er you cannot always go
on killing, but a Prince who has once set himself to plundering will
never stop. This is the more needful because the only secure foundation
of his rule lies in his trust of the people and in their support. And
indeed again and again you shall find no more thorough democrat than
this teacher of tyrants. 'The people own better broader qualities,
fidelities and passions than any Prince and have better cause to show
for them.' 'As for prudence and stability, I say that a people is more
stable, more prudent, and of better judgment than a Prince.' If the
people go wrong it is almost certainly the crime or negligence of the
Prince which drives or leads them astray. 'Better far than any number of
fortresses is not to be hated by your people.' The support of the people
and a national militia make the essential strength of the Prince and of
the State.

[Sidenote: National Defence.]

The chapters on military organisation may be more conveniently
considered in conjunction with _The Art of War_. It is enough at present
to point out two or three observations of Machiavelli which touch
politics from the military side. To his generation they were entirely
novel, though mere commonplace to-day. National strength means national
stability and national greatness; and this can be achieved, and can only
be achieved, by a national army. The Condottiere system, born of sloth
and luxury, has proved its rottenness. Your hired general is either a
tyrant or a traitor, a bully or a coward. 'In a word the armour of
others is too wide or too strait for us: it falls off us, or it weighs
us down.' And in a fine illustration he compares auxiliary troops to the
armour of Saul which David refused, preferring to fight Goliath with his
sling and stone.

[Sidenote: Conduct of the Prince.]

Having assured the external security of the State, Machiavelli turns
once more to the qualities and conduct of the Prince. So closely packed
are these concluding chapters that it is almost impossible to compress
them further. The author at the outset states his purpose: 'Since it is
my object to write what shall be useful to whosoever understands it, it
seems to me better to follow the practical truth of things rather than
an imaginary view of them. For many Republics and Princedoms have been
imagined that were never seen or known to exist in reality. And the
manner in which we live and in which we ought to live, are things so
wide asunder tha