THE PRINCE
by Nicolo Machiavelli
Translated by W. K. Marriott
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CHAPTER XXV
What Fortune Can Effect In Human
Affairs, And How To Withstand Her
IT is not unknown to me how many men
have had, and still have, the opinion that the affairs of the world
are in such wise governed by fortune and by God that men with their
wisdom cannot direct them and that no one can even help them; and
because of this they would have us believe that it is not necessary
to labour much in affairs, but to let chance govern them. This
opinion has been more credited in our times because of the great
changes in affairs which have been seen, and may still be seen,
every day, beyond all human conjecture. Sometimes pondering over
this, I am in some degree inclined to their opinion. Nevertheless,
not to extinguish our free will, I hold it to be true that Fortune
is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that she still leaves
us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less. (Note
1)
I compare her to one of those raging
rivers, which when in flood overflows the plains, sweeping away
trees and buildings, bearing away the soil from place to place;
everything flies before it, all yield to its violence, without being
able in any way to withstand it; and yet, though its nature be such,
it does not follow therefore that men, when the weather becomes
fair, shall not make provision, both with defences and barriers, in
such a manner that, rising again, the waters may pass away by canal,
and their force be neither so unrestrained nor so dangerous. So it
happens with fortune, who shows her power where valour has not
prepared to resist her, and thither she turns her forces where she
knows that barriers and defences have not been raised to constrain
her. (Note 2)
And if you will consider Italy,
which is the seat of these changes, and which has given to them
their impulse, you will see it to be an open country without
barriers and without any defence. For if it had been defended by
proper valour, as are Germany, Spain, and France, either this
invasion would not have made the great changes it has made or it
would not have come at all. And this I consider enough to say
concerning resistance to fortune in general. (Note
3)
But confining myself more to the
particular, I say that a prince may be seen happy to-day and ruined
to-morrow without having shown any change of disposition or
character. This, I believe, arises firstly from causes that have
already been discussed at length, namely, that the prince who relies
entirely upon fortune is lost when it changes. I believe also that
he will be successful who directs his actions according to the
spirit of the times, and that he whose actions do not accord with
the times will not be successful. (Note
4)
Because men are seen, in affairs
that lead to the end which every man has before him, namely, glory
and riches, to get there by various methods; one with caution,
another with haste; one by force, another by skill; one by patience,
another by its opposite; and each one succeeds in reaching the goal
by a different method. One can also see of two cautious men the one
attain his end, the other fail; and similarly, two men by different
observances are equally successful, the one being cautious, the
other impetuous; all this arises from nothing else than whether or
not they conform in their methods to the spirit of the times. This
follows from what I have said, that two men working differently
bring about the same effect, and of two working similarly, one
attains his object and the other does not. (Note
5)
Changes in estate also issue from
this, for if, to one who governs himself with caution and patience,
times and affairs converge in such a way that his administration is
successful, his fortune is made; but if times and affairs change, he
is ruined if he does not change his course of action. But a man is
not often found sufficiently circumspect to know how to accommodate
himself to the change, both because he cannot deviate from what
nature inclines him to, and also because, having always prospered by
acting in one way, he cannot be persuaded that it is well to leave
it; and, therefore, the cautious man, when it is time to turn
adventurous, does not know how to do it, hence he is ruined; but had
he changed his conduct with the times fortune would not have
changed. (Note 6)
Pope Julius II went to work
impetuously in all his affairs, and found the times and
circumstances conform so well to that line of action that he always
met with success. Consider his first enterprise against Bologna,
Messer Giovanni Bentivogli being still alive. The Venetians were not
agreeable to it, nor was the King of Spain, and he had the
enterprise still under discussion with the King of France;
nevertheless he personally entered upon the expedition with his
accustomed boldness and energy, a move which made Spain and the
Venetians stand irresolute and passive, the latter from fear, the
former from desire to recover all the kingdom of Naples; on the
other hand, he drew after him the King of France, because that king,
having observed the movement, and desiring to make the Pope his
friend so as to humble the Venetians, found it impossible to refuse
him soldiers without manifestly offending him. Therefore Julius with
his impetuous action accomplished what no other pontiff with simple
human wisdom could have done; for if he had waited in Rome until he
could get away, with his plans arranged and everything fixed, as any
other pontiff would have done, he would never have succeeded.
Because the King of France would have made a thousand excuses, and
the others would have raised a thousand fears. (Note
7)
I will leave his other actions
alone, as they were all alike, and they all succeeded, for the
shortness of his life did not let him experience the contrary; but
if circumstances had arisen which required him to go cautiously, his
ruin would have followed, because he would never have deviated from
those ways to which nature inclined him.
I conclude therefore that, fortune
being changeful and mankind steadfast in their ways, so long as the
two are in agreement men are successful, but unsuccessful when they
fall out. For my part I consider that it is better to be adventurous
than cautious, because fortune is a woman, and if you wish to keep
her under it is necessary to beat and ill-use her; and it is seen
that she allows herself to be mastered by the adventurous rather
than by those who go to work more coldly. She is, therefore, always,
woman-like, a lover of young men, because they are less cautious,
more violent, and with more audacity command her. (Note
8)
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