CHAPTER XIX.--_After a strong Prince a weak Prince may maintain himself:
but after one weak Prince no Kingdom can stand a second._

When we contemplate the excellent qualities of Romulus, Numa, and
Tullus, the first three kings of Rome, and note the methods which they
followed, we recognize the extreme good fortune of that city in having
her first king fierce and warlike, her second peaceful and religious,
and her third, like the first, of a high spirit and more disposed to war
than to peace. For it was essential for Rome that almost at the outset
of her career, a ruler should be found to lay the foundations of her
civil life; but, after that had been done, it was necessary that her
rulers should return to the virtues of Romulus, since otherwise the city
must have grown feeble, and become a prey to her neighbours.

And here we may note that a prince who succeeds to another of superior
valour, may reign on by virtue of his predecessor's merits, and reap
the fruits of his labours; but if he live to a great age, or if he be
followed by another who is wanting in the qualities of the first,
that then the kingdom must necessarily dwindle. Conversely, when two
consecutive princes are of rare excellence, we commonly find them
achieving results which win for them enduring renown. David, for
example, not only surpassed in learning and judgment, but was so valiant
in arms that, after conquering and subduing all his neighbours, he left
to his young son Solomon a tranquil State, which the latter, though
unskilled in the arts of war, could maintain by the arts of peace, and
thus happily enjoy the inheritance of his father's valour. But Solomon
could not transmit this inheritance to his son Rehoboam, who neither
resembling his grandfather in valour, nor his father in good fortune,
with difficulty made good his right to a sixth part of the kingdom. In
like manner Bajazet, sultan of the Turks, though a man of peace rather
than of war, was able to enjoy the labours of Mahomet his father, who,
like David, having subdued his neighbours, left his son a kingdom so
safely established that it could easily be retained by him by peaceful
arts. But had Selim, son to Bajazet, been like his father, and not like
his grandfather, the Turkish monarchy must have been overthrown; as it
is, he seems likely to outdo the fame of his grandsire.

I affirm it to be proved by these examples, that after a valiant prince
a feeble prince may maintain himself; b