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

Chapter 7 Of New PrincedomsAcquired By the Aid of Others and By Good Fortune part3

Such was the line he tookto meet present exigencies. As regards the future, he had to apprehend that anew Head of the Church might not be his friend, and might even seek to deprivehim of what Alexander had given. This he thought to provide against in fourways. First, by exterminating all who were of kin to those Lords whom he haddespoiled of their possessions, that they might not become instruments in thehands of a new Pope. Second, by gaining over all the Roman nobles, so as to beable with their help to put a bridle, as the saying is, in the Pope’s mouth.Third, by bringing the college of Cardinals, so far as he could, under hiscontrol. And fourth, by establishing his authority so firmly before his father’s death, as to be able by himself to withstand the shock of a firstonset.

Of these measures, at thetime when Alexander died, he had already effected three, and had almost carriedout the forth. For of the Lords whose possessions he had usurped, he had put todeath all whom he could reach, and very few had escaped. He had gained over theRoman nobility, and had the majority in the College of Cardinals on his side.

As to further acquisitions,his design was to make himself master of Tuscany. He was already in possessionof Perugia and Piombino, and had assumed the protectorship of Pisa, on whichcity he was about to spring; taking no heed of France, as indeed he no longerhad occasion, since the French had been deprived of the kingdom of Naples bythe Spaniards under circumstances which made it necessary for both nations tobuy his friendship. Pisa taken, Lucca and Siena would soon have yielded, partlythrough jealousy of Florence, partly through fear, and the position of theFlorentines must then have been desperate.

Had he therefore succeededin these designs, as he was succeeding in that very year in which Alexanderdied, he would have won such power and reputation that he might afterwards havestood alone, relying on his own strength and resources, without being beholdento the power and fortune of others. But Alexander died five years from the timehe first unsheathed the sword, leaving his son with the State of Romagna aloneconsolidated, with all the rest unsettled, between two powerful hostile armies,and sick almost to death. And yet such were the fire and courage of the Duke,he knew so well how men must either be conciliated or crushed, and so solidwere the foundations he had laid in that brief period, that had these armiesnot been upon his back, or had he been in sound health, he must have surmountedevery difficulty.

How strong his foundationswere may be seen from this, that Romagna waited for him for more than a month;and that although half dead, he remained in safety in Rome, where though theBaglioni, the Vitelli, and the Orsini came to attack him, they met with nosuccess. Moreover, since he was able if not to make whom he liked Pope, atleast to prevent the election of any whom he disliked, had he been in health atthe time when Alexander died, all would have been easy for him. But he told mehimself on the day on which Julius II was created, that he had foreseen andprovided for everything else that could happen on his father’s death,but had never anticipated that when his father died he too should be at death’s-door.

Taking all these actions ofthe Duke together, I can find no fault with him; nay, it seems to me reasonableto put him forward, as I have done, as a pattern for all such as rise to powerby good fortune and the help of others. For with his great spirit and high aimshe could not act otherwise than he did, and nothing but the shortness of hisfather’s life and his own illness prevented the success of his designs.Whoever, therefore, on entering a new Princedom, judges it necessary to rid himselfof enemies, to conciliate friends, to prevail by force or fraud, to makehimself feared yet not hated by his subjects, respected and obeyed by hissoldiers, to crush those who can or ought to injure him, to introduce changesin the old order of things, to be at once severe and affable, magnanimous andliberal, to do away with a mutinous army and create a new one, to maintainrelations with Kings and Princes on such a footing that they must see it fortheir interest to aid him, and dangerous to offend, can find no brighterexample than in the actions of this Prince.

这些就是他对当前事务所采取的措施。但是，对于未来事务，他却忧心忡忡。首先，教廷的新主人可能会对他不友好，甚至可能会夺回亚历山大已经给他的东西。有鉴于此，他打算采取四项措施以自保：一，消灭那些已被废黜的领主的家族，不给教皇留下可乘之机；二，像前面说的那样，把罗马的所有贵族争取到自己的一边，以便利用他们牵制教皇；三，尽力争取枢机主教团给予帮助；四，在教皇未死之前夺得更大的统治权，以便能够依靠自己的力量抵御最初的攻击。

到亚历山大去世时，公爵已把这事做完了三件，第四件也几近完成：那些被废黜的统治者遭到了不遗余力的杀戮，只有极少数幸免于难，罗马的贵族已被争取过来，枢机主教团基本上成了他的同党。

关于下一步的征服，他打算成为托斯卡纳的统治者。他已经占领了佩鲁贾和皮翁比诺，并将比萨置于他的保护之下，一旦没必要再对法国国王心存顾忌（其实他已无须顾忌，因为法国人已被西班牙人赶出了那不勒斯王国，这将使他们双方的每一方都不得不向他买好），就能立即霸占比萨，随后，卢卡和锡耶纳都会因为妒忌佛罗伦萨和心怀恐惧而立刻称降。对此，佛罗伦萨人将无可奈何。

如果他完成了这些计划（本来是可以在亚历山大去世那年完成的），他就可以获得足够的实力和声威，他可以自立，可以不再仰仗别人的运气和力量，而是依靠自己的元气和能力。但是，在公爵投身征战五年之后，亚历山大死了。他给凯撒留下了罗马涅，在两个强大的敌军之间，只有它是巩固的，其余的地方全都悬而未决，而且公爵本人也已病入膏肓。然而，公爵勇猛过人，能力出众，并且深谙得人之道和负人之失，在极短的时间内就打下了牢固的基础。假如没有强敌压境，假如他身体健康，他是能够克服任何困难的。

罗马涅人曾连续等了他一个多月，由此可见，他的基础是稳固的；在罗马，尽管他已半死不活，但却是安然无恙；尽管巴格利奥尼、维泰利 [4] 和奥西尼进入了罗马，但却不能对他采取进一步的敌对行动；尽管他未能把他希望的人选拥立为教皇，但至少阻止了他不喜欢的人成为教皇；假如亚历山大死时他还健康，一切事情可能都好办。他在尤利乌斯二世就任那天对我说，他早就料到他父亲死时会发生什么事情，并且已经找到了万全之策，但却根本没想到乃父死时他本人也已濒临死亡。

回顾公爵的所作所为，我认为无可厚非。相反，应当使他得到彰扬，对于那些依靠命运或他人的力量获得统治地位的人来说，他是值得效法的。他有足够的勇气和高尚的目标，理应如此作为，只是因为亚历山大短命和他本人罹病，他的计划才未能如愿。所以，谁要是认为必须使新到手的王国免遭敌人危害，必须争取朋友，必须靠武力或讹诈去征服，必须使自己令人民又爱又怕，必须得到军队的服从和尊敬，必须消灭有可能加害自己的人，必须更新旧制度，必须既严峻又和蔼，必须宽宏大量，必须毁掉不忠的军队，征募新军，必须同各国国王和君主们保持友好，但要迫使他们殷勤相助或者根本不愿为敌，那就再也找不出比这个人的所作所为更新鲜的范例了。

我们能够对他加以责难的，唯有他选举尤利乌斯当教皇一事。这是他作出的一个错误选择。我已说过，即使找不到一个自己满意的教皇，他也能够阻止他想阻止的任何人得到那个职位，而绝不应该让一个被他伤害过或者当上教皇之后对他心怀恐惧的枢机主教担任教皇，因为人们会由于恐惧或憎恨而加害于他。受过凯撒之害的人们当中，有圣皮耶罗·阿德·温库拉、科隆纳、圣乔治和阿斯卡尼奥 [5] 等人。除了罗阿诺和西班牙主教之外，其他人一旦成为教皇，肯定都会害怕他：西班牙是他的盟友并受惠于他，罗阿诺则是因为与法兰西王国关系密切而享有权力。因此，公爵应该全力推举一个西班牙人当教皇，如果办不到，也应同意罗阿诺，而不应该是圣皮耶罗·阿德·温库拉。如果认为施以新的恩惠就能使一个大人物忘掉过去受到的伤害，那就是自欺。 [6] 公爵在这次选举中的失策，导致了他的最后灭亡。