prince ought to distrust them as he would declared enemies, who, not content with abandoning his interests, would not hesitate, if fortune should be adverse, to take up arms against him.
He who has been raised to a civil principality by the favour of the people should earnestly exert himself to preserve their affection, which it is always easy to do, since the people ask nothing more than not to be oppressed. But he who becomes prince by the favour of the nobles, and contrary to the will of the people, should above all things strive to gain their attachment, and he will infallibly succeed in it by protecting them against those who seek to subdue them.
Men being generally very sensible of the good they receive from those from whom they expected only evil, there can be no doubt of the attachment of the people to a prince who treats them well, still more than if he had been raised to that rank by their means. Now, the good will of the people may be gained by various means which it would be useless here to adduce, seeing the difficulty there is of applying a rule adapted to so many different cireumstances.
The only resource that a prince can rely on in adversity is the affection of the people. When Nabis, Prince of Sparta, was attacked by the victorious army of the Romans, and by the other states of Greece, he had only to assure himself
