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THE PRINCE.
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him for their leader, and he well deserved to be their prince. In his private conduct he was such that all those who have described it say, that a kingdom was only wanting to make him a monarch. He disbanded the old army, and new organised another; he abandoned their old alliances and formed new ones; and as his friends and the army were entirely devoted to him, it was easy for him to build surely on such foundations; so that though he had much difficulty in obtaining his

dignity, it required but little to preserve it.

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