We have in Italy, for example, the Duke of Ferrara,
who could not have withstood the attacks of the Venetians
in ’84, nor those of Pope Julius in ’10,
unless he had been long established in his dominions.
For the hereditary prince has less cause and less
necessity to offend; hence it happens that he will
be more loved; and unless extraordinary vices cause
him to be hated, it is reasonable to expect that his
subjects will be naturally well disposed towards him;
and in the antiquity and duration of his rule the
memories and motives that make for change are lost,
for one change always leaves the toothing for another.
CHAPTER III — CONCERNING MIXED PRINCIPALITIES
But the difficulties occur in a new principality.
And firstly, if it be not entirely new, but is, as
it were, a member of a state which, taken collectively,
may be called composite, the changes arise chiefly
from an inherent difficulty which there is in all
new principalities; for men change their rulers willingly,
hoping to better themselves, and this hope induces
them to take up arms against him who rules: wherein
they are deceived, because they afterwards find by
experience they have gone from bad to worse.
This follows also on another natural and common necessity,
which always causes a new prince to burden those who
have submitted to him with his soldiery and with infinite
other hardships which he must put upon his new acquisition.
In this way you have enemies in all those whom you
have injured in seizing that principality, and you
are not able to keep those friends who put you there
because of your not being able to satisfy them in the
way they expected, and you cannot take strong measures
against them, feeling bound to them. For, although
one may be very strong in armed forces, yet in entering
a province one has always need of the goodwill of
the natives.
For these reasons Louis the Twelfth, King of France,
quickly occupied Milan, and as quickly lost it; and
to turn him out the first time it only needed Lodovico’s
own forces; because those who had opened the gates
to him, finding themselves deceived in their hopes
of future benefit, would not endure the ill-treatment
of the new prince. It is very true that, after
acquiring rebellious provinces a second time, they
are not so lightly lost afterwards, because the prince,
with little reluctance, takes the opportunity of the
rebellion to punish the delinquents, to clear out
the suspects, and to strengthen himself in the weakest
places. Thus to cause France to lose Milan the
first time it was enough for the Duke Lodovico(*)
to raise insurrections on the borders; but to cause
him to lose it a second time it was necessary to bring
the whole world against him, and that his armies should
be defeated and driven out of Italy; which followed
from the causes above mentioned.
(*) Duke Lodovico was
Lodovico Moro, a son of Francesco
Sforza, who married
Beatrice d’Este. He ruled over Milan
from 1494 to 1500, and
died in 1510.
