The Prince
by Nicolo Machiavelli
Chapter II
Concerning hereditary principalities
I will leave out all discussion on republics, inasmuch as
in another place I have written of them at length, and will
address myself only to principalities. In doing so I will
keep to the order indicated above, and discuss how such
principalities are to be ruled and preserved.
I say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding
hereditary states, and those long accustomed to the family
of their prince, than new ones; for it is sufficient only
not to transgress the customs of his ancestors, and to deal
prudently with circumstances as they arise, for a prince of
average powers to maintain himself in his state, unless he
be deprived of it by some extraordinary and excessive force;
and if he should be so deprived of it, whenever anything
sinister happens to the usurper, he will regain it.
We have in Italy, for example, the Duke of Ferrara, who
could not have withstood the attacks of the Venetians in
'84, nor those of Pope Julius in '10, unless he had been
long established in his dominions. For the hereditary prince
has less cause and less necessity to offend; hence it
happens that he will be more loved; and unless extraordinary
vices cause him to be hated, it is reasonable to expect that
his subjects will be naturally well disposed towards him;
and in the antiquity and duration of his rule the memories
and motives that make for change are lost, for one change
always leaves the toothing for another.
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- The Prince
by Nicolo Machiavelli
Chapter I
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