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第9章

君主论-the prince(英文版)-第9章

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whereby they ran more danger than at any othertime of their troubles。The Emperor of Constantinople; to oppose his neighbours; sent tenthousand Turks into Greece; who; on the war being finished; were notwilling to quit; this was the beginning of the servitude of Greece tothe infidels。Therefore; let him who has no desire to conquer make use of these arms;for they are much more hazardous than mercenaries; because with them theruin is ready made; they are all united; all yield obedience to others;but with mercenaries; e and betteropportunities are needed to injure you; they are not all of onemunity; they are found and paid by you; and a third party; which youhave made their head; is not able all at once to assume enough authorityto injure you。 In conclusion; in mercenaries dastardy is most dangerous;in auxiliaries; valour。 The wise prince; therefore; has always avoidedthese arms and turned to his own; and has been willing rather to losewith them than to conquer with others; not deeming that a real victorywhich is gained with the arms of others。I shall never hesitate to cite Cesare Borgia and his actions。 This dukeentered the Romagna with auxiliaries; taking there only French soldiers;and with them he captured Imola and Forli; but afterwards; such forcesnot appearing to him reliable; he turned to mercenaries; discerning lessdanger in them; and enlisted the Orsini and Vitelli; whom presently; onhandling and finding them doubtful; unfaithful; and dangerous; hedestroyed and turned to his own men。 And the difference between one andthe other of these forces can easily be seen when one considers thedifference there was in the reputation of the duke; when he had theFrench; when he had the Orsini and Vitelli; and when he relied on hisown soldiers; on whose fidelity he could always count and found it everincreasing; he was never esteemed more highly than when every one sawthat he was plete master of his own forces。I was not intending to go beyond Italian and recent examples; but I amunwilling to leave out Hiero; the Syracusan; he being one of those Ihave named above。 This man; as I have said; made head of the army by theSyracusans; soon found out that a mercenary soldiery; constituted likeour Italian condottieri; was of no use; and it appearing to him that hecould neither keep them nor let them go; he had them all cut to pieces;and afterwards made war with his own forces and not with aliens。I wish also to recall to memory an instance from the Old Testamentapplicable to this subject。 David offered himself to Saul to fight withGoliath; the Philistine champion; and; to give him courage; Saul armedhim with his own weapons; which David rejected as soon as he had them onhis back; saying he could make no use of them; and that he wished tomeet the enemy with his sling and his knife。 In conclusion; the arms ofothers either fall from your back; or they weigh you down; or they bindyou fast。Charles VII; the father of King Louis XI; having by good fortune andvalour liberated France from the English; recognized the necessity ofbeing armed with forces of his own; and he established in his kingdomordinances concerning men…at…arms and infantry。 Afterwards his son; KingLouis; abolished the infantry and began to enlist the Switzers; whichmistake; followed by others; is; as is now seen; a source of peril tothat kingdom; because; having raised the reputation of the Switzers; hehas entirely diminished the value of his own arms; for he has destroyedthe infantry altogether; and his men…at…arms he has subordinated toothers; for; being as they are so accustomed to fight along withSwitzers; it does not appear that they can no。Hence it arises that the French cannot stand against the Switzers; andwithout the Switzers they do not e off well against others。 Thearmies of the French have thus bee mixed; partly mercenary and partlynational; both of which arms together are much better than mercenariesalone or auxiliaries alone; yet much inferior to one's own forces。 Andthis example proves it; the kingdom of France would be unconquerable ifthe ordinance of Charles had been enlarged or maintained。But the scanty wisdom of man; on entering into an affair which lookswell at first; cannot discern the poison that is hidden in it; as I havesaid above of hectic fevers。 Therefore; if he who rules a principalitycannot recognize evils until they are upon him; he is not truly wise;and this insight is given to few。 And if the first disaster to the RomanEmpire should be examined; it will be found to have menced only withthe enlisting of the Goths; because from that time the vigour of theRoman Empire began to decline; and all that valour which had raised itpassed away to others。I conclude; therefore; that no principality is secure without having itsown forces; on the contrary; it is entirely dependent on good fortune;not having the valour which in adversity would defend it。 And it hasalways been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be souncertain or unstable as fame or power not founded on its own strength。And one's own forces are those which are posed either of subjects;citizens; or dependants; all others are mercenaries or auxiliaries。 Andthe way to take ready one's own forces will be easily found if the rulessuggested by me shall be reflected upon; and if one will consider howPhilip; the father of Alexander the Great; and many republics andprinces have armed and organized themselves; to which rules I entirelymit myself。CHAPTER XIVTHAT WHICH CONCERNS A PRINCE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE ART OF WARA PRINCE ought to have no other aim or thought; nor select anything elsefor his study; than war and its rules and discipline; for this is thesole art that belongs to him who rules; and it is of such force that itnot only upholds those who are born princes; but it often enables men torise from a private station to that rank。 And; on the contrary; it isseen that when princes have thought more of ease than of arms they havelost their states。 And the first cause of your losing it is to neglectthis art; and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of theart。 Francesco Sforza; through being martial; from a private personbecame Duke of Milan; and the sons; through avoiding the hardships andtroubles of arms; from dukes became private persons。 For among otherevils which being unarmed brings you; it causes you to be despised; andthis is one of those ignominies against which a prince ought to guardhimself; as is shown later on。 Because there is nothing proportionatebetween the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he whois armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed; or thatthe unarmed man should be secure among armed servants。 Because; therebeing in the one disdain and in the other suspicion; it is not possiblefor them to work well together。 And therefore a prince who does notunderstand the art of war; over and above the other misfortunes alreadymentioned; cannot be respected by his soldiers; nor can he rely on them。He ought never; therefore; to have out of his thoughts this subject ofwar; and in peace he should addict himself more to its exercise than inwar; this he can do in two ways; the one by action; the other by study。As regards action; he ought above all things to keep his men wellorganized and drilled; to follow incessantly the chase; by which heaccustoms his body to hardships; and learns something of the nature oflocalities; and gets to find out how the mountains rise; how the valleysopen out; how the plains lie; and to understand the nature of rivers andmarshes; and in all this to take the greatest care。 Which knowledge isuseful in two ways。 Firstly; he learns to know his country; and isbetter able to undertake its defence; afterwards; by means of theknowledge and observation of that locality; he understands with ease anyother which it may be necessary for him to study hereafter; because thehills; valleys; and plains; and rivers and marshes that are; forinstance; in Tuscany; have a certain resemblance to those of othercountries; so that with a knowledge of the aspect of one country one caneasily arrive at a knowledge of others。 And the prince that lacks thisskill lacks the essential which it is desirable that a captain shouldpossess; for it teaches him to surprise his enemy; to select quarters;to lead armies; to array the battle; to besiege towns to advantage。Philopoemen; Prince of the Achaeans; among other praises which writershave bestowed on him; is mended because in time of peace he never hadanything in his mind but the rules of war; and when he was in thecountry with friends; he often stopped and reasoned with them: 〃If theenemy should be upon that hill; and we should find ourselves here withour army; with whom would be the advantage? How should one best advanceto meet him; keeping the ranks? If we should wish to retreat; how oughtwe to set about it? If they should retreat; how ought we to pursue?〃 Andhe would set forth to them; as he went; all the chances that couldbefall an army; he would listen to their opinion and state his;confirming it with reasons; so that by these continual discussions therecould never arise; in time of war; any unexpected circumstances that hecould deal with。But to exercise the intellect the prince should read histories; andstudy there the actions of illustrious men; to see how they have borhemselves in war; to examine the causes of their victories and defeat;so as to avoid the latter and imitate the former; and above all do as anillustrious man did; who took as an exemplar one who had been praisedand famous before him; and whose achievements and deeds he always keptin his mind; as it is said Alexander the Great imitated Achilles; CaesarAlexander; Scipio Cyrus。 And whoever reads the life of Cyrus; written byXenophon; will recognize afterwards in the life of Scipio how thatimitation was his glory; and how in chastity; affability; humanity; andliberality Scipio conformed to those things which have been written ofCyrus by Xenophon。 A wise prince ought to observe some such rules; andnever in peaceful times stand idle; but increase his resources withindustry in such a way that they may be available to him in adversity;so that if fortune changes it may find him prepared to resist her blows。CHAPTER XVCONCERNING THINGS FOR WHICH MEN; AN

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