Page:The Prince.djvu/148

Rh the task makes enemies of all those who found themselves comfortable under the former code; he finds but feeble defenders in those to whom the new system will be of advantage; and this supineness arises, in part, from the fear. of their adversaries, to whom the ancient order of things is beneficial, and partly from the incredulity of makind, who have no confidence in new ineasures except when founded on long experience: whence it follows, that as often as those who are enemies of the new order of things have an opportunity of attacking it, they do it with all the zeal and enthusiasm of party, while the others defend it with indifference; so that the prince runs as many dangers from the nature of his defenders as he does from that of his enemies.

To enter profoundly into this subject, we must attentively examine whether these innovators of their own accord make those changes, or whether they arise from other motives; that is to say, whether they are under the necessity of employing persuasion, or compelled to resort to force. In the first case. they never succeed; but when they are independent, and have the power to compel, they seldom fail: from whence it arose that all the prophets who had arms in their bands triumphed, while those who had not were unsuccessful. Besides the reasons we have already adduced, the character of a people is unstable, easy to be