ch a man as this attains to command, he looks to
find all others like himself; his dauntless spirit prompts him to engage
in daring enterprises, and to insist on their being carried out. And
this is certain, that where things hard to execute are ordered to be
done, the order must be enforced with sternness, since, otherwise, it
will be disobeyed.

And here be it noted that if you would be obeyed you must know how to
command, and that they alone have this knowledge who have measured their
power to enforce, with the willingness of others to yield obedience; and
who issue their orders when they find these conditions combining, but,
otherwise, abstain. Wherefore, a wise man was wont to say that to hold a
republic by force, there must be a proportion between him who uses the
force and him against whom it is used; and that while this proportion
obtains the force will operate; but that when he who suffers is stronger
than he who uses the force, we may expect to see it brought to an end at
any moment.

But returning to the matter in hand, I say that to command things hard
of execution, requires hardness in him who gives the command, and that a
man of this temper and who issues such commands, cannot look to enforce
them by gentleness. He who is not of such a temper must be careful not
to impose tasks of extraordinary difficulty, but may use his natural
gentleness in imposing such as are ordinary. For common punishments are
not imputed to the prince, but to the laws and ordinances which he has
to administer.

We must believe, therefore, that Manlius was constrained to act with
severity by the unusual character of the commands which his natural
disposition prompted him to issue. Such commands are useful in a
republic, as restoring its ordinances to their original efficacy and
excellence. And were a republic, as I have before observed, fortunate
enough to come frequently under the influence of men who, by their
example, reinforce its laws, and not only retard its progress towards
corruption, but bring it back to its first perfection, it might endure
for ever.

Manlius, therefore, was of those who by the severity of their commands
maintained the military discipline of Rome; urged thereto, in the first
place, by his natural temper, and next by the desire that whatever he
was minded to command should be done. Valerius, on the other hand, could
afford to act humanely, because for him it was enough if all were done
which in a Roman