power.



CHAPTER XXXI.--_Of the Danger of trusting banished Men._

The danger of trusting those who are in exile from their own country,
being one to which the rulers of States are often exposed, may, I think,
be fitly considered in these Discourses; and I notice it the more
willingly, because I am able to illustrate it by a memorable instance
which Titus Livius, though with another purpose, relates in his
history. When Alexander the Great passed with his army into Asia, his
brother-in-law and uncle, Alexander of Epirus, came with another army
into Italy, being invited thither by the banished Lucanians, who gave
him to believe that, with their aid, he might get possession of the
whole of that country. But when, confiding in the promises of these
exiles, and fed by the hopes they held out to him, he came into Italy,
they put him to death, their fellow-citizens having offered to restore
them to their country upon this condition. It behoves us, therefore, to
remember how empty are the promises, and how doubtful the faith, of men
in banishment from their native land. For as to their faith, it may be
assumed that whenever they can effect their return by other means than
yours, notwithstanding any covenants they may have made with you, they
will throw you over, and take part with their countrymen. And as for the
empty promises and delusive hopes which they set before you, so extreme
is their desire to return home that they naturally believe many things
which are untrue, and designedly misrepresent many others; so that
between their beliefs and what they say they believe, they fill you with
false impressions, on which if you build, your labour is in vain, and
you are led to engage in enterprises from which nothing but ruin can