Concerning Hereditary Principalities
I WILL leave out all discussion on
republics, inasmuch as in another place I have written of them
at length, and will address myself only to
principalities. In doing so I will keep to the order indicated above, and discuss how such principalities are to be
ruled and preserved.
I say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding
hereditary states, and those long accustomed to the family of their prince, than new ones; for it is sufficient only not to
transgress the customs of his
ancestors, and to
deal prudently with circumstances as they arise, for a prince of average powers to maintain himself in his state, unless he be deprived of it by some
extraordinary and excessive force; and if he should be so deprived of it, whenever anything
sinister happens to the
usurper, he will regain it.
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.
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