Page 122 of 310

We have not seen great things done in our time except by those

who have been considered mean; the rest have failed. Pope Julius

the Second was assisted in reaching the papacy by a reputation

for liberality, yet he did not strive afterwards to keep it up,

when he made war on the King of France; and he made many wars

without imposing any extraordinary tax on his subjects, for he

supplied his additional expenses out of his long thriftiness. The

present King of Spain would not have undertaken or conquered in

so many enterprises if he had been reputed liberal. A prince,

therefore, provided that he has not to rob his subjects, that he

can defend himself, that he does not become poor and abject, that

he is not forced to become rapacious, ought to hold of little

account a reputation for being mean, for it is one of those vices

which will enable him to govern.