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The Prince: V

The Prince
V
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table of contents
  1. Titlepage
  2. Imprint
  3. Introduction
    1. Youth
    2. Office
    3. Literature and Death
  4. The Man and His Works
  5. The Prince
    1. Dedication
    2. I: How Many Kinds of Principalities There Are, and by What Means They Are Acquired
    3. II: Concerning Hereditary Principalities
    4. III: Concerning Mixed Principalities
    5. IV: Why the Kingdom of Darius, Conquered by Alexander, Did Not Rebel Against the Successors of Alexander at His Death
    6. V: Concerning the Way to Govern Cities or Principalities Which Lived Under Their Own Laws Before They Were Annexed
    7. VI: Concerning New Principalities Which Are Acquired by One’s Own Arms and Ability
    8. VII: Concerning New Principalities Which Are Acquired Either by the Arms of Others or by Good Fortune
    9. VIII: Concerning Those Who Have Obtained a Principality by Wickedness
    10. IX: Concerning a Civil Principality
    11. X: Concerning the Way in Which the Strength of All Principalities Ought to Be Measured
    12. XI: Concerning Ecclesiastical Principalities
    13. XII: How Many Kinds of Soldiery There Are, and Concerning Mercenaries
    14. XIII: Concerning Auxiliaries, Mixed Soldiery, and One’s Own
    15. XIV: That Which Concerns a Prince on the Subject of the Art of War
    16. XV: Concerning Things for Which Men, and Especially Princes, Are Praised or Blamed
    17. XVI: Concerning Liberality and Meanness
    18. XVII: Concerning Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether It Is Better to Be Loved Than Feared
    19. XVIII: Concerning the Way in Which Princes Should Keep Faith
    20. XIX: That One Should Avoid Being Despised and Hated
    21. XX: Are Fortresses, and Many Other Things to Which Princes Often Resort, Advantageous or Hurtful?
    22. XXI: How a Prince Should Conduct Himself So as to Gain Renown
    23. XXII: Concerning the Secretaries of Princes
    24. XXIII: How Flatterers Should Be Avoided
    25. XXIV: Why the Princes of Italy Have Lost Their States
    26. XXV: What Fortune Can Effect in Human Affairs and How to Withstand Her
    27. XXVI: An Exhortation to Liberate Italy from the Barbarians
  6. Endnotes
  7. Colophon
  8. Uncopyright

V

Concerning the Way to Govern Cities or Principalities Which Lived Under Their Own Laws Before They Were Annexed

Whenever those states which have been acquired as stated have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom, there are three courses for those who wish to hold them: the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in person, the third is to permit them to live under their own laws, drawing a tribute, and establishing within it an oligarchy which will keep it friendly to you. Because such a government, being created by the prince, knows that it cannot stand without his friendship and interest, and does it utmost to support him; and therefore he who would keep a city accustomed to freedom will hold it more easily by the means of its own citizens than in any other way.

There are, for example, the Spartans and the Romans. The Spartans held Athens and Thebes, establishing there an oligarchy, nevertheless they lost them. The Romans, in order to hold Capua, Carthage, and Numantia, dismantled them, and did not lose them. They wished to hold Greece as the Spartans held it, making it free and permitting its laws, and did not succeed. So to hold it they were compelled to dismantle many cities in the country, for in truth there is no safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them. And he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget. And whatever you may do or provide against, they never forget that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or dispersed, but at every chance they immediately rally to them, as Pisa after the hundred years she had been held in bondage by the Florentines.

But when cities or countries are accustomed to live under a prince, and his family is exterminated, they, being on the one hand accustomed to obey and on the other hand not having the old prince, cannot agree in making one from amongst themselves, and they do not know how to govern themselves. For this reason they are very slow to take up arms, and a prince can gain them to himself and secure them much more easily. But in republics there is more vitality, greater hatred, and more desire for vengeance, which will never permit them to allow the memory of their former liberty to rest; so that the safest way is to destroy them or to reside there.

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The source text and artwork in this ebook edition are believed to be in the U.S. public domain. This ebook edition is released under the terms in the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, available at https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. For full license information see the Uncopyright file included at the end of this ebook.
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