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Chapter XV.
Chapter XV.
Of the Qualities in Respect of Which Men, and Most of All Princes, Are Praised
or Blamed
It now remains for us to consider what ought to be the conduct and
bearing of a Prince in relation to his subjects and friends. And since I know
that many have written on this subject, I fear it may be thought presumptuous
in me to write of it also; the more so, because in my treatment of it, I
depart from the views that others have taken.
But since it is my object to write what shall be useful to whosoever
understands it, it seems to me better to follow the real truth of things than
an imaginary view of them. For many Republics and Princedoms have been
imagined that were never seen or known to exist in reality. And the manner in
which we live, and that in which we ought to live, are things so wide asunder,
that he who quits the one to betake himself to the other is more likely to
destroy than to save himself; since any one who would act up to a perfect
standard of goodness in everything, must be ruined among so many who are not
good. It is essential, therefore, for a Prince who desires to maintain his
position, to have learned how to be other than good, and to use or not to use
his goodness as necessity requires.
Laying aside, therefore, all fanciful notions concerning a Prince, and
considering those only that are true, I say that all men when they are spoken
of, and Princes more than others from their being set so high, are
characterized by some one of those qualities which attach either praise or
blame. Thus one is accounted liberal, another miserly (which word I use,
rather than avaricious, to denote the man who is too sparing of what is his
own, avarice being the disposition to take wrongfully what is another`s); one
is generous, another greedy; one cruel, another tender-hearted; one is
faithless, another true to his word; one effeminate and cowardly, another
high-spirited and courageous; one is courteous, another haughty; one impure,
another chaste; one simple, another crafty; one firm, another facile; one
grave, another frivolous; one devout, another unbelieving; and the like. Every
one, I know, will admit that it would be most laudable for a Prince to be
endowed with all of the above qualities that are reckoned good; but since it
is impossible for him to possess or constantly practise them all, the
conditions of human nature not allowing it, he must be discreet enough to know
how to avoid the infamy of those vices that would deprive him of his
government, and, if possible, be on his guard also against those which might
not deprive him of it; thought if he cannot wholly restrain himself, he may
with less scruple indulge in the latter. He need never hesitate, however, to
incur the reproach of those vices without which his authority can hardly be
preserved; for if he well consider the whole matter, he will find that there
may be a line of conduct having the appearance of virtue, to follow which
would be his ruin, and that there may be another course having the appearance
of vice, by following which his safety and well-being are secured.
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