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From this one can draw another important conclusion, that princes

ought to leave affairs of reproach to the management of others,

and keep those of grace in their own hands. And further, I

consider that a prince ought to cherish the nobles, but not so as

to make himself hated by the people.

It may appear, perhaps, to some who have examined the lives and

deaths of the Roman emperors that many of them would be an

example contrary to my opinion, seeing that some of them lived

nobly and showed great qualities of soul, nevertheless they have

lost their empire or have been killed by subjects who have

conspired against them. Wishing, therefore, to answer these

objections, I will recall the characters of some of the emperors,

and will show that the causes of their ruin were not different to

those alleged by me; at the same time I will only submit for

consideration those things that are noteworthy to him who studies

the affairs of those times.