Strona 42 z 310

Neither have they the knowledge requisite for the position;

because, unless they are men of great worth and ability, it is

not reasonable to expect that they should know how to command,

having always lived in a private condition; besides, they cannot

hold it because they have not forces which they can keep friendly

and faithful.

States that rise unexpectedly, then, like all other things in

nature which are born and grow rapidly, cannot leave their

foundations and correspondencies[1] fixed in such a way that the

first storm will not overthrow them; unless, as is said, those

who unexpectedly become princes are men of so much ability that

they know they have to be prepared at once to hold that which

fortune has thrown into their laps, and that those foundations,

which others have laid before they became princes, they must lay

afterwards.