se is likely to bring ruin both on
himself and on his country.

But, to go deeper into the matter, we have first of all to examine
against whom conspiracies are directed; and we shall find that men
conspire either against their country or their prince; and it is of
these two kinds of conspiracy that at present I desire to speak. For
of conspiracies which have for their object the surrender of cities to
enemies who are besieging them, and of all others contrived for like
ends, I have already said enough.

First, then, I shall treat of those conspiracies which are directed
against a prince, and begin by inquiring into their causes, which are
manifold, but of which one is more momentous than all the rest; I
mean, the being hated by the whole community. For it may reasonably
be assumed, that when a prince has drawn upon himself this universal
hatred, he must also have given special offence to particular men, which
they will be eager to avenge. And this eagerness will be augmented
by the feeling of general ill-will which the prince is seen to have
incurred. A prince ought, therefore, to avoid this load of public
hatred. How he is to do so I need not stop here to explain, having
discussed the matter already in another place; but if he can guard
against this, offence given to particular men will expose him to but few
attacks. One reason being, that there are few men who think so much of
an injury done them as to run great risks to revenge it; another, that
assuming them to have both the disposition and the courage to avenge
themselves, they are restrained by the universal favour which they see
entertained towards the prince.

Injuries are either to a man's life, to his property, or to his honour.
As regards the first, they who threaten injuries to life incur more
danger than they who actually inflict them; or rather, while great
danger is incurred in threatening, none at all is incurred from
inflicting such injuries. For the dead are past thinking of revenge; and
those who survive, for the most part leave such thoughts to the dead.
But he whose life is threatened, finding himself forced by necessity
either to do or suffer, becomes a man most dangerous to the prince, as
shall be fully explained hereafter.

After menaces to life, injuries to property and honour stir men more
than any others, and of these a Prince has most to beware. For he can
never strip a man so bare of his possessions as not to leave him some
weapon wher