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treated in detail of the different kinds of political states which I proposed to investigate, and enquired into the causes of their decline as well as their prosperity, and also the means by which many of them have been acquired or preserved, it remains for me only to speak of the different kinds of military forces, whether for the purposes of attack or defence.

I have already said, that princes, who wish their power to be durable, should fix it on solid bases. Now the principal foundations of states, whether ancient, modern, or mixed, are good laws and good troops; but as good laws can never be had without good troops, and as these two elements of political power cannot be separated, it will be sufficient that I confine myself to one of them.

Troops which serve for the defence of a state are either national, foreign, or mixed. Those of the second class, whether they serve as auxiliaries, ar as mercenaries, are useless and dangerous; and