Module 4: "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli, Chapers 17 and 18

Therefore, a prince must not worry about the infamy of being considered cruel when it is a matter of keeping his subjects united and loyal.

He should proceed in such a manner, tempered by prudence and humanity, that too much trust may not render him incautious, nor too much suspicion render him insufferable.

He should proceed in such a manner, tempered by prudence and humanity, that too much trust may not render him incautious, nor too much suspicion render him insufferable.

He should proceed in such a manner, tempered by prudence and humanity, that too much trust may not render him incautious, nor too much suspicion render him insufferable.

He should proceed in such a manner, tempered by prudence and humanity, that too much trust may not render him incautious, nor too much suspicion render him insufferable.

For one can generally say this about men: they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, and greedy for gain.

This will always be the case when he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects, and from their women.

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.

Moreover, reasons for taking their property are never lacking, and he who begins to live by stealing always finds a reason for taking what belongs to others; reasons for spilling blood, on the other hand, are rarer and more fleeting.

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 could not have arisen from anything other than his inhuman cruelty, which, along with his many other virtues, made him always venerable and terrifying in the eyes of his soldiers.

Without that quality, his other virtues would not have sufficed to attain the same effect.

Having considered this matter very superficially, historians on the one hand admire these deeds of his, and on the other condemn the main cause of them.

For this he was censured in the Senate by Fabius Maximus, who called him the corruptor of the Roman army.

Someone in the Senate who tried to excuse him declared that there were many men who knew how not to err better than they knew how to correct their mistakes.

How praiseworthy it is for a prince to keep his word and to live with integrity and not by cunning, everyone knows.

How praiseworthy it is for a prince to keep his word and to live with integrity and not by cunning, everyone knows.

But because the first, in many cases, is not sufficient, it becomes necessary to have recourse to the second: therefore, a prince must know how to make good use of the natures of both the beast and the man.

A wise ruler, therefore, cannot and should not keep his word when such an observance would be to his disadvantage, and when the reasons that caused him to make a promise are removed.

If men were all good, this precept would not be good.

Of this, one could cite an endless number of modern examples to show how many pacts and how many promises have been made null and void because of the faithlessness of princes; and he who has known best how to use the ways of the fox has come out best..But it is necessary to know how to colour over this nature effectively, and to be a great pretender and dissembler.

Of this, one could cite an endless number of modern examples to show how many pacts and how many promises have been made null and void because of the faithlessness of princes; and he who has known best how to use the ways of the fox has come out best..But it is necessary to know how to colour over this nature effectively, and to be a great pretender and dissembler.

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 the actions of all men, and especially of princes, where there is no tribunal to which to appeal, one must consider the final result.