The Prince
by Nicolo Machiavelli
CHAPTER XVII
Concerning Cruelty And Clemency, And
Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared
COMING now to the other qualities mentioned above, I say
that every prince ought to desire to be considered clement and not cruel.
Nevertheless he ought to take care not to misuse this clemency. Cesare Borgia
was considered cruel; notwithstanding, his cruelty reconciled the Romagna,
unified it, and restored it to peace and loyalty. And if this be rightly
considered, he will be seen to have been much more merciful than the Florentine
people, who, to avoid a reputation for cruelty, permitted Pistoia to be
destroyed. Therefore a prince, so long as he keeps his subjects united and
loyal, ought not to mind the reproach of cruelty; because with a few examples
he will be more merciful than those who, through too much mercy, allow
disorders to arise, from which follow murders or robberies; for these are wont
to injure the whole people, whilst those executions which originate with a
prince offend the individual only.
And
of all princes, it is impossible for the new prince to avoid the imputation of
cruelty, owing to new states being full of dangers. Hence Virgil, through the
mouth of Dido, excuses the inhumanity of her reign owing to its being new,
saying:
Res dura, et regni novitas me talia cogunt
Moliri, et late fines custode
tueri. 1
Nevertheless
he ought to be slow to believe and to act, nor should he himself show fear, but
proceed in a temperate manner with prudence and humanity, so that too much
confidence may not make him incautious and too much distrust render him
intolerable.
Upon
this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared
than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it
is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than
loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with. Because this is to be
asserted in general of men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, false, cowardly,
covetous, and as long as you succeed they are yours entirely; they will offer
you their blood, property, life and children, as is said above, when the need
is far distant; but when it approaches they turn against you. And that prince
who, relying entirely on their promises, has neglected other precautions, is
ruined; because friendships that are obtained by payments, and not by greatness
or nobility of mind, may indeed be earned, but they are not secured, and in
time of need cannot be relied upon; and men have less scruple in offending one
who is beloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by the link of
obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity
for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which
never fails.
Nevertheless
a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he
avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not
hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his
citizens and subjects and from their women. But when it is necessary for him to
proceed against the life of someone, he must do it on proper justification and
for manifest cause, but above all things he must keep his hands off the
property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their father
than the loss of their patrimony. Besides, pretexts for taking away the
property are never wanting; for he who has once begun to live by robbery will
always find pretexts for seizing what belongs to others; but reasons for taking
life, on the contrary, are more difficult to find and sooner lapse. But when a
prince is with his army, and has under control a multitude of soldiers, then it
is quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty, for without
it he would never hold his army united or disposed to its duties.
Among
the wonderful deeds of Hannibal this one is enumerated: that having led an
enormous army, composed of many various races of men, to fight in foreign
lands, no dissensions arose either among them or against the prince, whether in
his bad or in his good fortune. This arose from nothing else than his inhuman
cruelty, which, with his boundless valour, made him revered and terrible in the
sight of his soldiers, but without that cruelty, his other virtues were not
sufficient to produce this effect. And shortsighted writers admire his deeds
from one point of view and from another condemn the principal cause of them.
That it is true his other virtues would not have been sufficient for him may be
proved by the case of Scipio, that most excellent man, not of his own times but
within the memory of man, against whom, nevertheless, his army rebelled in
Spain; this arose from nothing but his too great forbearance, which gave his
soldiers more licence than is consistent with military discipline. For this he
was upbraided in the Senate by Fabius Maximus, and called the corrupter of the
Roman soldiery. The Locrians were laid waste by a legate of Scipio, yet they
were not avenged by him, nor was the insolence of the legate punished, owing
entirely to his easy nature. Insomuch that someone in the Senate, wishing to
excuse him, said there were many men who knew much better how not to err than
to correct the errors of others. This disposition, if he had been continued in
the command, would have destroyed in time the fame and glory of Scipio; but, he
being under the control of the Senate, this injurious characteristic not only
concealed itself, but contributed to his glory.
Returning
to the question of being feared or loved, I come to the conclusion that, men
loving according to their own will and fearing according to that of the prince,
a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and
not in that of others; he must endeavour only to avoid hatred, as is noted.
1.
...against my will, my fate,
A throne unsettled, and an infant state,
Bid me
defend my realms with all my pow'rs,
And guard with these severities my shores.
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