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But if a prince who is not inexperienced should take counsel from

more than one he will never get united counsels, nor will he know

how to unite them. Each of the counsellors will think of his own

interests, and the prince will not know how to control them or to

see through them. And they are not to be found otherwise, because

men will always prove untrue to you unless they are kept honest

by constraint. Therefore it must be inferred that good counsels,

whencesoever they come, are born of the wisdom of the prince, and

not the wisdom of the prince from good counsels.

CHAPTER XXIV. WHY THE PRINCES OF ITALY HAVE LOST THEIR STATES