Pagina 170 di 310

And because you cannot remain unarmed, it follows that you turn

to mercenaries, which are of the character already shown; even if

they should be good they would not be sufficient to defend you

against powerful enemies and distrusted subjects. Therefore, as I

have said, a new prince in a new principality has always

distributed arms. Histories are full of examples. But when a

prince acquires a new state, which he adds as a province to his

old one, then it is necessary to disarm the men of that state,

except those who have been his adherents in acquiring it; and

these again, with time and opportunity, should be rendered soft

and effeminate; and matters should be managed in such a way that

all the armed men in the state shall be your own soldiers who in

your old state were living near you.