o introduce changes in the form of their government, whether in
favour of liberty or despotism, ought to consider what materials they
have to deal with, and then judge of the difficulty of their task. For
it is no less arduous and dangerous to attempt to free a people disposed
to live in servitude, than to enslave a people who desire to live free.

And because it has been said above, that in their actions men must take
into account the character of the times in which they live, and guide
themselves accordingly, I shall treat this point more fully in the
following Chapter.

CHAPTER IX.--_That to enjoy constant good Fortune we must change with
the Times._

I have repeatedly noted that the good or bad fortune of men depends on
whether their methods of acting accord with the character of the times.
For we see that in what they do some men act impulsively, others warily
and with caution. And because, from inability to preserve the just mean,
they in both of these ways overstep the true limit, they commit mistakes
in one direction or the other. He, however, will make fewest mistakes,
and may expect to prosper most, who, while following the course to which
nature inclines him, finds, as I have said, his method of acting in
accordance with the times in which he lives.

All know that in his command of the Roman armies, Fabius Maximus
displayed a prudence and caution very different from the audacity and
hardihood natural to his countrymen; and it was his good fortune that
his methods suited with the times. For Hannibal coming into Italy in all
the flush of youth and recent success, having already by two defeats
stripped Rome of her best soldiers and filled her with dismay, nothing
could have been more fortunate for that republic than to find a general
able, by his deliberateness and caution, to keep the enemy at bay. Nor,
on the other hand, could Fabius have fallen upon times better suited to
the methods which he used, and by which he crowned himself with glory.
That he acted in accordance with his natural bent, and not from a
reasoned choice, we may gather from this, that when Scipio, to bring
the war to an end, proposed to pass with his army into Africa, Fabius,
unable to depart from his characteristic methods and habits, strenuously
opposed him; so that had it rested with him, Hannibal might never have
left Italy. For he perceived not that the times had changed, and that
with them it was necessary to change the methods