Keeping one's word is a very good thing. However, history shows that it was the prince who had little regard for his word and understood how to deceive those who are honest. There are two ways of fighting. The first is by law and belongs to man. The second is by force and belongs to the animal. One cannot always win with the first method, so a prince must understand how to fight with the second.
A prince must be wily like the fox when looking for traps, and powerful like the lion that drives off wolves. A prince should not keep his word when it no longer profits him, or when the circumstances in which he made the promise no longer apply. This would be a bad way to behave if men were.....
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