07.2-Chapter 7 Of New Princedoms Acquired By the Aid…-mt

Chapter 7 Of New PrincedomsAcquired By the Aid of Others and By Good Fortune part2

King Louis therefore cameinto Italy at the instance of the Venetians, and with the consent of PopeAlexander, and no sooner was he in Milan than the Pope got troops from him toaid him in his enterprise against Romagna, which Province, moved by thereputation of the French arms, at once submitted. After thus obtainingpossession of Romagna, and after quelling the Colonnesi, Duke Valentino wasdesirous to follow up and extend his conquests. Two causes, however, held himback, namely, the doubtful fidelity of his own forces, and the waywardness ofFrance. For he feared that the Orsini, of whose arms he had made use, mightfail him, and not merely prove a hindrance to further acquisitions, but takefrom him what he had gained, and that the King might serve him the same turn.How little he could count on the Orsini was made plain when, after the captureof Faenza, he turned his arms against Bologna, and saw how reluctantly theytook part in that enterprise. The King’s mind he understood, when, after seizing onthe Dukedom of Urbino, he was about to attack Tuscany; from which design Louiscompelled him to desist. Whereupon the Duke resolved to depend no longer on thearms or fortune of others.

His first step, therefore,was to weaken the factions of the Orsini and Colonnesi in Rome. Those of theirfollowing who were of good birth, he gained over by making them his owngentlemen, assigning them a liberal provision, and conferring upon themcommands and appointments suited to their rank; so that in a few months theirold partisan attachments died out, and the hopes of all rested on the Dukealone.

He then awaited an occasionto crush the chiefs of the Orsini, for those of the house of Colonna he hadalready scattered, and a good opportunity presenting itself, he turned it tothe best account. For when the Orsini came at last to see that the greatness ofthe Duke and the Church involved their ruin, they assembled a council atMagione in the Perugian territory, whence resulted the revolt of Urbino,commotions in Romagna, and an infinity of dangers to the Duke, all of which heovercame with the help of France. His credit thus restored, the Duke trustingno longer either to the French or to any other foreign aid, that he might nothave to confront them openly, resorted to stratagem, and was so well able to dissemblehis designs, that the Orsini, through the mediation of Signor Paolo (whom hefailed not to secure by every friendly attention, furnishing him with clothes,money, and horses), were so won over as to be drawn in their simplicity intohis hands at Sinigaglia. When the leaders were thus disposed of, and theirfollowers made his friends, the Duke had laid sufficiently good foundations forhis future power, since he held all Romagna together with the Dukedom ofUrbino, and had ingratiated himself with the entire population of these States,who now began to see that they were well off.

And since this part of hisconduct merits both attention and imitation, I shall not pass it over insilence. After the Duke had taken Romagna, finding that it had been ruled byfeeble Lords, who thought more of plundering than correcting their subjects,and gave them more cause for division than for union, so that the country wasoverrun with robbery, tumult, and every kind of outrage, he judged itnecessary, with a view to render it peaceful and obedient to his authority, toprovide it with a good government. Accordingly he set over it Messer Remiro d’Orco, astern and prompt ruler, who being entrusted with the fullest powers, in a veryshort time, and with much credit to himself, restored it to tranquillity andorder. But afterwards apprehending that such unlimited authority might becomeodious, the Duke decided that it was no longer needed, and established in thecentre of the Province a civil Tribunal, with an excellent President, in whichevery town was represented by its advocate. And knowing that past severitieshad generated ill- feeling against himself, in order to purge the minds of thepeople and gain their good-will, he sought to show them that any cruelty whichhad been done had not originated, with him, but in the harsh disposition of hisminister. Availing himself of the pretext which this afforded, he one morningcaused Remiro to be beheaded, and exposed in the market place of Cesena with ablock and bloody axe by his side. The barbarity of which spectacle at onceastounded and satisfied the populace.

But, returning to the pointwhence we diverged, I say that the Duke, finding himself fairly strong and in ameasure secured against present dangers, being furnished with arms of his ownchoosing and having to a great extent got rid of those which, if left near him,might have caused him trouble, had to consider, if he desired to follow up hisconquests, how he was to deal with France, since he saw he could expect no furthersupport from King Louis, whose eyes were at last opened to his mistake. Hetherefore began to look about for new alliances, and to waver in his adherenceto the French, then occupied with their expedition into the kingdom of Naplesagainst the Spaniards, at that time laying siege to Gaeta; his object being tosecure himself against France; and in this he would soon have succeeded hadAlexander lived.

由于得到威尼斯人的帮助和亚历山大的同意，法王长驱直入意大利，而且，他一到米兰，教皇就向他借兵以夺取罗马涅，法王则为了壮大自己的声威而慨然相助。这位公爵在夺得罗马涅、镇压了科隆内西之后，要想保持对这个地区的统治，仍然有两个隐忧：一是他的军队看来并不忠诚，二是法国的意图。他担心遭到自己所利用的奥西尼军队的背弃，他们不但可能阻碍他更有所获，甚至可能攫取他已经获得的东西，而法国国王可能也有如此居心。公爵在占领法恩扎之后又去进攻博洛尼亚，对此，奥西尼表现冷漠，他心中就有数了；当他拿下乌尔比诺公国之后准备长途奔袭托斯卡纳的时候，法王迫使他放弃了这一行动，这让他看透了法王的心思。于是，他决定不再依靠他人的军队，也不再依靠命运了。

公爵采取的第一个行动，就是瓦解奥西尼和科隆内西在罗马的党羽，为此目的，他把追随他们的贵族争取过来，使之成为自己的贵族，给予重赏，并按其爵秩分别委以文武官职。这样一来，不出几个月，他们对罗马帮的所有感情便都化为乌有，完全转向了公爵。

此后，他又摧毁了科隆内西家族，并且等待时机铲除奥西尼家族的首脑。机会终于来了，他充分利用了这一机会。奥西尼意识到——尽管为时已晚——公爵及教廷的强大就意味着自己的灭亡，于是在佩鲁贾地区的马吉奥内召开了一次会议，结果乌尔比诺爆发了叛乱，罗马涅也发生了骚乱，这使公爵面临重重危难，但在法国的帮助下，他克服了所有这些危机。他重振了声威，然而他也不再信任法国及其他外来势力，为了试探他们，他开始设置圈套。他深知如何掩饰自己的意图，通过保罗·奥西尼 [3] 与奥西尼家族达成和解（为此他献尽殷勤去讨好保罗，送钱、送衣、送马），这事办得如此不露痕迹，最后在西尼加利亚把这些蠢货一网打尽。消灭了这些首脑之后，他又使他们的党羽变成了自己的朋友，为自己的权力打下了良好的基础；除乌尔比诺公国之外，还控制了整个罗马涅，尤其是——他相信——他已赢得罗马涅的友谊，并得到了全体人民的支持，因为他们已尝到了幸福生活的甜头。

由于这个问题值得注意，也值得效法，所以我不想忽略不谈。公爵占领罗马涅之后发现，统治它的都是些愚钝的领主。这些人与其说是在管理，不如说是在掠夺，他们制造事端，使臣民四分五裂而不是团结一致，整个地区充斥着盗窃、争吵和种种暴行；他认为，要想使当地恢复安宁、服从统治，必须建立一个好政府。于是，他委托麦瑟·雷米洛·德·奥尔科负责，并授予全权。此人冷酷机敏，短期内便恢复了安宁与统一，名声大噪。后来，公爵担心引起民愤，决定再无必要赋予他如此漫无边际的权力。因此，在这个地区的中心设立了一个公民法庭，委派了一位出色的首席法官，在那里，每个城邦都有自己的辩护人。公爵知道，以往的严酷措施已招来一些人的憎恨，应当设法安抚他们，把他们全都争取过来，他要向人们表明，如果过去发生过什么横暴行为，其源头并不在他，而是出自他的代理人的刻薄天性。为此，他找了个机会，一天早晨，在切泽纳广场，当众把麦瑟·雷米洛斩为两段。尸首旁边是一块木头和一把血淋淋的屠刀。这种残忍场面使那里的人民感到心满意足，同时也凛然生畏。

言归正题。这时，公爵已十分强大，对付当前的危险也有了一定的把握，他如愿以偿地武装了起来，消灭了有可能对他产生危害的邻近势力。但是，如果他想继续他的事业，眼前还有一个问题，那就是法国国王。他知道，法王已经意识到自己犯了一个悔之莫及的错误，不可能容忍新的征服了，因此，公爵开始寻找新的盟友并敷衍法国，比如在法国人进逼那不勒斯王国以及攻击正在围困加埃塔的西班牙人时，他就是这么做的。他的目的就是免受其害，对此，如果教皇亚历山大在世的话，他是能够迅速获得成功的。