life. An idealising Prince must fall before a practising world. A Prince
must learn in self-defence how to be bad, but like Cæsar Borgia, he must
be a great judge of occasion. And what evil he does must be deliberate,
appropriate, and calculated, and done, not selfishly, but for the good
of the State of which he is trustee. There is the power of Law and the
power of Force. The first is proper to men, the second to beasts. And
that is why Achilles was brought up by Cheiron the Centaur that he might
learn to use both natures. A ruler must be half lion and half fox, a fox
to discern the toils, a lion to drive off the wolves. Merciful,
faithful, humane, religious, just, these he may be and above all should
seem to be, nor should any word escape his lips to give the lie to his
professions: and in fact he should not leave these qualities but when he
must. He should, if possible, practise goodness, but under necessity
should know how to pursue evil. He should keep faith until occasion
alter, or reason of state compel him to break his pledge. Above all he
should profess and observe religion, 'because men in general judge
rather by the eye than by the hand, and every one can see but few can
touch.' But none the less, must he learn (as did William the Silent,
Elizabeth of England, and Henry of Navarre) how to subordinate creed to
policy when urgent need is upon him. In a word, he must realise and face
his own position, and the facts of mankind and of the world. If not
veracious to his conscience, he must be veracious to facts. He must not
be bad for badness' sake, but seeing things as they are, must deal as he
can to protect and preserve the trust committed to his care. Fortune is
still a fickle jade, but at least the half our will is free, and if we
are bold we may master her yet. For Fortune is a woman who, to be kept
under, must be beaten and roughly handled, and we see that she is more
ready to be mastered by those who treat her so, than by those who are
shy in their wooing. And always, like a woman, she gives her favours to
the young, because they are less scrupulous and fiercer and more