Page:The Prince.djvu/112

Rh I shall treat this subject more at: length in 'my translation of Machiavelli's Reflections on Livy.

Our author next considers the subject of flattery to princes. It is to us a matter of trifling importance at the présent moment, and therefore I have thrown my observations into the form of a note on the chapter itself, to which I must refer the reader.

The 24th chapter is, however, of a different complexion; in it the reader will find the reason of the present state of Spain, which may perhaps (if any thing can) enlighten our ministers, as to the madness of their measures. Machiavelli's observations on the influence of fortune is not entirely consonant with those he has made in his Reflections on Livy, but it is a subject on which few have reasoned, either justly or rationally, because they assumed erroneous data, and therefore their conclusions were necessarily false,. As the consideration of the subject is foreign to the purpose, of this Introduction, the