The Prince: Chapters 15–19

One is considered a giver, the other rapacious; one cruel, the other merciful; one a breaker of faith, the other faithful; one effeminate and cowardly, the other fierce and courageous; one humane, the other proud; one lascivious, the other chaste; one trustworthy, the other shrewd; one hard, the other easygoing; one serious, the other frivolous; one religious, the other unbelieving; and the like.

Moreover, he need not worry about incurring the infamy of those vices without which it would be difficult to save the state.

And so, if a prince wants to maintain his reputation for generosity among men, it is necessary for him not to neglect any possible means of sumptuous display; in so doing, such a prince will always use up all his resources in such displays, and will eventually be obliged, if he wishes to maintain his reputation for generosity, to burden the people with excessive taxes and to do all those things one does to procure money.

With time he will come to be considered more generous, once it is evident that, as a result of his parsimony, his income is sufficient, he can defend himself from anyone who wages war against him, and he can undertake enterprises without overburdening his people.

If he must spill someone’s blood, he should do this when there is proper justification and manifest cause.

But above all else, he should abstain from seizing the property of others; for men forget the death of their father more quickly than the loss of their patrimony.

Numbered among the remarkable deeds of Hannibal is this: that while he had a very large army made up of all kinds of men that he commanded in foreign lands, there never arose the slightest dissension, either among themselves or against their leader, both during his periods of good and bad luck.

This came about from nothing other than his excessive compassion, which gave his soldiers more licence than is suitable to military discipline. For this he was censured in the Senate by Fabius Maximus, who called him the corruptor of the Roman army.

Therefore, a prince must be very careful never to let anything fall from his lips that is not imbued with the five qualities mentioned above; to those seeing and hearing him, he should appear to be all mercy, all faithfulness, all integrity, all humanity, and all religion.

In most cases, so long as you do not deprive them of either their honour or their property, most men live content, and you only have to contend with the ambition of the few, who can be restrained without difficulty and by many means.

What makes him despised is being considered changeable, frivolous, effeminate, cowardly, and irresolute.

Concerning the private affairs of his subjects, he must insist that his decisions be irrevocable.

Reducing the matter to a few brief words, let me say that on the part of the conspirator there is nothing but fear, apprehension, and the terrifying thought of punishment.

Under this pretext, without showing his aspiration for imperial power, he moved his army to Rome, and was in Italy before his departure was known.

But let us come to Commodus, who held imperial power with great ease, having inherited it by birth, being the son of Marcus. It would have been enough for him to follow in the footsteps of his father, and he would have satisfied the soldiers and the people. But having a cruel and bestial spirit, in order to practise his greed upon the people, he turned to pleasing the armies and to making them undisciplined.