Chapter VI

Of New Principalities Acquired by One's Own Arms and Virtue

Let no one marvel if, in speaking of principalities that are entirely new, both as to prince and as to state, I bring forward the very greatest examples. For since men almost always walk the paths beaten by others and proceed in their actions by imitation, and since one cannot keep entirely to the paths of others nor attain to the virtue of those one imitates, a prudent man must always enter upon the paths beaten by great men and imitate those who have been most excellent, so that if his own virtue does not reach that far, it may at least have some flavour of it. He must do as prudent archers do who, when the place they intend to hit seems too far off and they know how far the strength of their bow will carry, set their aim much higher than the intended mark, not in order to reach such a height with their arrow, but in order, with the help of so high an aim, to achieve their purpose. I say, then, that in entirely new principalities, where there is a new prince, there is more or less difficulty in maintaining them according to whether the one who acquires them is more or less virtuous. And since this event of rising from private citizen to prince presupposes either virtue or fortune, it seems that one or other of these two things mitigates in part many difficulties. Nevertheless, he who has relied least on fortune has maintained himself the longest. Things are made easier also when the prince, having no other states, is obliged to come and live there in person. But to come to those who have become princes by their own virtue and not by fortune, I say that the most excellent are Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, Theseus and the like. And although one should not reason about Moses, since he was a mere executor of the things ordered him by God, yet he deserves to be admired, if only for that grace which made him worthy to speak with God.

But considering Cyrus and the others who have acquired or founded kingdoms, you will find them all admirable; and if their particular actions and institutions are considered, they will not appear different from those of Moses, who had so great a teacher. And examining their actions and lives, one will see that they had nothing from fortune but the opportunity, which gave them the matter into which they could introduce whatever form seemed best to them. Without that opportunity the virtue of their spirit would have been extinguished, and without that virtue the opportunity would have come in vain. It was necessary, then, for Moses to find the people of Israel in Egypt enslaved and oppressed by the Egyptians, so that they would be disposed to follow him in order to escape their servitude. It was fitting that Romulus should not stay in Alba and should have been exposed at birth, if he was to become king of Rome and founder of that fatherland. Cyrus needed to find the Persians discontented with the rule of the Medes, and the Medes soft and effeminate from long peace. Theseus could not have shown his virtue had he not found the Athenians scattered. These opportunities, therefore, made these men fortunate, and their excellent virtue enabled the opportunity to be recognised; whereby their fatherland was ennobled and became most prosperous. Those who, like these men, become princes by virtuous ways acquire their principality with difficulty but hold it with ease. The difficulties they have in acquiring the principality arise in part from the new institutions and methods they are forced to introduce in order to establish their state and their security. And it must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to undertake, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage, than to take the lead in introducing new institutions. For the innovator has as enemies all those who do well under the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would do well under the new. This lukewarmness arises partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not truly believe in new things unless they have seen them confirmed by experience. Hence it comes about that whenever those who are enemies have the chance to attack, they do so with partisan zeal, while the others defend lukewarmly, so that the innovator is endangered along with them. It is necessary, therefore, if one wishes to examine this matter well, to see whether these innovators stand on their own or depend on others; that is, whether to carry out their work they must beg or can use force. In the first case they always come to a bad end and accomplish nothing; but when they depend on their own resources and can use force, then they are rarely endangered. Hence it is that all armed prophets have conquered and the unarmed have been ruined. For besides what has been said, the nature of peoples is changeable; it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to hold them in that persuasion. And so things must be arranged in such a way that when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe by force.

Moses, Cyrus, Theseus and Romulus could not have made their constitutions observed for long had they been unarmed, as happened in our own times to Fra Girolamo Savonarola, who was ruined in his new institutions as soon as the multitude began to cease believing in him, for he had no means of keeping firm those who had believed nor of making the unbelievers believe. Such men therefore have great difficulty in making their way; all their dangers lie along the road, and they must overcome them by their virtue. But once they have overcome them and begin to be held in veneration, having eliminated those who envied them their qualities, they remain powerful, secure, honoured and happy. To such lofty examples I wish to add a lesser one, but it will bear some proportion to them, and I wish it to suffice for all others of the kind: this is Hiero of Syracuse. From private citizen he became prince of Syracuse; nor did he have anything from fortune but the opportunity. For when the Syracusans were oppressed, they elected him as their captain, whence he earned the right to be made their prince. And he was of such virtue, even in private station, that one who writes of him says that he lacked nothing to reign except a kingdom. He did away with the old militia and organised a new one; he abandoned old friendships and made new ones; and as soon as he had friendships and soldiers that were his own, he could build any edifice on such a foundation; so that he endured much toil in acquiring, and little in maintaining.