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THE PRINCE.
be of any durable advantage. Now those animals whose forms the prince should know how to assume are the fox, and the lion. The first can but feebly defend himself against the wolf, and the other readily falls into the snares that are laid for him. From the first, a prince will learn to be dexterous, and avoid the snares; and from the other to be strong, and keep the wolves in awe. Those who despise the part of the fox, understand but little of their trade; in other words, a prudent prince cannot nor ought not to keep his word, except when he can do it without injury to himself, or when the circumstances under which he contracted the engagement still exist[1]
- ↑ The reader will remember the circumstances in which Machiavelli was placed, and that all those maxims which appear revolting are only intended for a prince who is a conqueror and a usurper, and therefore he inculcates them; he must not forget that it was against most cruel and most numerous tyrants, a thousand times more false and pertidious than their conqueror, that he deemed it his duty to put sụch arms into the hands of his prince as should effectually defend him against the perfidies of his enemies. The utility of this advice was therefore peculiarly adapted to the time and circumstances in which it was written; and he himself felt strongly, that he might seem to equivocate, one may say, in giving this counsel and supporting it by such very weak props. In fact, he has recourse to a fable and a miserable allegory; but the political writers who have followed him, in presenting similar maxims in an absolute way, and as applicable to all times, places, and princes, have by not understanding him done all the mischief
