CONCERNING HEREDITARY PRINCIPALITIES

I will leave out all discussion on republics, inasmuch as in anotherrnplace I have written of them at length, and will address myself only tornprincipalities. In doing so I will keep to the order indicated above,rnand discuss how such principalities are to be ruled and preserved.rnrnI say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding hereditaryrnstates, and those long accustomed to the family of their prince, thanrnnew ones; for it is sufficient only not to transgress the customs ofrnhis ancestors, and to deal prudently with circumstances as they arise,rnfor a prince of average powers to maintain himself in his state, unlessrnhe be deprived of it by some extraordinary and excessive force; and ifrnhe should be so deprived of it, whenever anything sinister happens tornthe usurper, he will regain it.rnrnWe have in Italy, for example, the Duke of Ferrara, who could not havernwithstood the attacks of the Venetians in ’84, nor those of Pope Juliusrnin ’10, unless he had been long established in his dominions. For thernhereditary prince has less cause and less necessity to offend; hence itrnhappens that he will be more loved; and unless extraordinary vicesrncause him to be hated, it is reasonable to expect that his subjectsrnwill be naturally well disposed towards him; and in the antiquity andrnduration of his rule the memories and motives that make for change arernlost, for one change always leaves the toothing for another.