Machiavelli 6 Of
New Dominions Which Have Let
no one marvel if in speaking of new dominions both as to prince and state,
I bring forward very exalted instances, for men walk almost always in the
paths trodden by others, proceeding in their actions by imitation. Not
being always able to follow others exactly, nor attain to the excellence
of those he imitates, a prudent man should always follow in the path
trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if
he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge
of it. He will do as prudent archers, who when the place they wish to hit
is too far off, knowing how far their bow will carry, aim at a spot much
higher than the one they wish to hit, not in order to reach this height
with their arrow, but by help of this high aim to hit the spot they wish
to. I
say then that in new dominions, where there is a new prince, it is more or
less easy to hold them, according to the greater or lesser ability of him
who acquires them. And as the fact of a private individual becoming a
prince presupposes either great ability or good fortune, it would appear
that either of these things would in part mitigate many difficulties.
Nevertheless those who have been less beholden to good fortune have
maintained themselves best. The matter is also facilitated by the prince
being obliged to reside personally in his territory, having no others. But
to come to those who have become princes through their own merits and not
by fortune, I regard as the greatest, Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus, and
their like. And although one should not speak of Moses, he having merely
carried out what was ordered him by God, still he deserves admiration, if
only for that grace which made him worthy to speak with God. But regarding
Cyrus and others who have acquired or founded kingdoms, they will all be
found worthy of admiration; and if their particular actions and methods
are examined they will not appear very different from those of Moses,
although he had so great a Master. And in examining their life and deeds
it will be seen that they owed nothing to fortune but the opportunity
which gave them matter to be shaped into what form they thought fit; and
without that opportunity their powers would have been wasted, and without
their powers the opportunity would have come in vain. It
was thus necessary that Moses should find the people of Israel slaves in
Egypt and oppressed by the Egyptians, so that they were disposed to follow
him in order to escape from their servitude. It was necessary that Romulus
should be unable to remain in Alba, and should have been exposed at his
birth, in order that he might become King of Rome and founder of that
nation. It was necessary that Cyrus should find the Persians discontented
with the empire of the Medes, and the Medes weak and effeminate through
long peace. Theseus could not have shown his abilities if he had not found
the Athenians dispersed. These opportunities, therefore, gave these men
their chance, and their own great qualities enabled them to profit by
them, so as to ennoble their country and augment its fortunes. Those
who by the exercise of abilities such as these become princes, obtain
their dominions with difficulty but retain them easily, and the
difficulties which they have in acquiring their dominions arise in part
from the new rules and regulations that they have to introduce in order to
establish their position securely. It must be considered that there is
nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor
more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the
reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only
lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this
lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the
laws in their favour; and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do
not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of
it. Thus it arises that on every opportunity for attacking the reformer,
his opponents do so with the zeal of partisans, the others only defend him
half-heartedly, so that between them he runs great danger. It is
necessary, however, in order to investigate thoroughly this question, to
examine whether these innovators are independent, or whether they depend
upon others, that is to say, whether in order to carry out their designs
they have to entreat or are able to compel. In the first case they
invariably succeed ill, and accomplish nothing; but when they can depend
on their own strength and are able to use force, they rarely fail. Thus it
comes about that all armed prophets have conquered and unarmed ones
failed; for besides what has been already said, the character of peoples
varies, and it is easy to persuade them of a thing, but difficult to keep
them in that persuasion. And so it is necessary to order things so that
when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe by force. Moses,
Cyrus, Theseus, and Romulus would not have been able to keep their
constitutions observed for so long had they been disarmed, as happened in
our own time with Fra Girolamo Savonarola, who failed entirely in his new
rules when the multitude began to disbelieve in him, and he had no means
of holding fast those who had believed nor of compelling the unbelievers
to believe. Therefore such men as these have great difficulty in making
their way, and all their dangers are met on the road and must be overcome
by their own abilities; but when once they have overcome them and have
begun to be held in veneration, and have suppressed those who envied them,
they remain powerful and secure, honoured and happy. To
the high examples given I will add a lesser one, which, however, is in
some measure comparable and will serve as an instance of all such cases,
that of Hiero of Syracuse, who from a private individual became Prince of
Syracuse, without other aid from fortune beyond the opportunity; for the
Syracusans being oppressed, elected him as their captain, from which post
he rose by ability to be prince; while still in private life his virtues
were such that it was written of him, that he lacked nothing to reign but
the kingdom. He abolished the old militia, raised a new one, abandoned his
old friendships and formed others; and as he had thus friends and soldiers
of his own choosing, he was able on this foundation to build securely, so
that while he had great trouble in acquiring his position he had little in
maintaining it. |