good army, they are useless. For good armies without fortresses are in
themselves a sufficient defence: whereas, fortresses without good armies
avail nothing. And this we see in the case of those nations which have
been thought to excel both in their government and otherwise, as, for
instance, the Romans and the Spartans. For while the Romans would build
no fortresses, the Spartans not merely abstained from building them, but
would not even suffer their cities to be enclosed with walls; desiring
to be protected by their own valour only, and by no other defence. So
that when a Spartan was asked by an Athenian what he thought of the
walls of Athens, he answered "that they were fine walls if meant to hold
women only."

If a prince who has a good army has likewise, on the sea-front of his
dominions, some fortress strong enough to keep an enemy in check for a
few days, until he gets his forces together, this, though not necessary,
may sometimes be for his advantage. But for a prince who is without a
strong army to have fortresses erected throughout his territories, or
upon his frontier, is either useless or hurtful, since they may readily
be lost and then turned against him; or, supposing them so strong that
the enemy is unable to take them by assault, he may leave them behind,
and so render them wholly unprofitable. For a brave army, unless stoutly
met, enters an enemy's country without regard to the towns or fortified
places it leaves in its rear, as we read of happening in ancient times,
and have seen done by Francesco Maria della Rovere, who no long while
ago, when he marched against Urbino, made little of leaving ten hostile
cities behind him.

The prince, therefore, who can bring together a strong army can do
without building fortresses, while he who has not a strong army ought
not to build them, but should carefully strengthen the city wherein he