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98 this respect more fully justify him than the example of Scipio, onė of the greatest generals mentioned in history. His extreme indulgence towards the troops he commanded in Spain occasioned disorders, and at length a revolt, which drew on him from Fabius Maximus, in full senate, the reproach of having destroyed the Roman soldiery. This general having left unpunished the barbarous conduct of one of his lieutenants towards the Locrians; a senator, in his justification, observed, that there were men to whom it was more easy to excel than to punish. This excess of indulgence would in time have tarnished the glory and reputation of Scipio, if he had continued to command, and persevered in the same line of conduct; but far from injuring him, it turned altogether to his glory, because he lived under the government of the senate.

I conclude, therefore, by returning to my first question, whether it is better to be loved than fearedthat men loving according to their fancy and their will, and fearing, on the other hand, the will of him who governs them, a wise prince ought only to rely on those who are at his own disposal; but he ought, as I have before observed, above all things to study to make himself feared without being hated.