CHAPTER II.: peace and war.

1. A good and wise prince should love peace and avoid war.

2. Those who counsel a prince have to fear lest he should have some one near him who in time of peace desires war, because he cannot gain his living without it.

3. Arms should be reserved for the last extremity, when all other means prove insufficient.

4. A prince who has any feelings of humanity cannot altogether rejoice at a victory that spreads sorrow amongst all his subjects.

5. The increase of power and state brings with it an increase

of enmity and envy, the invariable sources of war and disaster.

6. That government alone is durable which rests upon the free will of the governed.

7. He who, blinded by ambition, rises to a place from which he cannot rise any higher, necessarily prepares for a most disastrous fall.

8. In a well-constituted government, wars, peace, and alliances are decided upon, not for the satisfaction of the few, but for the general good.

9. That war is just which is necessary.

10. The people will complain of a war made without reason.

11. Not he who first takes to arms is the cause of the mischief, but he who gives the first cause for taking to arms.

12. Princes should remember that wars are begun at the will of others, but are not terminated at the will of others.

13. Whenever victory impoverishes or conquests enfeeble us, we ought to abandon them, or we shall not arrive at the aim for which the war is made.

14. He who is impoverished by war cannot acquire strength, even though he is victorious, for he expends more than what he gains by his conquests.

15. In badly organized governments, victories first empty the treasury; after that they impoverish the people without securing them against the enemy. Thence the victor enjoys his victory but little, and the enemy does not feel the loss.

16. We must guard against the conquest of such cities or provinces as revenge themselves upon the victor without fighting and without blood; but who by corrupting him with their evil habits expose him to be overcome by whoever assails him.

17. The valor of men is pleasing even to the enemy, whilst cowardice and malice are despised.

18. He who makes too much account of the cuirass, and wishes to be honored with it on, incurs no loss that he values so much as that of his reputation.

19. Even in war but little glory is derived from any fraud that involves the breaking of a given pledge and of agreements made.

20. An ally should prefer his pledged faith to advantages or to perils.

21. The greatest and most important care for the commander

of an army is to have near him men that are faithful, experienced in war, and prudent, with whom he can constantly counsel and discuss as to his own troops and those of the enemy, from whom he can learn which are the most numerous, which the best armed, the best mounted, and the best drilled, which the most able to bear privations, and on which to rely most, whether on infantry or cavalry.

22. No qualities are calculated to win for a commander the good will of the people so much as examples of chastity and justice.

23. Even in war it is a cruel, inhuman, and impious thing to dishonor the women, to debauch the virgins, and not to spare temples and holy places.

24. An act of humanity and clemency has more influence with men than an act of ferocity and violence; and there are many instances when provinces or cities that would not yield to arms, to engines of war, or to any other human force, have surrendered to an example of humanity, piety, charity, or generosity. History has many proofs of this. The capture of Carthagena in Spain did not give Scipio Africanus so great a reputation as the example of chastity which he gave when he restored a beautiful young wife intact to her husband. The fame of this act won him the friendship of all Spain. We see from this how much the people desire that those who are above them should possess these virtues, and how much they are praised by historians; and by those who write the lives of princes, as well as by those authors who teach them how to bear themselves. Amongst these Xenophon takes the greatest pains to show what honors, what victories, and what glory Cyrus won by being humane and affable, and by not having given any proofs of pride, cruelty, or luxuriousness, or of any other vice that stains the lives of men.

25. It is never wise to drive an enemy to desperation.

26. People readily subject themselves to the empire of him who treats the vanquished as brothers, and not as enemies.

27. Whoever is harsh and cruel in commanding is badly obeyed by his subjects; but whoever is kind and humane meets with ready obedience.

28. To command a multitude it is better to be humane than proud, and merciful rather than cruel.

29. Those Roman commanders who made themselves beloved

by their armies, and managed them with condescension, achieved greater advantages than those who made themselves extraordinarily feared by their soldiers.

30. Humanity, affability, and a courteous reception on the part of the commander, have great influence upon the minds of the soldiers; and the giving advice to the one, the promising to another, the taking one by the hand and embracing another, makes them rush with impetuosity to the attack.

31. It is important in armies strictly to distribute rewards and punishments to those who by their good or evil conduct have merited praise or blame. In this way great control is obtained over the troops.

32. The respect for the commander, his habits, and his other great qualities, often cause an immediate suspension of arms.

33. The prince who has plenty of subjects, and lacks soldiers, should not complain of the cowardice of men, but of his own indolence and want of wisdom.

34. An army which disregards justice, and consumes in a reckless manner its means of subsistence, cannot escape want. For the first disorder causes the non-arrival of provisions, and the other useless consumption of those that do arrive.

35. The morals of a soldier should be looked to above all else. He must have honesty and a sense of shame; otherwise he will prove but an instrument of scandal and the first cause of corruption. For it is impossible to believe that either valor or anything praiseworthy can result from a dishonest education, or an impure and immodest mind.

36. If in republics or monarchies it is necessary to have special ordinances for keeping men loyal, peaceful, and in the fear of God, then is it doubly necessary with soldiers. For where should the country look for more devotion than in him who has promised to die for her? Where should she look for greater love of peace than in him who can only be injured by war? And where should there be more fear of God than in him who, being every day exposed to an infinity of dangers, has more need of Divine aid than any one else?

37. The disreputable, the idle, the unbridled, the impious, the fugitives from paternal control, blasphemers, gamblers, and in all respects the badly brought up, should not be accepted as soldiers; for nothing can be more contrary to good discipline than such habits.

38. Women and odious games should be prohibited in armies; soldiers should be so constantly exercised, both individually and collectively, that they have no time left them to think of women, or games, or anything else that renders them seditious and useless.

39. A well-regulated government selects for war men in the flower of their age, when the legs, the hands, and the eye respond to each other; and it waits not until the men come to an age when the forces diminish and wickedness increases.

40. Arms in the hands of national troops, and given them by the laws and regulations, have never done any injury, but have rather always proved useful; and republics maintain themselves longer untainted by means of such arms, than without them.

41. We should imitate the ancients in the boldness and strength of their actions, and not in those that were feeble and effeminate.

42. We should pray God to grant victory to him who brings safety and peace to Christendom.

43. Whoever is content with a moderate victory will always be the better for it; for those who wish to carry it too far often lose.

44. A city that voluntarily surrenders can afford you advantage and security; but to be obliged to hold a city by force causes you weakness and injury in times of adversity; and in peaceful times it causes loss and expense.

45. To conclude an agreement it is necessary to cancel the difficulties that have arisen.

46. An agreement concluded with good intentions is maintained the best.

47. It is the business of a good prince, after the termination of war, to turn his mind to his own greatness and to that of his state.

48. A man proves himself excellent in war and in peace, when in the former he proves himself victorious, and when in the latter he greatly benefits his state and his people.

49. A prince who excels in the conduct of affairs will recover in peace twofold what he has lost in war.

50. The way for a prince to maintain his state is to be armed with troops of his own, to show love and affection to his subjects, and friendship to his neighbors.