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33 _ IL PRINCIPE.
esempi che dalle cose antiche e moderne si traggono, la
cagione di questo, vedr/t essergli molto pi/_ facile il gua-
dagnarsi amici quelli uomini che dello Stato innanzi si
contentavano, e per6 erano suoi inimici, che quelli i quali,
5 per non se ne contentare, gli diventarono amici, e favo-
rironlo ad occuparlo.
VI. E stata consuetudine de' principi, per poter tenere
7. E stata eonsuetudine de' prineipi, &c.] The discussion of
fortresses begins at this point, and continues to the end of the
chapter. The importance of the question was due to the fact that,
in Machiavelli's time, the art of war was being revolutionised owing
to the general adoption of gunpowder, and therefore the old theory
of the middle ages, which regarded fortresses as impregnable sites
where the prince might retire for safety in the most desperate circumstances,
was bound to disappear. But Machiavelli had as little
beliefm artillery as in fortresses ; he was led to believe fortified places
an inefficient protection in time of war because he saw that they led
men to depend solely upon them, and not upon their own courage
and ability. He felt very strongly that material forces in war are no
compensation for the lack of devotion, discipline, and skill in the
soldier, and therefore he opposed whatever tended to lessen the
value of the personal effort and of the _noral of an army : in short
he upheld what the French call ' spirituahsme dans la guerre.' [Best
criticism in Franck, Op. at.] On the question of fortresses he was
no doubt right ; compare the fuller discussion in Discorsi, ii. 24 [' Le
fortezze generalmente sono molto pill dannose che utili']. Guicciardmi,
in hm considerations upon this chapter [Op. Ined. i. 7o foll.],
arrives at a different conclusion from Machiavelli. 'Confesso,' he
says, ' che in molti casi e in molfi tempi le fortezze non giovano ; che
alla sicurth dello Stato tuo sono degli altri remedii, forse qualche
volta pifl utili e pitl gagliardi che le fortezze: ma che le fortezze
spesso sono utili a chile tiene, per assicurarsi dalle congiure, per
fuggire le rebellioni, e per recuperare le terre perdute.' He also
finds fault with the examples quoted by Machiavelli.--A description
of the typmal Italian fortress may be found in Yriarte, Cdsar Borgia,
vol. i. i95 loll.
The subject was soon reduced to the level of a mere academic
' quaestio,' and found a place in most handbooks of pohtical science,
with the 'objectiones' and 'solutlones' tabulated in the usual way.
The following may serve as an example of the way in which many
of the questions raised by Machiavelli were treated in later days :--
Quaestio.--An urbes muniendae sint ?