迪文小说

迪文小说>君主论中文 > 第7部分(第1页)

第7部分(第1页)

er very slightly …… yet now a king of Francetrembles before it; and it has been able to drive him from Italy; and toruin the Veians …… although this may be very manifest; it does notappear to me superfluous to recall it in some measure to memory。Before Charles; King of France; passed into Italy; this country wasunder the dominion of the Pope; the Veians; the King of Naples; theDuke of Milan; and the Florentines。 These potentates had two principalanxieties: the one; that no foreigner should enter Italy under arms; theother; that none of themselves should seize more territory。 Those aboutwhom there was the most anxiety were the Pope and the Veians。 Torestrain the Veians the union of all the others was necessary; as itwas for the defence of Ferrara; and to keep down the Pope they made useof the barons of Rome; who; being divided into two factions; Orsini andColonna; had always a pretext for disorder; and; standing with arms intheir hands under the eyes of the Pontiff; kept the pontificate weak andpowerless。 And although there might arise sometimes a courageous pope;such as Sixtus 'IV'; yet neither fortune nor wisdom could rid him ofthese annoyances。 And the short life of a pope is also a cause ofweakness; for in the ten years; which is the average life of a pope; hecan with difficulty lower one of the factions; and if; so to speak; onepope should almost destroy the Colonna; another would arise hostile tothe Orsini; who would support their opponents; and yet would not havetime to ruin the Orsini。 This was the reason why the temporal powers ofthe pope were little esteemed in Italy。Alexander VI arose afterwards; who of all the pontiffs that have everbeen showed how a pope with both money and arms was able to prevail; andthrough the instrumentality of the Duke Valentino; and by reason of theentry of the French; he brought about all those things which I havediscussed above in the actions of the duke。 And although his intentionwas not to aggrandize the Church; but the duke; nevertheless; what hedid contributed to the greatness of the Church; which; after his deathand the ruin of the duke; became the heir to all his labours。Pope Julius came afterwards and found the Church strong; possessing allthe Romagna; the barons of Rome reduced to impotence; and; through thechastisements Alexander; the factions wiped out; he also found the wayopen to accumulate money in a manner such as had never been practisedbefore Alexanders time。 Such things Julius not only followed; butimproved upon; and he intended to gain Bologna; to ruin the Veians;and to drive the French out of Italy。 All of these enterprises prosperedwith him; and so much the more to his credit; inasmuch as he dideverything to strengthen the Church and not any private person。 He keptalso the Orsini and Colonna factions within the bounds in which he foundthem; and although there was among them some mind to make disturbance;nevertheless he held two things firm: the one; the greatness of thechurch; with which he terrified them; and the other; not allowing themto have their own cardinals; who caused the disorders among them。 Forwhenever these factions have their cardinals they do not remain quietfor long; because cardinals foster the factions in Rome and out of it;and the barons are pelled to support them; and thus from theambitions of prelates arise disorders and tumults among the barons。 Forthese reasons his Holiness Pope Leo found the pontificate most powerful;and it is to be hoped that; if others made it great in arms; he willmake it still greater and more venerated by his goodness and infiniteother virtues。CHAPTER XIIHOW MANY KINDS OF SOLDIERY THERE ARE; AND CONCERNING MERCENARIESHAVING discoursed particularly on the characteristics of suchprincipalities as in the beginning I proposed to discuss; and havingconsidered in some degree the causes of their being good or bad; andhaving shown the methods by which many have sought to acquire them andto hold them; it now remains for me to discuss generally the means ofoffence and defence which belong to each of them。We have seen above how necessary it is for a prince to have hisfoundations well laid; otherwise it follows of necessity he will go toruin。 The chief foundations of all states; new as well as old orposite; are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good lawswhere the state is not well armed; it follows that where they are wellarmed they have good laws。 I shall leave the laws out of the discussionand shall speak of the arms。I say; therefore; that the arms with which a prince defends his stateare either his own; or they are mercenaries; auxiliaries; or mixed。Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if one holdshis state based on these arms; he will stand neither firm nor safe; forthey are disunited; ambitious and without discipline; unfaithful;valiant before friends; cowardly before enemies; they have neither thefear of God nor fidelity to men; and destruction is deferred only solong as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed by them; and in war bythe enemy。 The fact is; they have no other attraction or reason forkeeping the field than a trifle of stipend; which is not sufficient tomake them willing to die for you。 They are ready enough to be yoursoldiers whilst you do not make war; but if war es they takethemselves off or run from the foe; which I should have little troubleto prove; for the ruin of Italy has been caused by nothing else than byresting all her hopes for many years on mercenaries; and although theyformerly made some display and appeared valiant amongst themselves; yetwhen the foreigners came they showed what they were。 Thus it was thatCharles; King of France; was allowed to seize Italy with chalk in hand;'1' and he who told us that our sins were the cause of it told thetruth; but they were not the sins he imagined; but those which I haverelated。 And as they were the sins of princes; it is the princes whohave also suffered the penalty。I wish to demonstrate further the infelicity of these arms。 Themercenary captains are either capable men or they are not; if they are;you cannot trust them; because they always aspire to their owngreatness; either by oppressing you; who are their master; or otherscontrary to your intentions; but if the captain is not skilful; you areruined in the usual way。And if it be urged that whoever is armed will act in the same way;whether mercenary or not; I reply that when arms have to be resorted to;either by a prince or a republic; then the prince ought to go in personand perform the duty of captain; the republic has to send its citizens;and when one is sent who does not turn out satisfactorily; it ought torecall him; and when one is worthy; to hold him by the laws so that hedoes not leave the mand。 And experience has shown princes andrepublics; single…handed; making the greatest progress; and mercenariesdoing nothing except damage; and it is more difficult to bring arepublic; armed with its own arms; under the sway of one of its citizensthan it is to bring one armed with foreign arms。 Rome and Sparta stoodfor many ages armed and free。 The Switzers are pletely armed andquite free。Of ancient mercenaries; for example; there are the Carthaginians; whowere oppressed by their mercenary soldiers after the first war with theRomans; although the Carthaginians had their own citizens for captains。After the death of Epaminondas; Philip of Macedon was made captain oftheir soldiers by the Thebans; and after victory he took away theirliberty。Duke Filippo being dead; the Milanese enlisted Francesco Sforza againstthe Veians; and he; having overe the enemy at Caravaggio; alliedhimself with them to crush the Milanese; his masters。 His father;Sforza; having been engaged by Queen Johanna of Naples; left herunprotected; so that she was forced to throw herself into the arms ofthe King of Aragon; in order to save her kingdom。 And if the Veiansand Florentines formerly extended their dominions by these arms; and yettheir captains did not make themselves princes; but have defended them;I reply that the Florentines in this case have been favoured by chance;for of the able captains; of whom they might have stood in fear; somehave not conquered; some have been opposed; and others have turned theirambitions elsewhere。 One who did not conquer was Giovanni Acuto; '2' andsince he did not conquer his fidelity cannot be proved; but every onewill acknowledge that; had he conquered; the Florentines would havestood at his discretion。 Sforza had the Bracceschi always against him;so they watched each other。 Francesco turned his ambition to Lombardy;Braccio against the Church and the kingdom of Naples。 But let us e tothat which happened a short while ago。 The Florentines appointed astheir captain Paolo Vitelli; a most prudent man; who from a privateposition had risen to the greatest renown。 If this man had taken Pisa;nobody can deny that it would have been proper for the Florentines tokeep in with him; for if he became the soldier of their enemies they hadno means of resisting; and if they held to him they must obey him。 TheVeians; if their achievements are considered; will be seen to haveacted safely and gloriously so long as they sent to war their own men;when with armed gentlemen and plebeians they did valiantly。 This wasbefore they turned to enterprises on land; but when they began to fighton land they forsook this virtue and followed the custom of Italy。 Andin the beginning of their expansion on land; through not having muchterritory; and because of their great reputation; they had not much tofear from their captains; but when they expanded; as under Carmignola;they had a taste of this mistake; for; having found him a most valiantman (they beat the Duke of Milan under his leadership); and; on theother hand; knowing how lukewarm he was in the war; they feared they; and for this reason they were notwilling; nor were they able; to let him go; and so; not to lose againthat pelled; in order to securethemselves; to murder him。 They had afterwards for their captainsBartolomeo da Bergamo; Roberto da San Severino; the Count of Pitigliano;and the like; under whom they had to dread loss and not gain; ashappened afterwards at Vaila; where in one battle they lost that whichin eight hundred years they had acquired with so much trouble。 Becausefrom such arms conquests e but slowly; long delayed andinconsiderable; but the losses sudden and portentous。And as with these examples I have reached Italy; which has been ruledfor many years by mercenaries; I wish to discuss them more seriously; inorder that; having seen their rise and progress; one may be betterprepared to counteract them。 You must understand that the empire hasrecently e to be repudiated in Italy; that the Pope has acquired moretemporal power; and that Italy has been divided up into more states; forthe reason that many of the great cities took up arms against theirnobles; who; formerly favoured by the emperor; were oppressing them;whilst the Church was favouring them so as to gain authority in temporalpower: in many others their citizens became princes。 From this it cameto pass that Italy fell partly into the hands of the Church and ofrepublics; and; the Church consisting of priests and the republic ofcitizens unaccustomed to arms; both menced to enlist foreigners。The first who gav

已完结热门小说推荐

最新标签