was left him. Thereupon Antonius went to join Vespasian, who
was still in Asia; by whom he was so coldly received and so little
considered, that in despair he put himself to death. And of cases like
this, history is full. Every man living at the present hour knows with
what zeal and courage Gonsalvo of Cordova, while conducting the war in
Naples against the French, conquered and subdued that kingdom for his
master Ferdinand of Aragon; and how his services were requited by
Ferdinand coming from Aragon to Naples, and first of all depriving him
of the command of the army, afterwards of the fortresses, and finally
carrying him back with him to Spain, where soon after he died in
disgrace.

This jealousy, then, is so natural to princes, that they cannot guard
themselves against it, nor show gratitude to those who serving under
their standard have gained great victories and made great conquests on
their behalf. And if it be impossible for princes to free their minds
from such suspicions, there is nothing strange or surprising that a
people should be unable to do so. For as a city living under free
institutions has two ends always before it, namely to acquire liberty
and to preserve it, it must of necessity be led by its excessive passion
for liberty to make mistakes in the pursuit of both these objects. Of
the mistakes it commits in the effort to acquire liberty, I shall speak,
hereafter, in the proper place. Of mistakes committed in the endeavour
to preserve liberty are to be noted, the injuring those citizens who
ought to be rewarded, and the suspecting those who should be trusted.
Now, although in a State which has grown corrupt these errors occasion
great evils, and commonly lead to a tyranny, as happened in Rome
when Caesar took by force what ingratitude had denied him, they are
nevertheless the cause of much good in the republic which has not been
corrupted, since they prolong the duration of its free institutions, and
make men, through fear of punishment, better and less ambitious. Of all
peoples possessed of great power, the Romans, for the reasons I have
given, have undoubtedly been the least ungrateful, since we have no
other instance of their ingratitude to cite, save that of Scipio. For
both Coriolanus and Camillus were banished on account of the wrongs
which they inflicted on the commons; and though the former was not
forgiven because he constantly retained ill will against the people, the
latter was not only rec