Pagina 32 di 310

And whatever you may do or provide against, they never forget

that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or

dispersed, but at every chance they immediately rally to them, as

Pisa after the hundred years she had been held in bondage by the

Florentines.

But when cities or countries are accustomed to live under a

prince, and his family is exterminated, they, being on the one

hand accustomed to obey and on the other hand not having the old

prince, cannot agree in making one from amongst themselves, and

they do not know how to govern themselves. For this reason they

are very slow to take up arms, and a prince can gain them to

himself and secure them much more easily. But in republics there

is more vitality, greater hatred, and more desire for vengeance,

which will never permit them to allow the memory of their former

liberty to rest; so that the safest way is to destroy them or to

reside there.