Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/554

 5 1 8 Readings in European History seen nor had any real existence), since the present manner of living is so different from the way that ought to be taken, that he who neglects what is done to follow what ought to be done will sooner learn how to ruin than how to preserve him- self ; for a tender man, and one that desires to be honest in everything, must needs run a great hazard among so many of a contrary principle. Wherefore it is necessary for a prince who wishes to subsist, to harden himself, and learn to be good or otherwise according to the exigence of his affairs. Laying aside, therefore, all imaginary notions of a prince, and discoursing of nothing but what is actually true, I say that all men when they are spoken of, and especially princes, who are in a higher and more eminent station, are remarkable for some quality or other that makes them either honorable or contemptible. Hence it is that some are counted liberal, others miserable ;. . . some munificent, others rapacious ; some cruel, others merciful ; some faithless, others precise ; one poor-spirited and effeminate, another fierce and ambi- tious ; one courteous, another haughty ; one modest, another impure ; one sincere, another cunning ; one rugged and morose, another accessible and easy; one grave, another giddy; one devout, another an atheist. No man, I am sure, will deny but that it would be an admirable thing and highly to be commended to have a prince endowed with all the good qualities aforesaid ; but because it is impossible to have, much less to exercise, them all by reason of the frailty and grossness of our nature, it is convenient that he be so well instructed as to know how to avoid the scandal of those vices which may deprive him of his state, and be very cautious of the rest, though their consequence be not so pernicious, so that where they are unavoidable he need trouble himself the less. He is not to concern himself if he incur the infamy of those vices without which his dominion cannot be preserved ; for if we consider things impartially, we shall find some things are virtuous in appearance, and yet, if pursued, would bring certain destruction, while others are seemingly bad, which, if followed by a prince, procure his peace and security.