CHAPTER XXIV - THE PRINCES OF ITALY HAVE LOST THEIR STATES

THE previous suggestions, carefully observed, will enable a new
prince to appear well established, and render him at once more
secure and fixed in the state than if he had been long seated there.
For the actions of a new prince are more narrowly observed than
those of an hereditary one, and when they are seen to be able they
gain more men and bind far tighter than ancient blood; because men are
attracted more by the present than by the past, and when they find the
present good they enjoy it and seek no further; they will also make
the utmost defence for a prince if he fails them not in other
things. Thus it will be a double glory to him to have established a
new principality, and adorned and strengthened it with good laws, good
arms, good allies, and with a good example; so will it be a double
disgrace to him who, born a prince, shall lose his state by want of
wisdom.

And if those seigniors are considered who have lost their states
in Italy in our times, such as the King of Naples, the Duke of
Milan, and others, there will be found in them, firstly, one common
defect in regard to arms from the causes which have been discussed
at length; in the next place, some one of them will be seen, either to
have had the people hostile, or if he has had the people friendly,
he has not known how to secure the nobles. In the absence of these
defects states that have power enough to keep an army in the field
cannot be lost.

Philip of Macedon, not the father of Alexander the Great, but he who
was conquered by Titus Quintius, had not much territory compared to
the greatness of the Romans and of Greece who attacked him, yet
being a warlike man who knew how to attract the people and secure
the nobles, he sustained the war against his enemies for many years,
and if in the end he lost the dominion of some cities, nevertheless he
retained the kingdom.

Therefore, do not let our princes accuse fortune for the loss of
their principalities after so many years' possession, but rather their
own sloth, because in quiet times they never thought there could be
a change (it is a common defect in man not to make any provision in
the calm against the tempest), and when afterwards the bad times
came they thought of flight and not of defending themselves, and
they hoped that the people, disgusted with the insolence of the
conquerors, would recall them. This course, when others fail, may be
good, but it is very bad to have neglected all other expedients for
that, since you would never wish to fall because you trusted to be
able to find someone later on to restore you. This again either does
not happen, or, if it does, it will not be for your security,
because that deliverance is of no avail which does not depend upon
yourself; those only are reliable, certain, and durable that depend on
yourself and your valour.

