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64 INTRODUCTION.
An enim tales, quales ille describit principes, fuisse plurimos
ignoramus ? Eccur istiusmodi principibus molestum est, vivere
hominis opera, et in luce haberi? Hoc fuit viri omnium prudentissimi
consilium ut sub specie principalis eruditionis populos
erudiret; et earn speciem praetexuit, ut spes esset cur ferretur
ab his, qui rerum gubernacula tenent, quasi ipsorum educator
ac paedagogus.'
This was the view that received the sanction of Rousseau
in the 'Contrat Social',' and it is a curious confirmation of
the degree of truth which such criticism contains that in this
century too a large number of Italian democrats should have
drawn their inspiration from Machiavelli's writings, though
the grounds of their preference have, it is true, often been
different 2.
We have finally to notice an independent class of critics,
who, while believing that The Prince was written with a straightforward
purpose, without arrz_re pens6e, maintained that, all
sentiment apart, the doctrines it contains were in the last resort
the only ones upon which a monarch could safely rely, in order
to maintain his position amidst the intrigues and dishonest
manceuvres which were always certain to be carried on against
him. This school of critics based their case upon the assumption
that the ultimate principle by which political action is to be
1 Llvre iii. ch. vi : ' Leur [kings'] intdr6t personnel est premi_rement que le
peuple soit faible, miserable_ et qu'il ne pmsse jamais leur rdslster. J'avoue que,
supposant les sujets toujours parfaitement soumis, l'intdrdt du prince seroit alors
que le peuple fflt puissant, afin que cette puissance dtant slenne le rendit redou.
table _ ses voisins ; mais, comme cet intdret n'est que secondalre et subordonnd,
et que les deux suppositions sont incompatibles, 11 est naturel que les princes
donnent toujours la prdfdrence 11la maxime qm leur est le plus immddlatement
utile. C'est ee que Samuel reprdsentalt fortement aux Hdbreux: c'est
ce que Machiavel a fait voir avec dvidence. En feignant de donner
des lemons aux rois, il en a donnd de grandes aux peuples. Le Prince
de Machiavel est le livre des rdpubhcains.' See also Rousseau's note to the
above passage.
A similar view has often found favour m Germany : _Machiavelli war seinen
Grundsatzen nach Republicaner, und eben so sehr em Feind des Despotismus als
der Sklaverei. "g'rhat nut das in seinem Fursten zusammengestellt 7was er seine
Zeltgenossen thun sah, was die Vorwelt gethan hatte, und was der Tyrann thun
mass_ der kern halber, sondcrn em vollendeter Tyrann sere will.' [Die Staatswelsheltlehre
etc., von Doctor Hemichen_ page 23o. ] With this we may
compare Alfieri's famous 'luminosamente scrisse fl vero' [Del Princlpe e delle
Lettere, libn iii. ed. of z795, lib. ii. cap. ix. p. Hz].