaughter be the variation as it will either from liberty to tyranny or from tyranny to liberty And this diversity of mutations is so strange that as History tells us they happen sometimes with infinite effusion of blood and at other times without the least injury to any body as in Rome when the Government was taken from the Kings and put into the hands of the Consulâ— no body was expulsed or so much as molested but the Tarquins but in other alterations it has been otherwise and the cause of this diversity may in my judgment be deduced from the manner in which that State was acquired if it was obtained by force it could not be without injury
Officers of his Army advis'd him to give over his enterprize of Brescia and Verona and retire to Vicenza least otherwise the Enemy should encompass him where he was yet he would not consent but resolved to try his fortune for the recovery of Verona and turning about to the Venetian Proveditori and Barnardetto de Medici who assisted as Commissioner for the Florentines he encouraged them in their doubts and assured them he would retake it if any of the castles held out for him Having put all things in order and drawn out his Men he marched towards Verona with all expedition at first sight Nicolo imagined he was marching to Vicenza as he had been counselled by his officers But observing him to march on and direct his forces towards the Castle of S. Felice he thought it time to provide for his defence but all was too late the trenches and embarrasments were not finished the Souldiers separated and plundering and could not be got together time enough to hinder the Count from getting into the Citadel and from thence into the City to the great disparagement of Nicolo and detriment of his party who with the Marquess of Mantoua retreated first into the Citadel which they had taken and from thence escaped to the City of Mantoua where rallying the remainder of their forces they joyned themselves with the Army before Brescia so that in four days time Verona was won and lost by the Duke forces Being Winter time and the weather very cold the Count having after his Victory put in some supplies of victual into Brescia though with very great difficulty he removed his quarters to Verona having given order for the building certain Gallies to Forboli that Winter to be ready against the Spring that then he might be so strong both by land and by Water as to give Brescia an effectual and total relief The Duke seeing the War at a stand for a time and his hopes of being Master of Verona and Brescia at an end all which he attributed to the Counsel and supplies of the Florentines whose affection could not be alienated by all the provocations the Venetians had given them nor gained over to his side by all the promises which he had made them that they might be sensible of their own oversight and feel the inconveniences they had pulled upon themselves he resolved to invade Tuscany to which he was much encouraged by Nicolo and the Florentine exiles Nicolo's design was upon the possessions of Braccio and to drive the Count out of La Marca the other had an itching after their own Country and a mind to be at home so that both parties animated the Duke with such arguments as were most sutable to their particular designs Nicolo told him he might send him with an Army into Tuscany and leave Brescia besieged for he was Master of the Lake was well entrenched about the Town had several strong Castles in the Country and good Officers and Souldiers enough to resist the Count if he should make any attempt in another place which was not to be imagined till he had relieved Brescia and that was impossible so that if he pleased he might make War in Tuscany and not quite his enterprize in Lombardy he remonstrated besides that the Florentines would be constrained as soon as they saw him in Tuscany to call back the Count or be ruined and whichsoever of the two happen his Victory would be certain The exiles inculcated that if Nicolo came near Florence with his Army it was impossible but the People tired out with their Taxes and the insolence of the Grandees would take arms and revolt as to his passage to Florence they promised it should be easie and Casentino open to them by the interest and correspondence which Rinaldo held with that Governor so that the Duke inclinable of himself was much fortified and encouraged by their persuasions the Venetians on the other side though the Winter was very sharp press'd the Count to the relief of Brescia with his whole Army but he refused alledging it was not to be done at that time that better weather was to be expected and that in the interim their Fleet should be got ready and then it might be attempted both by Land and by Water which answer giving no satisfaction the Venetians became slow and remiss in sending them provisions so that in their Army many People died The Florentines having advertisement of all these passages were greatly dismaid seeing the War brought home to them of Tuscany and that in Lombardy not turn'd to account nor were they less fearful of the forces of the Church not that the Pope was their Enemy but that they found that Army at the devotion of the Patriarch who was their implacable adversary Giovanni Vitelleschi Cornetano was first Apostolical Notarie then Bishop of Ricanati after the Patriarch of Alexandria and being at last created Cardinal was called the Cardinal of Florence This Cardinal was a cunning and Couragious Person so capable of business that the Pope had a strong affection for him gave him command of the forces of the Church and in all the Popes enterprizes in Tuscany Romagna Naples and Rome he was constantly his General so that by degrees he gained so great authority both over the Army and the Pope that the Pope began to be afraid to command him and the Army to refuse their obedience to any body but he The Cardinal being at that time in Rome when the news arrived that Nicolo was marching into Tuscany The fear of the Florentines was highly increased because from the time of Rinaldo's expulsion that Cardinal had been an Enemy to their state for the Articles of agreement which were by his mediation procured in Florence were not made good but rather managed to the prejudice of Rinaldo he having been the occasion of his laying down his Arms that the occasion of his banishment so that the Government of Florence began to fear the time was come for the restauration of Rinaldo if he joyned with Nicolo in his expedition into Tuscany and their apprehensions were augmented by the sudden departure of Nicolo who seemed to them to leaven enterprize which he had almost compleated to embark himself in another ther that was more dangerous and doubtful which they presumed he would never have done without some private intelligence or unknown invitation these their apprehensions they had infused into the Pope who was grown sensible of his error in having transferred so much Authority upon other People But whilst the Florentines were in this suspence fortune presented them a way to secure themselves of the Patriarch that State had scouts abroad to intercept and peruse all letters to see if they could meet with any correspondence to the prejudice of the State at Monte Pulciano it happened a pacquet was taken which the Patriarch had written to Nicolo Piccinino without the knowledg or consent of the Pope Though the Character was
his residence in Florence Hereupon the Pazzi complained highly of the Government and spake bitterly of them wherever they came which produced more suspition in the Government and more injury to themselves Giovanni de Pazzi was married to the Daughter of Giovanni Boromei a very rich man who being dead without other Children his Estate descended to his Daughter Notwithstanding Carlo his Nephew got possession of part and refused to surrender The controversie coming to a hearing it was decreed that Carlo should keep his possession and the Daughter was defeated which injustice the Pazzi imputed wholly to the malevolence of the Medici of which Giuliano complained many times to his Brother Lorenzo admonishing him to have a care lest Grasping at too much he rob'd himself of all But Lorenzo being young and elated with his power would have a hand in every thing and all must be acknowledged from him The Pazzi being too noble and opulent to swallow so many affronts began to cast about how they might revenge themselves The first who brake the ice was Francesco who being more sensible and couragious than the rest determined to recover what was his right or to lose what he had Retaining an implacable hatred to the Government at Florence he lived most commonly at Rome where he employed great sums of Mony as other Florentine Merchants did usually do Having an intimate acquaintance with Count Girolamo they complained to one another oftentimes of the inhumanity of the Medici at length they came to a solemn debate and it was concluded that for the one's recovery of his Estate and the others living freely in that City it was necessary the present Government in Florence should be subverted which could not be done but by killing Giuliano and Lorenzo They were confident having first convinced them of the easiness of the fact the Pope and the King of Naples would give their consents Having entertained these thoughts betwixt themselves they thought fit to communicate with the new Archbishop of Pisa who being naturally ambitious and lately disobliged most readily embraced it consulting themselves what measures were to be taken it was resolved that Giacopo de Pazzi should be drawn in without whose concurrence the design was like to be more difficult To this purpose it was concluded that Francesco de Pazzi should repair immediately to Florence and the Count and Archbishop continue at Rome to be near the Pope when things should be fit to be imparted Francesco finding Giacopo more formal and untractable then he desired and signifying it to Rome it was resolved to apply greater authority to dispose him whereupon the Archbishop and the Count communicated the whole affair with Giovan Baptist a one of his Holiness his Generals This Giovanni was a man of great reputation in war and particularly obliged both by the Count and the Pope Nevertheless he objected the great danger and difficulties of the enterprize which the Archbishop endeavoured to refel by urging the assistance they were to expect both from the Pope and the King of Naples The hatred the Citizens of Florence bare to the Medici the number of relations and friends which would follow the Salviati and the Pazzi the easiness to kill them by reason of their frequent walking alone about the City without either guards or suspition and after they were dead the small or no opposition to be expected in the change of the Government which allegations Giovanni Battista could not absolutely believe because he had been assured the contrary by several considerable Citizens Whilst these things were in this suspence it happened that Carlo Lord of Faenza fell sick and was given over for dead Hereupon the Count and Arch-Bishop conceived they had a fair opportunity to dispatch Battista to Florence and thence into Romagna under pretence of recovering certain Towns which Carlo of Farenza had taken from them The Count therefore commissioned Battista to wait upon Lorenzo and in his Name to desire his advice how he was to behave himself in Romagna after which he was to visit Francesco di Pazzi and Giacopo di Pazzi and seeing if he could engage them in the design and that he might carry the Popes authority along with him they appointed him before he departed to receive his Holiness his Commands who promised what could be imagined for the promotion of the enterprize Battista departing speedily from Rome arrived at Florence consulted Lorenzo according to his instructions was very civilly received and so wisely and amicably answered in all his demands that Battista was surprized and began to look upon him as courteous discreet a friend to the Count and one that had been maliciously misrepresented However he was to pursue his orders and visit Francesco he being at Lucca he went directly to Giacopo and upon the first motion found him very averse But before he went away the Popes recommendation sweetned him so that he told Battista he might proceed in his journy to Romagna and by that time he came back Francesco would be in Florence and they would talk father of the business Battista went to Romagna and returned pursued his pretended transactions with Lorenzo when he had done with him went to the Pazzi and ordered things so that Giacopo was drawn in upon ferious consultation of the way Giacopo was of opinion their design was impossible whilst both the Brothers were together in Florence That they had better attend till Lorenzo went to Rome which by report would be certain and in a very short time Francesco was willing enough to have had Lorenzo at Rome but if the worst came to the worst and he did not go thither they might be sure to kill them both together at some wedding some show or some act of devotion as to their foreign assistance it was thought convenient that the Pope should send his forces against Castello de Montone having just occasion of invading the Count Carlo for the troubles and tumults he had raised in the Country of Perugia and Sienna Notwithstanding they came to no positive resolution at that time only they agreed that Francesco di Pazzi and Giovan Battista should return to Rome and there determine of all things with his Holiness and the Count. The whole matter being redebated solemnly at Rome they came to this conclusion the enterprize against Montone being confirmed that Giovan Francesco da Tolentino an officer of the Popes should go into Romagna and Lorenzo da Castello into his Country each of them get together what forces they were able and keep them ready to be disposed of as the Archbishop Salviati and Francesco dei Pazzi should order who being come to Florence with Giovan Battista they prepared all that was necessary and King Ferrando's Embassador assured them of his Masters utmost assistance The Archbishop and Francesco being arrived at Florence they persuaded into their party Giacopo the Son of Poggio a learned youth but ambitious and studious of new things That drew in likewise two Giacopo Salviati's
as were discontented and in any capacity of doing him hurt he fortified himself with new Laws both Military and Civil insomuch as in a years time he had not only fix'd himself in Fermo but was become terrible to all that were about him and he would have been as hard as Agathocles to be supplanted had he not suffered himself to have been circumvented by Cesar Borgia when at Singalia as aforesaid he took the Ursini and Vitelli where also he himself was taken a year after his Parracide was committed and strangled with his Master Vitellozzo from whom he had learned all his good qualities and evil It may seem wonderful to some people how it should come to pass that Agathocles and such as he after so many Treacheries and acts of inhumanity should live quietly in their own Country so long defend themselves so well against foreign Enemies and none of their Subjects conspire against them at home seeing several others by reason of their cruelty have not been able even in times of Peace as well as War to defend their Government I conceive it fell out according as their cruelty was well or ill applyed I say well applyed if that word may be added to an ill action and it may be called so when commited but once and that of necessity for ones own preservation but never repeated afterwards and even then converted as much as possible to the benefit of the Subjects Ill applyed are such cruelties as are but few in the beginning but in time do rather multiply than decrease Those who are guilty of the first do receive assistance sometimes both from God and Man and Agathocles is an instance But the others cannot possibly subsist long From whence it is to be observed that he who usurps the Government of any State is to execute and put in practice all the cruelties which he thinks material at once that he may have no occasion to renue them often but that by his discontinuance he may mollifie the People and by his benefits bring them over to his side He who does otherwise whether for fear or ill Counsel is obliged to be always ready with his Knife in his hand for he can never repose any confidence in his Subjects whilst they by reason of his fresh and continued inhumanities cannot be secure against him So then Injuries are to be committed all at once that the last being the less the distaste may be likewise the less but benefits should be distilled by drops that the relish may be the greater Above all a Prince is so to behave himself towards his Subjects that neither good fortune or bad should be able to alter him for being once assaulted with adversity you have no time to do mischief and the good which you do does you no good being looked upon as forced and so no thanks to be due for it CHAP. IX Of Civil Principality I Shall speak now of the other way when a Principal Citizen not by wicked contrivance or intolerable violence is made Soveraign of his Country which may be called a Civil Principality and is not to be attained by either Virtue or Fortune alone but by a lucky sort of craft This Man I say arrives at the Government by the favour of the People or Nobility for in all Cities the meaner and the better sort of Citizens are of different humours and it proceeds from hence that the common people are not willing to be commanded and oppressed by the great ones and the great ones are not to be satisfied without it From this diversity of appetite one of these three Effects do arise Principality Liberty or Licentiousness Principality is caused either by the people or the great ones as either the one or the other has occasion The great ones finding themselves unable to resist the popular torrent do many times unanimously confer their whole Authoriry upon one Person and create him Prince that under his protection they may be quiet and secure The people on the other side when over-power'd by their Adversaries do the same thing transmitting their power to a single Person who is made King for their better defence He who arrives at the Soveraignty by the assistance of the great ones preserves it with more difficulty than he who is advanced by the people because he has about him many of his old Associates who thinking themselves his Equals are not to be directed and managed as he would have them But he that is preferred by the people stands alone without Equals and has no body or very few about him but what are ready to obey Moreover the Grandees are hardly to be satisfied without injury to others which is otherwise with the people because their designs are more reasonable than the designs of the great ones which are fixt upon commanding and oppressing altogether whil'st the people endeavour only to defend and secure themselves Moreover where the people is adverse the Prince can never be safe by reason of their numbers whereas the great ones are but few and by consequence not so dangerous The worst that a Prince can expect from an injured and incensed people is to be deserted but if the great ones by provoked he is not only to fear abandoning but conspiracy and banding against him for the greater sort being more provident and cunning they look out in time to their own safety and make their interest with the Person who they hope will overcome Besides the Prince is obliged to live always with one and the same people but with the Grandees he is under no such obligation for he may create and degrade advance and remove them as he pleases But for the better Explication of this part I say That these great men are to be considered two ways especially That is whether in the manner of their administration they do wholly follow the fortune and interest of the Prince or whether they do otherwise Those who devote themselves entirely to his business and are not rapacious are to be valued and preferred Those who are more remiss and will not stick to their Prince do it commonly upon two Motives either out of laziness or fear and in those cases they may be employed especially if they be wise and of good Counsel because if affairs prosper thou gainest honour thereby if they miscarry thou needest not to fear them or upon ambition and design and that is a token that their thoughts are more intent upon their own advantage than thine Of these a Prince ought always to have a more than ordinary care and order them as if they were Enemies professed for in his distress they will be sure to set him forwards and do what they can to destroy him He therefore who comes to be Prince by the favour and suffrage of the People is obliged to keep them his friends which their desire being nothing but freedom from oppression may be easily done But he that is preferred by the interest of the Nobles against
But when a Prince discovers himself couragiously in favour of one party if he with whom you joyn overcome though he be very powerful and you seem to remain at his discretion yet he is obliged to you and must needs have a respect for you and Men are not so wicked with such signal and exemplary ingratitude to oppress you Besides Victories are never so clear and compleat as to leave the Conqueror without all sparks of reflexion and especially upon what is just But if your Confederate comes by the worst you are received by him and assisted whil'st he is able and becomest a Companion of his fortune which may possibly restore the. In the second place if they who contend be of such condition that they have no occasion to fear let which will overcome you are in purdence to declare your self the sooner because by assisting the one you contribute to the ruine of the other whom if your Confederate had been wise he oughtrather to have preserved so that he overcoming remains wholly at your discretion and by your assistance he must of necessity overcome And hear it is to be noted if he can avoid it a Prince is never to league himself with another more powerful than himself in an offensive War because in that case if he overcomes you remain at his mercy and Princes ought to be as cautious as possible of falling under the discretion of other people The Venetians when there was no necessity for it associated with France against the Duke of Milan and that association was the cause of their ruine But where it is not to be avoided as hapned to the Florentines when the Pope and the Spaniard sent their Armies against Lombardy there a Prince is to adhere for the reasons aforesaid Nor is any Prince of Government to imagine that in those cases any certain counsel can be taken because the affairs of this world are so ordered that in avoiding one mischief we fall commonly into another But a Man's wisdom is most conspicuous where he is able to distinguish of dangers and make choice of the least Moreover a Prince to show himself a Virtuoso and Honourer of all that is excellent in any Art whatsoever He is likewise to encourage and assure his Subjects that they may live quietly in peace and exercise themselves in their several Vocations whether marchandize Agriculture or any other employment whatever to the end that one may not forbear improâ—ing or imbellishing his Estate for fear it should be taken from him nor another advancing his Trade in apprehension of taxes but the Prince is rather to excite them by propositions of reward and immunities to all such as shall any way amplifie his Territory or powers He is obliged likewise at convenient times in the year to entertain the people by Feastings and Plays and Spectacles of Recreation and because all Cities divided into Companies or Wards he ought to have respect to those Societies be merry with them sometimes and give them some instance of his humanity and magnificence but always retaining the Majesty of his degree which is never to be debased in any case whatever CHAP. XXII of the Secretaries of Princes THe Election of his Ministers is of no small importance to a Prince for the first judgment that is made of him or his parts is from the persons he has about him when they are wise and faithful be sure the Prince is discreet himself who as he knew how to choose them able at first so he has known how to oblige them to be faithful but when his Ministers are otherwise it reflects shrewdly upon the Prnice for commonly the first error he commits is in the Election of his Servants No Man knew Antonio da Vanafro to be Secretary to Pandolfo Petrucci Prince of Sienna but he could judge Pandolfo to be aprudent Man for choosing such a one to his Minister In the capacities and parts of Men there are three sorts of degrees one Man understands of himself another understands what is explained and a third understands neither of himself nor by any Explanation The first is excellent the second commendable the third altogether unprofitable If therefore Pandolfus was not in the first rank he might be concluded in the second for whenever a Prince 〈◊〉 the judgment to know the good and the bad of what is spoken or done though his own invention be not excellent he can distinguish a good servant from a bad and exalt the one and correct the other and the Minister despairing of deluding him remains good in spight of his teeth But the business is how a Prince may understand his Minister and the rule for that is infallible When you observe your Officer more careful of himself than of you and all his actions and designs pointing at his own interest and advantage that Man will never be a good Minister nor ought you ever to repose any confidence in him for he who has the affairs of his Prince in his hand ought to lay aside all thoughts of himself and regard nothing but what is for the profit of his Master And on the otherside to keep him faithful the Prince is as much concerned to do for him by honouring him enriching him giving him good Offices and Preferments that the wealth and honour conferred by his Master may keep him from looking out for himself and the plenty and goodness of his Offices make him afraid of a change knowing that without his Princes favour he can never subsist When therefore the Prince and the Minister are qualified in this manner they may depend one upon the other But when 't is otherwise with them the end must be bad and one of them will be undone CHAP. XXIII How flatterers are to be avoided I Will not pass by a thing of great consequence being an error against which Princes do hardly defend themselves unless they be very wise and their judgment very good And that is about Flatterers of which kind of Cattle all Histories are full for Men are generally so fond of their own actions and so easily mistaken in them that it is not without difficulty they defend themselves against those sort of people and he that goes about to defend himself runs a great hazard of being despised For there is no other remedy against Flatterers than to let every body understand you are not disobliged by telling the truth yet if you suffer every body to tell it you injure your self and lessen your reverence Wherefore a wise Prince ought to go a third way and select out of his State certain discreet men to whom only he is to commit that liberty of speaking truth and that of such things as he demands and nothing else but then he is to inquire of every thing hear their opinions and resolve afterwards as he pleases and behave himself towards them in such sort that every one may find with how much the more freedom he speaks with so much the more kindness
Customs can restrain an universal depravity because as good Customs cannot subsist without good Laws so good Laws cannot be executed without good Customs besides the Laws which are made in the minority and innocence of a Commonwealth are not sutable or efficacious when it is grown wicked and robust for the Laws of a City do vary upon several accidents and emergencies but the Statutes and fundamental Orders are seldom or never changed for which reason new Laws are not so necessary afterwards as good Statutes at first but to illustrate it farther By ancient Statute and Custom time out of mind the Commonwealth of Rome was divided betwixt the Senate and the People and all authority was derived either from the People or Senate or Tribunes or Consuls as also their creation of Magistrates and enacting of Laws these Customs were little if at all changed in all the revolutions of that State but the Laws for punishing malefactors and regulating enormities were enacted or repealed as the exorbitance of the people did fluctuate and require as the sumptuary Laws the Law against adultery ambition and several others instituted from time to time as the Citizens grew corrupter But the old customs of State being retained though tainted and sharing in the corruption of the people the reviving of old Laws or introducing of new was not sufficient to keep the Citizens good but it would have contributed much had the old Customs been reform'd when those new Laws were introduced and a new form of Government set up for that those ancient Customs are of no use or advantage where a City is overflown with such a deluge of corruption is apparent by their methods in the creation of Magistrates and the exhibition of Laws The Consulship nor any other office or dignity was never confer'd by the people of Rome upon any body but by formal application which Custom was originally very good because none sought for them who was conscious of being unfit forasmuch as to be repulsed was a dishonourable thing and to make himself sit every man chose to be virtuous But afterwards the manners of the people growing so fatally corrupt this Custom lost its primitive convenience and became not only useless but pernitious for they who had most power not they who had most virtue and capacity pretended to the Magistracy the poor and the virtuous not daring to appear for fear of an ignominious repulse but this inconvenience like the City it self was not the product of a day it stole into the Commonwealth lay concealed encreased and exerted it self by degrees as all other inconveniencies do 〈◊〉 having conquered Africa and Asia and reduced the greatest part of Greece the Romans began to hug themselves in their liberty as not knowing any enemy they ought in reason to fear this security and unhappy scarcity of enemies was the occasion that in their creation of Consuls the people of Rome began to regard riches and favour more than ability and virtue preferring such persons as could entertain and treat people handsomely before such as were grave and could only conquer their enemies afterwards from those who were most plausible they came down and created such as were most powerful so that persons of virtue and capacity were totally excluded In the making of Laws a Tribune and any one Citizen had power to propose any thing to the people which they thought of importance to the publick before whom it was canvas'd and discuss'd every man having free liberty to object or promote it as his judgment directed before it could pass And this Custom was good likewise whilst the Citizens were so too for it was always and is still convenient that if any man be wiser than the rest and can contrive any thing for the security or benefit of the publick that he have liberty to propose it and it is as useful on the other side every man have the same freedom to ventilate and examine it that all being well argued and every mans opinion heard the best may be chosen But as the Citizens grew corrupt this Custom grew incommodious none but great men proposed any thing to the people and what they did was not for the common but their own private interest and which was worse no man had the liberty to dispute it so that the people were either circumvented or forced to consent to their own ruine and destruction So then to have maintained Rome free in such an age of corruption it was necessary as they altered their Laws according to the prevalence of each vice so they should have altered their fundamentals in the making of Laws and creation of Magistrates for the same Customs are not equally convenient where the people are not equally good no more than the forms can be alike where the matter is contrary But 't is worth our inquity whether these Customs be to be reform'd at a blow as soon as their inconvenience is descried or by degrees before every body observes them I say both of them are almost impossible for to alter them by degrees requires some wise and sagacious Citizen that can foresee the dangers at a distance and trace them to their first causes but of such persons perhaps a City may never see one or if it does how hard is it for him to persuade other people for people accustomed to a way are not easily got out of it especially when the mischief is rather in probability than prospect And when these old Customs are to be reformed as appearing unprofitable and dangerous for the Commonwealth though they be easily discovered they are hard to be removed especially at once because the common mass being infected common ways are too weak and recourse must be had to extraordinary as violence and arms for before the fabrick of the Government can be changed and modelled to your desire 't is necessary above all things to make your self Master of the City and to be able to dispose of it at your pleasure and because to reform a State and reduce it to a Civil Regiment presupposes a good man and to usurp and make ones self Prince by violence presupposes an ill therefore it seldom falls out that a good man makes himself Prince by unjust means be his ends never so good nor will an ill man who has made himself Prince ever do good it never falls into his thoughts to imploy that authority well which he has unjustly acquir'd From the causes aforesaid therefore arises the difficulty or rather impossibility in a corrupt City to maintain a free State much less to erect one and if there should be any way found out to effect it it would in my judgment be necessary to frame it rather according to a Regal than a Popular State that those persons whose insolence is incorrigible by the Laws may be bridled and restrained by some supreme Magistrate in the nature of a King and to attempt any other way must be either vain and temerarious or exorbitantly cruel For
secretly or suddenly but the people would have smelt it and have turned the violence of their affection into as furious and hatred which would have made his destruction much more easy to his enemies for who-ever was but suspected to be a favourer of the Medici was thought ipso facto an adversary to the people It is necessary therefore in all deliberations to weigh all things to consider what danger and what advantage every thing will yield and make choice of what is least dangerous otherwise it will happen to you as it did to Marcus Tullius who raised and augmented the greatness of Mark Anthony by the same way which he intended for his destruction for when Mark Anthony was declared an enemy by the Senate having a great Army attending him and most of them of Caesar's old Soldiers Cicero to draw them off from him persuaded the Senate to put Octavius at the head of their Army and sent him with the Consuls against Antonius pretending that the very name of Octavius being Nephew to Caesar would bring over all his Unckles party to him whereby Antonius would be so weakned it would be no hard matter to reduce him But it hapned quite contrary for Antonius having gained Octavius to his side they joyned their Forces against Tully and his Senate and ruined their whole Party Which might have been easily foreseen nor ought Cicero so imprudently to have reviv'd the name of Caesar by whom the whole world was brought into servitude and especially Rome nor have persuaded himself that a Tyrant or any of his race would ever restore that liberty which his Predecessor had suppressed CHAP. LIII The people deceived with a false appearance of good do many times desire that which turns to their destruction and how great hopes and large promises do easily debauch them AFter the taking of Veii by the Romans a report being spread of the convenience and pleasantness of the Town and richness of the Country about it the people of Rome began to fancy that it would be much for their advantage to transplant one half of their City aud send them thither to inhabit for there were many fair houses to receive them and it could be no weakning or diminution to Rome seeing the distance betwixt the two Cities was so small Veii would be taken rather for a member of Rome than a distinct and particular City The Senate and graver sort of Citizens had so little inclination to this design that they resolved to die before ever they would consent to it The people were so mad upon it on the other side that when it came to a debat and it was to be resolved what was to be done the dispute was so hot they had proceeded to blows and the whole Town been engaged in blood had not the Senate interposed certain ancient and eminent men who by their interest and veneration among the people defended the blow and appeased them for that time In which passage there are two things considerable the first that the people being deceived with a false imagination of good do many times solicit their own ruine and run the Commonwealth upon infinite dangers and difficulties unless some person in whom they have great confidence strikes in to instruct them which is the good and which is the evil and when by accident it falls out that the people having been formerly deceived either by persons or things cannot repose that confidence in any one then of necessity all goes to wrack and nothing can prevent it to this purpose Dante in his discourse about Monarchy tells us Il popolo molte volte grida Vivala sua morte muoia la sua vita The enraged multitude do often crie Give us our death our life we do defie This incredulity is many times the occasion that good counsels are neglected as it hapned to the Venetians when invaded by several enemies at one time they could not take off any one of them by restoring what they had taken wrongfully from other people which was the occasion of the war and almost of their ruine From whence we may consider the easiness and difficulty of persuading the people and make this distinction if the affair proposed be in appearance either magnanimous or profitable though at the bottom it be never so distructive the people are always easie to be persuaded on the other side if any thing be offered how honourable how useful soever with the least shew or glance of cowardize or inconvenience they are never or with great difficulty to be wrought to it To confirm this we have many examples both modern and ancient in Rome and other places From hence sprang their jealousies against Fabius Maximus who could never beat it into the heads of that City that it was better for their Common wealth to protract and spin out the war than to push things on and bring all to the hazard of a Battel for the people looking upon it as cowardly and base counsel and not discerning the utility at the bottom would by no means admit it and Fabius wanted rhetorick to enforce it upon them and so strangely are they blinded sometimes with their bravery and courage that though the Romans had committed the same error once before and given authority to Fabius his Master of the Horse to fight when he saw occasion whether Fabius would or not which authority had like to have ruined the whole Army had not Fabius with his prudence prevented it yet that experiment doing no good they were guilty again and invested Varro with the same power upon no other account but because he had swagger'd up and down the Town that when-ever they qualified him with such a Commission he would fight Hanibal cut him to pieces they believe what he said give him authority and what followed Why they were beaten at Cannas the Roman Army cut off and the Roman Empire almost extinguished And not unlike this was the example of Marcus Centenius Penula a mean person and considerable for nothing but some small command in the Army who presented himself one day to the Senate and offered if they would give him power to raise an Army of Voluntiers where he pleased all over Italy he would undertake in a short time to beat Hanibal out of it The Senate was sensible the proposition was rash yet considering withal that if they should deny him and report should come of it afterwards to the people it might dissatisfie them beget some tumult in the City and be the occasion of envy and animosity to themselves they granted his request choosing rather to expose all those who were so ill advised as to follow him than run the hazard of new dissentions at home Having got his Commission and afterwards his Men with a confused and disorderly Army he marches against Hanibal and fought him but he failed of his promise for he was killed himself and most of his Forces In Greece in the City of Athens Nicias a
the conflicts of the Winds and the Water and the elements and the enemy shall sooner make a good Land-Officer where he has nothing to fight with but men than a Land-Officer shall make a good Captain at Sea My Country-men the Romans who were so knowing at Land being at wars with the Carthaginian that was so potent at Sea never troubled themselves to entertain either Grecian or Spaniard into their service though they were both so good Souldiers at Sea but they committed that charge to their Land-Officers who fought the Carthaginians and beat them If the Venetians did it to prevent the usurpation of any of their fellow Citizens I think it was an unnecessary fear for besides the reasons aforesaid if a Citizen with his Sea-forces never made himself Master of any Sea Town he could have done it much less with any Land-force So that hence it may be seen that is is not putting the Citizens in arms that is the cause of tyranny but ill order and ill management in the Government for whilst good order is preserved there is no danger of their being arm'd wherefore their resolution in that point being imprudent has rob'd them of much reputation and happiness And as to the King of France's error in not keeping his subjects in discipline and prepared for the Wars which is by you urged for an example there is no body laying aside his private passion but must conclude that single neglect to be a great weakness to his Kingdom But my digression has been too great and perhaps beyond my design yet I have done it the more willingly to demonstrate to you that foreign force is not to be relied upon so much as ones own subjects nor can ones own subjects be prepared and adapted for the Wars any way so well as by training and exercise Nor can there be any better way of forming an army or establishing a Militia in any place than that which I have prescribed If you have read the orders of the first Roman Kings especially of Servius Tulliâ—s you will find his orders like ours and driving at nothing more than putting the Citizens into such a posture that upon any emergence they might be brought suddenly together and form'd into an army for the defence of the City CHAP. VIII Of what sort of people an army is to be composed Fabritio BUt to return to our levies I say again that being to recruit and old Army I would choose my men of about seventeen but to raise a new one that might be made fit for service in a short time I would take in any betwixt seventeen and forty Cosimo Would you in your election make any difference of their trades Fabritio Many Authors which have written on that subject have made a difference of their trades and will not allow of Faulconers Fowlers Fishers Ruffians or any persons who make sports their profession or are in any manner subservient to pleasure those who they recommend to be chosen are Labourers Husband-men Smiths Farriers Carpenters Butchers Huntsmen and the like But for my own part I should not so much consider the quality of the profession as the goodness of the man and which way he may be employed with most advantage For this reason I think your Plough-men and Day-labourers in the Country are more useful Generally than any other for they take more pains and do more service in an Army than all the rest After them are your Smiths Farriers Carpenters Joyners and such people to be chosen of which sort it is convenient to have good store because their arts are usefull in an Army upon several occasions and 't is a good thing to have Souldiers who have two strings to theri bow and yield you double advantage Cosimo How are those who are fit or unfit for the Wars to be distinguished and known Fabritio I shall speak of the manner of choosing a Militia to form it afterwards into an Army because we shall have occasion again of speaking of the election to be made upon the recruiting of an old Army I say therefore that the fitness of a person to be chosen for the Wars is to be known by experience in some great atchievment or by conjecture This proof and tryal of their courage is not to be found among new raised men it is necessary therefore where this experience is not to be had to have recourse to conjecture which is to be deduced from their age arts and stature Of the two first we have spoken before it remains that we speak now of the third and tell you that some persons as Pyrrhus have been altogether for large and tall men Others as Caesar would have them strong well knit and vigorous which is to be judged by the composition of their members and the quickness of their aspect Wherefore those who treat of that subject have recommended a lively and quick eye a nervous neck a large breast a musculous arm a long finger a small belly round and firm thighs and thin feet this kind of contexture does always import activity and strength which in a Souldier are two things principally to be desired But above all respect is to be had to their manners and that they be indued with honesty and modesty otherwise you choose an instrument of scandal and a beginning of corruption for no body can expect that with brutishness and dishonesty any laudable virtue should consist Upon this occasion it seems to me not impertinent for your better understanding the importance of this way of election to let you know the manner in which the Roman Consuls in the begining of their Magistracy made their elections for the Roman Legions In which levies by reason of their continual Wars being mix'd of new and Veteran Souldiers they could proceed in the Veterans by experience and by conjecture in the new You must know then these levies were made either for present service or to exercise them first and employ them afterwards as occasion was offered And although I have spoken already of what is to be observed in the election of such as are to be disciplin'd and employed afterwards yet my intention being to shew how an Army may be ordered in a Country where there is no military discipline and where men are not to be raised for immediate service I shall speak of it further But in those Countries where it is the custom to raise Forces by the Princes command there they may have them always ready for present service as it was anciently in Rome and is among the Swizzars at this day For if in these kind of levies there be new Souldiers there are many which are old and experienced which mingled with the new will make a good Army Notwithstanding this the Emperors after they began to keep standing Forces and Garisons upon the Frontiers appointed Masters for the training and instructing their new men whom they called Tyrones as may be seen in the life of Maximus the Emperor Which
be fighting but if you do not find it convenient in respect of the number of your Army the disadvantage of the place or some other consideration you would do well to turn them from that inclination It happens again that necessity or occasion constrains you to fight when your Souldiers are diffident or adverse in one case it is necessary that you affright them in the other that you excite them In the first case when remonstrances and exhortations will do not good the best way is to suffer some of them to be cut off by the enemy that those who have fought and those who have not may believe you another time What Fabius Maximus did by accident may be done on purpose and by art You know the Army of Fabius was very fierce to be fighting with Hanibal and his Master of the Horse was of the same mind with the Army Fabius was of another opinion and thought it better to protract and this diversity of opinions occasioned the dividing of the Army Fabius kept his division in his trenches the Master of the Horse went out fought was worsted and had certainly been cut off had not Fabius relieved him by which example the Master of the Horse and the whole Army were convinced that their wisest way was to have obeyed the orders of Fabius As to the other point of animating your Souldiers and raising their courages to a pitch it is good to incense them by possessing them of the contumacy and insolence of the enemy by pretending intelligence among them and that you have corrupted a considerable party by posting your Army so near them that they may see one another and skirmish with them slightly every day for things which are done daily we easily despise by counterfeiting your self angry and in a solemn and grave oration reprehending and upbraiding their backwardness and telling them that if they leave you you will charge the enemy alone But to make your Souldiers bold and couragious you are by no means to permit any of them to send any thing to their own houses or to deposit it any where else till the war be done that they may know that though in running home they may save their lives yet it must be with the loss of their prize the love of which renders people commonly as valiant as the love of their lives Zanobi You say that Souldiers may be encouraged and disposed to fight by a speech or oration do you intend it should be delivered to the whole Army or only to the Officers CHAP. IX A General ought to be skilful and eloquent to persuade or dissuade as he sees occasion Fabr. IT is an easie matter to persuade or dissuade any thing with a small number of persons because if words will not do you have force and authority to back them but the difficulty is to remove an opinion out of the heads of the multitude when it is contrary to your own judgment or the interest of the publick for there you can use nothing but words which must be heard and understood by every body if you would have every body convinced For this reason it is requisite an excellent General should be a good Orator to inflame or asswage the courage of his Souldiers as he has occasion for unless they can tell how to speak to a whole Army there is little good to be expected and yet in our times this way of haranguing them is quite laid aside Look over the Life of Alexander the Great and see how often he was put to it to speak in publick to his Army and had he not done it he would never have been able to have conducted it when laden with so much riches and prey thorow the deserts of Arabia and in India where it endured so much misery and distress for there is scarce a day but something or other happens that causes confusion and ruine to an Army where the General is either ignorant or careless of speaking to them The way of making speeches to them takes away their fear quickens their courage augments their confidence discovers their cheats secures their rewards remonstrates their dangers and the ways to avoid them In short by those kind of Orations a General reprehends entreats threatens encourages commâ—nds reproaches and does every thing that may either enhance or depress the passions of his men wherefore that Prince or that Commonwealth that should design to establish a new Militia and give it a reputation is to accustom his Souldiers to the harangues of their chief Officers and to chuse such Officers as know how to accost them CHAP. X. Certain considerations which encourage Souldiers and make them as virtuous as valiant Fabritio THe worship which the ancients paid to their Gods though they were false Religion and the Oath which was taken before they were listed in the Army was in those days sufficient to keep their Souldiers to their duty for upon every misdemeanor they were threatned not only with such punishments as they were to expect from their Officers but such as could be inflicted as they thought by nothing but their Gods which opinion being tempered with other religious ceremonies and superstitions made all enterprises easie to the Generals of those times and would do so still were we as careful and observant of our Religion as they were of theirs Sertorious knew how to make his advantage that way pretending conference with a white Hart which as he gave out among his Souldiers came from Heaven to assure him of Victory Sylla to make his designs the more credible pretended to discourse with an Image that he had taken out of the Temple of Apollo which directed him how he was to steer Others have pretended dreams and visions that have commanded them to fight in the days of our Fathers Charles the Seventh of France during his wars with the English pretended to be advised by a maid that was sent from Heaven to give him instructions which maid was called the Pucelle d' Orleans and gained him many a Victory There are other ways of making an Enemy contemptible Agesilaus the Spartan having taken several Persians strip'd them naked and shew'd them to his men to the end that seeing the delicacy and tenderness of their contexture they might have less occasion to fear them Some have by design brought their men into extremity that they might be necessitated to fight as having taken from them all hopes of preservation but in Victory which indeed is the surest and best way to make your Souldiers fight and to infuse courage into them and then this courage and obstinacy is highly encreased by their confidence in their General and their love to their Country Their love to their Country is natural their confidence in their Captain is more from his experience and conduct than from any thing else There may be many other obligations but none so strong as that which binds you either to conquer or dye THE FIFTH BOOK CHAP. I. How