Page:The Prince (translated by William K. Marriott).djvu/244

214 will make him revered and admired, and in Italy there are not wanting oppurtunities to bring such into use in every form.

Here there is great valour in the limbs whilst it fails in the head. Look attentively at the duels and the hand-to-hand combats, how superior the Italians are in strength, dexterity, and subtelty. It comes to armies they do not bear comparison, and this springs entirely from the insufficiency of the leaders, since those who are capable are not obedient, and each one seems to himself to know, there having never been any one so distinguished above the rest, either by valour or fortune, that others would yield to him. Hence it is that for so long a time, and during so much fighting in the past twenty years, whenever there has been an army wholly Itallian, it has always given a poor account of itself; the first witness to this is Il Taro, afterwards Alexandria, Capua, Genoa Vaila, Bolgna, Mestri.

If, therefore, your illustrious mean who have redeemed their country, it is necessary before all things, as a true foundation for every enterprise, to be provided with your own forces, because there can be no more faithful, truer, or better soliders. And although singly they are good, altogether they will be much better when they find themselves commanded by their prince,