Status Updates From Della ragion di stato = Des...

Not of little importance is a certain cheerfulness and liveliness of countenance which keeps the soldiers cheerful and in good spirits which depends for the most part on the demeanor of their commander and, if they do not go gladly and fiercely into battle, they will not accomplish anything worthwhile.

And so with others God shows sometimes that he favors not the captain but the prince. Sometimes, however, the intention of the captain is so good that God rewards him even if the prince does not please him and is afflicted and punished in another way.

Next, it increases the courage of soldiers to lead them far from their homeland, and the reason is that distance removes the ease of flight to which the nearness of home often leads, and the affections for parents, children, wives, friends are not so strong from a distance as from nearby.

Valor increases with the quality of the arms, defensive as well as offensive.

States are also acquired when they are taken as pledges for money that has been loaned; such pledges, because it rarely happens that they are paid off, are considered by princes to be their property

Om tvångsarbete/möjlighet till arbete och tiggeriförbud.

Vikten av jordbruk

Försvarstekniker

Some peoples, in order to make it difficult for enemies to enter their ter- ritory (so imitating nature which has separated empires by mountains, seas, and rivers, but also by vast deserts such as Mauretania from Guinea, Numidia from Nubia, and Nubia from Egypt), have established desolate areas on their borders.

are useful to princes or not because we see that nature itself uses them.

Nature teaches us the art of fortification to protect ourselves; for no other reason does it surround the brain and the heart with so many bones and cartilages than to protect life by keeping dangers distant, and with a thousand types of shells, rinds, and hard, rough bark covers the fruits and with ears and bristles defends the wheat from the rapacity of birds. So I do not know why some doubt whether fortresses

Folkfördrivning som politiskt verktyg.

diskussion om könsrollsdivergens som kontrollmedel

there is nothing that ordinarily depresses men more than to dress shabbily. For this reason the Ottomans do not allow the white turban to Christians. The Saracens took from the Persians even their name, so that in this way they would lose even the memory of their ancient valor and daring.

The extremes are more difficult because the powerful, on account of the opportunity that their riches supply them, refrain from evil only with difficulty, and the poor because of the necessity in which they find them- selves are similarly accustomed to be more prone to vice.

Antimachiavelliska argument från pragmatism.

Religion is of such power for government that without it every other foundation of the state wobbles. So all those who have wanted as it were to establish new empires have also introduced new sects or renewed old ones, as did //who by their heresies brought scandal to the faith and upset Christianity.

so are the counsels of princes, so long as they remain secret, effective and more easily implemented but this is not the case if they suddenly come to light.

There is nothing more important for him who carries on negotiations of peace or war than secrecy. It facilitates the implementation of plans and the management of campaigns which if discovered would have encoun- tered many substantial difficulties. Just as mines, if they are hidden, pro- duce marvelous effects but otherwise do harm rather than bring benefits,

Do not trust anyone who has been offended by you or who thinks that he has been offended by you;35 the desire for revenge is extremely power- ful and it is awakened when the opportunity presents itself as the example of Count Giuliano and Charles of Bourbon shows.

Do not think to avoid labors and dangers by fleeing them but by going out to meet them and putting them to flight because if you flee they run at you and increase in number, but if you go out to meet them, they with- draw and dissolve into nothing.
Be careful not to show yourself partial to the nobility rather than to the people or vice versa, because in this way you will become not a prince but the head of a party.

Similarly, do not break with the church because it is difficult that such an enterprise be just, and it will always appear to be impious and will not advance anything.

Do not break with powerful republics if you are not at a great advan- tage and so sure of victory because the love of liberty is so powerful and has such roots in the souls of those who have enjoyed it for a while that to conquer it and to extirpate it is nearly impossible; and the enterprises and counsels of princes die with them but the designs and deliberations of free cities are as it were immortal.

The former have a simple, genuine spirit, the latter are secretive and cunning in their ways. The former have much of the lion in them, the latter much of the fox. The northerners are slow and consistent in their actions, the southerners are impetuous and frivolous; the northerners merry and subject to Bacchus, the southerners melan- cholic and subject to Venus.

The northern peoples, but not those at the extreme north, are spirited but without guile; on the other hand southerners are astute but lack boldness. The northerners have bodies similar to their souls, that is, they are tall, heavy, and full of blood and vigor; on the contrary the southerners are thin and dry and more suited to flight than to resistance.

The peoples who have been placed between the north and the south and between the hot and the cold are better qualified than the oth- ers because they are endowed in mind and spirit and most suited to rule and to govern. So we see that the great empires have been placed in the hands of such people, the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Mongols, Turks, Romans, French, Spanish.

Botero, om moralfilosofi som verktyg för att skärpa omdöme och fingertoppskänsla.

They ought to be kept in check by vigorous and intimidating mea- sures. It is of little benefit that enemy armies and forces are kept at a distance if those who perhaps do more harm are active at home.