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第14节

君主论-the prince(英文版)-第14节

小说: 君主论-the prince(英文版) 字数: 每页4000字

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le;a course which turned out advantageous to them or not; accordingly asthe prince knew how to maintain authority over them。From these causes it arose that Marcus 'Aurelius'; Pertinax; andAlexander; being all men of modest life; lovers of justice; enemies tocruelty; humane; and benignant; came to a sad end except Marcus; healone lived and died honoured; because he had succeeded to the throne byhereditary title; and owed nothing either to the soldiers or the people;and afterwards; being possessed of many virtues which made himrespected; he always kept both orders in their places whilst he lived;and was neither hated nor despised。But Pertinax was created emperor against the wishes of the soldiers;who; being accustomed to live licentiously under modus; could notendure the honest life to which Pertinax wished to reduce them; thus;having given cause for hatred; to which hatred there was added contemptfor his old age; he was overthrown at the very beginning of hisadministration。 And here it should be noted that hatred is acquired asmuch by good works as by bad ones; therefore; as I said before; a princewishing to keep his state is very often forced to do evil; for when thatbody is corrupt whom you think you have need of to maintain yourself ……it may be either the people or the soldiers or the nobles …… you have tosubmit to its humours and to gratify them; and then good works will doyou harm。But let us e to Alexander; who was a man of such great goodness; thatamong the other praises which are accorded him is this; that in thefourteen years he held the empire no one was ever put to death by himunjudged; nevertheless; being considered effeminate and a man whoallowed himself to be governed by his mother; he became despised; thearmy conspired against him; and murdered him。Turning now to the opposite characters of modus; Severus; AntoninusCaracalla; and Maximinus; you will find them all cruel and rapacious ……men who; to satisfy their soldiers; did not hesitate to mit everykind of iniquity against the people; and all; except Severus; came to abad end; but in Severus there was so much valour that; keeping thesoldiers friendly; although the people were oppressed by him; he reignedsuccessfully; for his valour made him so much admired in the sight ofthe soldiers and people that the latter were kept in a way astonishedand awed and the former respectful and satisfied。 And because theactions of this man; as a new prince; were great; I wish to show brieflythat he knew well how to counterfeit the fox and the lion; whichnatures; as I said above; it is necessary for a prince to imitate。Knowing the sloth of the Emperor Julian; he persuaded the army inSclavonia; of which he was captain; that it would be right to go to Romeand avenge the death of Pertinax; who had been killed by the praetoriansoldiers; and under this pretext; without appearing to aspire to thethrone; he moved the army on Rome; and reached Italy before it was knownthat he had started。 On his arrival at Rome; the Senate; through fear;elected him emperor and killed Julian。 After this there remained forSeverus; who wished to make himself master of the whole empire; twodifficulties; one in Asia; where Niger; head of the Asiatic army; hadcaused himself to be proclaimed emperor; the other in the west whereAlbinus was; who also aspired to the throne。 And as he considered itdangerous to declare himself hostile to both; he decided to attack Nigerand to deceive Albinus。 To the latter he wrote that; being electedemperor by the Senate; he was willing to share that dignity with him andsent him the title of Caesar; and; moreover; that the Senate had madeAlbinus his colleague; which things were accepted by Albinus as true。But after Severus had conquered and killed Niger; and settled orientalaffairs; he returned to Rome and plained to the Senate that Albinus;little recognizing the benefits that he had received from him; had bytreachery sought to murder him; and for this ingratitude he waspelled to punish him。 Afterwards he sought him out in France; andtook from him his government and life。 He who will; therefore; carefullyexamine the actions of this man will find him a most valiant lion and amost cunning fox; he will find him feared and respected by every one;and not hated by the army; and it need not be wondered at that he; thenew man; well; because his supreme renown always protected him from thathatred which the people might have conceived against him for hisviolence。But his son Antoninus was a most eminent man; and had very excellentqualities; which made him admirable in the sight of the people andacceptable to the soldiers; for he was a warlike man; most enduring offatigue; a despiser of all delicate food and other luxuries; whichcaused him to be beloved by the armies。 Nevertheless; his ferocity andcruelties were so great and so unheard of that; after endless singlemurders; he killed a large number of the people of Rome and all those ofAlexandria。 He became hated by the whole world; and also feared by thosehe had around him; to such an extent that he was murdered in the midstof his army by a centurion。 And here it must be noted that such…likedeaths; which are deliberately inflicted with a resolved and desperatecourage; cannot be avoided by princes; because any one who does not fearto die can inflict them; but a prince may fear them the less becausethey are very rare; he has only to be careful not to do any grave injuryto those whom he employs or has around him in the service of the state。Antoninus had not taken this care; but had contumeliously killed abrother of that centurion; whom also he daily threatened; yet retainedin his bodyguard; which; as it turned out; was a rash thing to do; andproved the emperor's ruin。But let us e to modus; to whom it should have been very easy tohold the empire; for; being the son of Marcus; he had inherited it; andhe had only to follow in the footsteps of his father to please hispeople and soldiers; but; being by nature cruel and brutal; he gavehimself up to amusing the soldiers and corrupting them; so that he mightindulge his rapacity upon the people; on the other hand; not maintaininghis dignity; often descending to the theatre to pete with gladiators;and doing other vile things; little worthy of the imperial majesty; hefell into contempt with the soldiers; and being hated by one party anddespised by the other; he was conspired against and killed。It remains to discuss the character of Maximinus。 He was a very warlikeman; and the armies; being disgusted with the effeminacy of Alexander;of whom I have already spoken; killed him and elected Maximinus to thethrone。 This he did not possess for long; for two things made him hatedand despised; the one; his having kept sheep in Thrace; which broughthim into contempt (it being well known to all; and considered a greatindignity by every one); and the other; his having at the accession tohis dominions deferred going to Rome and taking possession of theimperial seat; he had also gained a reputation for the utmost ferocityby having; through his prefects in Rome and elsewhere in the empire;practised many cruelties; so that the whole world was moved to anger atthe meanness of his birth and to fear at his barbarity。 First Africarebelled; then the Senate with all the people of Rome; and all Italyconspired against him; to which may be added his own army: this latter;besieging Aquileia and meeting with difficulties in taking it; weredisgusted with his cruelties; and fearing him less when they found somany against him; murdered him。I do not wish to discuss Heliogabalus; Macrinus; or Julian; who; beingthoroughly contemptible; were quickly wiped out; but I will bring thisdiscourse to a conclusion by saying that princes in our times have thisdifficulty of giving inordinate satisfaction to their soldiers in a farless degree; because; notwithstanding one has to give them someindulgence; that is soon done; none of these princes have armies thatare veterans in the governance and administration of provinces; as werethe armies of the Roman Empire; and whereas it was then more necessaryto give satisfaction to the soldiers than to the people; it is now morenecessary to all princes; except the Turk and the Soldan; to satisfy thepeople rather than the soldiers; because the people are the morepowerful。From the above I have excepted the Turk; who always keeps round himtwelve infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry on which depend thesecurity and strength of the kingdom; and it is necessary that; puttingaside every consideration for the people; he should keep them hisfriends。 The kingdom of the Soldan is similar; being entirely in thehands of soldiers; follows again that; without regard to the people; hemust keep them his friends。 But you must note that the state of theSoldan is unlike all other principalities; for the reason that it islike the Christian pontificate; which cannot be called either anhereditary or a newly formed principality; because the sons of the oldprince not the heirs; but he who is elected to that position by thosewho have authority; and the sons remain only noblemen。 And this being anancient custom; it cannot be called a new principality; because thereare none of those difficulties in it that are met with in new ones; foralthough the prince 

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