This is the greatest of all war games, and the men that have gone through it will later deploy great skill and courage. He examines the reasons which make the conquest of the first empire difficult to make, but easy to preserve; just as he notices what can contribute to subjugating of France without sorrow - and why the keeping of it would lead to continual disorders, unceasingly threatening the new sovereign. They will be only men, and the winds of history will show, truly and plainly, that it is impossible for these favored ones to satisfy as many duties that they think they can: even these gems among rulers will be dragged down too. Here are the reasons. When the excessive size of a power seems close to overflowing, and threatens to absorb the universe, it is prudence to throw sandbags at it, and to stop the stormy course of a torrent while one is still the Master. However, though a king of Poland has many favors to grant, he can spare his resources by concentrating his liberalities only on the occasions where he needs the families which he enriches. You might want to read Chapter 25 of The Prince first. Sometimes the citizens take up the weapons, and the professionals do not suffer because of it; to prevent any temptation to revolt, one threatens them with the bombardment and the cannon, the "whiff of grapeshot." Phidias was not disconcerted by the judgement of vulgar, and asked, seeing as the statues had been made to be placed on a column, that both be raised; then that of Phidas won the vote. Its borders extend to Poland, Lithuania, and Corland; Sweden is the terminal on the side of the North-West. The characters of men differ; and nature establishes the same variety, if I may express myself this way, in the temperament of the States. Fear Better Loved. If the most formidable, the most powerful prince of Europe, Louis XIV., finds himself on the point of succumbing in the war of the Spanish Succession, and if a change of alliance can add to his strength in such an amount so as to overpower his enemy, the Sun King, the sovereign who has declared the nation of France to be himself, would negotiate a treaty of alliance very quickly. You might want to read Chapter 16 of The Prince first. In his lessons, the life of the men is counted for nothing; interest, this only god whom he adores, is counted for all. This example of Oliveto di Fermo was not quoted by the author, since the ending "does not prove anything." XX. It is to stomp on all that is saintly and regal in the world; it is to permit those who have the interest to take the path of all crimes. It is not, according to Machiavel, an unmixed benefit to preserve a free State which one has conquered - but it is to destroy it. He so extremely exaggerates the matter, for he wants his prince to not only be a soldier, that he flies into A-plus Quixotism, for he lacks the imagination to deal with the battle fields, entrenchments, manners of guarding places, of lining up his soldiers and sending them to the attack. SHOULD THE PRINCES KEEP THEIR WORD? This is the reasoning of a beast which preys on humanity. Such was the man that Machiavel prefers to all the great geniuses of his time, and to the heroes of antiquity, and of which he finds the life and actions make a good example for those that fortune favors. Machiavel keeps speaking well of him on this occasion: it is necessary, given his starring role in this play; but from where it would have taken him except the criminal register, or the history of the bad popes and Neros? Alexander Severus was killed by the treason of Maximinius of Thrace, the man who tried to cultivate the image of a giant, and Maximinius, having raised everyone by his cruelties, was assassinated in his turn. It is not astonishing that only in the most superstitious and most ignorant of all the cruel nations, those which were with the head of the religion finally usurped the ruling of the State; but everywhere else, it seems to me, the priests have interfered with its functions. In open countries, the outcome of two campaigns decides the fortune of the winner, and subjects whole kingdoms to him. One knows in Europe of the people which shook the yoke of their tyrants to enjoy independence; but one does not know any free ones that subjected themselves to a voluntary slavery. To kill the time which appeared always too long to them, they took their troubles to the hunt; they lost in the woods, with the chase of animals, the time which they could not pass in the company of reasonable people. Many of his words have become popular quotes over time. This will be used to ensure fidelity of them. The sovereigns did not maintain large armies; these troops were for the majority only one cluster of gangsters: the ordinary mudfoot lived only for violence and plunder. It would join together wisdom and the purest virtue with the most dreadful opportunism. It is as a chapter-by-chapter rebuttal of The Prince, Machiavellianism in general, with emendations and further developments by Voltaire. Instead of the spread of blood, two strokes of a pen can often finish their quarrels. The monks usually live longer than other men; should we therefore all become celibate and move into cloisters? Therefore, he diligently corrupted them, after being corrupted himself by the Urbino faction. Because if it advocates that a prince be strengthened on the throne by cruelty, cheating, treachery, etc., this will be malicious for him, yielding a pure loss. Against the beast being chased on their lands. I will finish this chapter by only one reflection. They must, like Janus, see behind them in the history of all these centuries which have passed, and which provide them salutary lessons of control and having; and they must like Janus see ahead by their penetration, and this spirit of force and judgement which combines all the reports and all the statistics, and divines, in the present situation, that which will, or might, follow. These manners of making a State thrive, are like the entrusted talents. If one wanted to lend probity and common sense to the muddled thoughts of Machiavel, here is the most you can make of them. Machiavel is so arrogant, that to grant any praise to this most abominable monster, which would make Satan himself vomit on the ground, is to justify his cold blood, and his hatred of mankind. "The Prince who inspires such an opinion of himself is greatly esteemed, and against one who is greatly esteemed conspiracy is difficult"; and in chapter seventeen the author notes, "since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far better to be feared than loved...since his being loved depends upon his subjects, while his being feared depends upon himself, a wise Prince should build on what is his own, and not on what rests with others." The first reflection of Machiavel on Agathcole and Fermo lists what kept these two at the head of their small States, in spite of their cruelties. His own policy is now uncovered. Nothing is weaker than the reasons which he uses to recommend hunting to the princes; he is in the opinion that the princes will learn by this means to know the situations and the passages of their country. I will raise the faults of Machiavel; I will confirm his observations which are good and creditable; and I will then venture my feeling on some subjects which belong naturally to this matter. Prince Machiavel is like the gods of Homer, which are depicted as very robust and powerful, but never balanced. It is not yet easy to confute the dreadful morals of Machiavel until his falseness and insincerity is also seen. How many princes, at the urging of their Generals, conquer provinces which they never see? Here is the case of a prince who ruins a State not to lose it. . The partisans of freedom say that, if men's wills are not free, God acts in them, that it is God which, through them, makes the murders, the flights and all the crimes; this is obviously opposed to holiness. Sixth-Quint, Philip II, Cromwell, had the reputation of hypocritical men and rule-benders, but never were thought of as virtuous. WHY THE KINGDOM OF DARIUS DID NOT RISE AFTER THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER, WHO HAD CONQUERED IT. The generous princes will not harm their reputation, especially when their liberality is a continuation of the size of their soul, and not of their self-righteousness. If the spite of Machiavel makes for horror, its reasoning makes for pity, the kind a ruler feels for his overly patriotic surveyors - or for the man who can justify every action as a success. It is said that one is not allowed to sell the things necessary to health: what then makes it permissible to sell the blood of the men? His prudence would make him the father of his subjects, and not their oppressor; he would be their protector, not their destroyer! I said to the kings that their best policy consist of exceeding their subjects in virtue, so as to eliminate as much as possible the rust of hypocrisy, to stop condemning in others what they authorize for themselves. I do not disguise anything; the plain cowardice of some of these princes of Italy, when added to their spite, has also contributed to their loss; the weakness of the kings of Naples, it is sure, ruined them; but I also suspect that when it comes to making policy, you can spin all the fine words you want, you can argue, design great systems, plead the most excellent of examples, employ all possible subtleties, but you will be obliged to return to simple justice, in spite of your own self. Machiavel's policy recommends especially the rigor of severity towards the troops; he opposes the indulgence of Scipion to the severity of Hannibal. I must especially add, in answer to Machiavel, that it is not necessary to be a hunter to be a great captain. I do not think that it is necessary to become exhausted in arguments to prove it. In spite of them, and in spite of its pernicious morals, The Prince is very much on the pulpit of policy, even in our day. Other times, when the world was less agitated, it appeared to want to be governed only by mildness, or it made necessary that prudence and circumspection be used; it is a species of happy calm in the policy, one which usually succeeds the storm. There never was a Fernando Cortez who, in the conquest of his Mexico, was not supported by a civil war of the Native Americans. Machiavel then enters a great discussion on the life of the Roman emperors, from Marcus Aurelius to the two Gordians, ending with their immediate predecessor Maximinus. V. HOW IT IS NECESSARY TO CONTROL THE CITIES, OR THE PRINCIPALITIES, WHICH ARE CONTROLLED BY THEIR OWN LAWS BEFORE THEY WERE CONQUERED. VII. I. Undoubtedly, the laws of Sparta, where the money was defended, is the source of the principles upon which the majority of these ecclesiastical governments are based, except for this difference: the prelates tax private wealth very progressively. Borgia, in order to poison some cardinals, invites them to supper with his father - their boss. Some scholars have argued that Shakespeare was making an anti-Machiavelli argument through Coriolanus and the Henry plays. It is a general rule that a prince should choose the spirits that are of a more refined character for employment in difficult negotiations. I quote the authority of a great statesman, Don Louis de Haro, who said, of the Mazarin cardinal, that he had a great predictability in his policy: he always wanted to mislead. IV. Only the Swedish troops are middle-class, and peasants and soldiers, at the same time; but when they are in the field, almost nobody remains in the interior of the country to plow the ground. The new conquests of a sovereign do not make the States which he has already more opulent or rich; the people do not benefit from it, and he is mistaken if he thinks that expanding his borders will satisfy him. The author proposes the example of Ferdinand of Aragon, and Bernard of Milan, as a model for those who want to be characterized by grand enterprises, and rare and extraordinary actions. I must, however, note that what I said of the way sovereigns come into being, makes the action of the usurper even more atrocious. Good patriarchs that indulged in the chase lived in cruel centuries: they were very coarse and very ignorant; they was idle people whose leisure turned into an annoyance. I acknowledge, in general and without reservation, that one can use genius, courage, vision and flair for administration to put the men which we have just listed in the same category; but I do not know if the trademark of "virtuous" is appropriate to all of them. There was neither triumph nor joy in the eyes of the people victorious. Is this "prudence" not the slinking of a coward? Here is how this design failed: the prince was let into the city at dawn, travelling through a sewer which was opened to him by a priest with whom he had struck a deal; Cr�mon would have infallibly become Master of the place, had two unexpected things, which he could not know, arrived. The flattery which is based on a solid basis is the most subtle of all; it is necessary to understanding this kind very well, to see the nuance which it adds to the truth. I understand in general that the temperament of a State consists of its situation, its size, the number and customs of its people, its trade, its traditions, its laws, its strengths and weaknesses, its wealth and its resources. And will be liked and esteemed - provided he does not become a waster by overspending. Machiavel does so in this chapter: a parallel of the Turks and the French, very different in habits, manners and opinions. Kings honor humanity when they distinguish and reward those who are to him men of honor, and when they encourage these higher spirits which drive themselves to improve our knowledge, and who are devoted to the worship of the truth. There is something contagious in this manner of educating, if it is allowed for me to express it thus: it is a virus passed from one spirit to the other. I do not see battles in the ancient history of priests who become sovereign. "If you win praise by exterminating the robbers," said the Scythian ambassadors to Alexander, "you then yourself become the largest robber of the earth, because you plundered and ransacked all the nations which you overcame; if you are a god, you must do good for the mortals, and not plunder what they have title to; if you are a man, always remember it.". It is true that the leniency of an honest man can degrade into over-kindness; wisdom shows that severity cannot be dispensed with altogether. He builds his Versailles; he has his mistresses; he maintains his armies. Would it be allowed for me to go down from such a great example to the least? Anti-Machiavel: ´I will defend humanity against this monster´ Fredrik the Great wrote the book ´Anti-Machiavel . Machiavel pushes his hyperbole to an extreme point when recommending that a careful prince would like better to perish with his own troops than to overcome with foreign help. In 1740 he wrote, with the help of the French philosopher Voltaire, the Anti-Machiavel, a vigorous condemnation of Machiavelli's principles. But let us suppose that these crimes can be made with perfect security, and that a tyrant can degenerate with impunity. 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