The works of the famous Nicholas Machiavel, citizen and secretary of Florence written originally in Italian, and from thence newly and faithfully translated into English.

CHAP. XXIX.

Whether the Prince, or the People, is most subject to be ingrateful.

ANd because we have undertaken to enlarge upon this subject, I think it not amiss to examine which are most frequently guilty of ingratitude, the Prince, or the People: For better explication, I say, That men are ingrateful, either out of suspicion, or avarice. For if a Prince, or Republick send out any of their great Captains upon some important Expedition, which the said Captain atchieves, and gains honor to himself, and reputation to his Master, in this case the Prince, or State, is obliged to reward him; but if instead of rewarding, they casheer, or disgrace him, or out of a covetous principle, deny him his pay, the ingratitude is inexcusable: and leaves a scandal behind it that can never be worn out, and yet many Princes are too guilty of it; Cornelius Tacitus gives us the reason in this Sentence, Proclivius est injuriae, quam beneficio vicem exolvere, quia gratia oneri, ultio in quaestu habetur. 'Tis more natural to return an injury, than a courtesie, because courtesies are burthensom, but revenge is sweet. But if this ingratitude either in Prince or People, pro∣ceeds not so much from avarice, as suspicion, in that case it is somewhat excusable, and of that kind we read of good store, as when a General has conquered a Province or Empire for his Master, when he has exterminated his Enemies, enriched his Army, and gain'd himself a great Name, 'tis impossible but he must be so acceptable to his own Sol∣diers, and so dreadful to his Enemies, as must beget a jealousie in the Prince; for the Nature of man being jealous and ambitious, and not to be confined within the bounds of his fortune, it cannot be but if the Prince has taken a fancy that the glory of his General, is a diminution to his, the General must by some vain-glorious, or discontented action, establish and confirm it; and then what has the Prince to do? but to secure himself either by causing him to be murthered, by taking away his Command, lessening his reputation with the Soldiers and People, and by all ways of industry possessing them, that the Victory was not obtained by any Conduct of his, but by the kindness of Fortune, vileness of the Enemy, or prudence and good management of the rest of the Officers.

After Vespasian (being in Iudea) was declared Emperor by his Army, Antonius Primus being at the same time in Illyria with another Army, declared for the Emperor, and marched into Italy against Vitellius who was then Paramount in Rome; and having beaten him in two pitch'd Battels, he enter'd the City in the Name of Vespasian: So that Mutianus being sent against Vitellius by Vespasian, he found the Enemy broken, the Town taken,

and all things done by Antonius to his hand. And how was he requited? Why Mutianus took away his Commission, removed him from the Army, and by degrees so lessened his Authority in Rome, that Antonius going into Asia to make his Complaints to Vespasian, was received so coldly, that in a short time he was stript of all kind of authority, and died very miserable: and of this Nature examples are very frequent in History; every body knows how in our times Gonsalvo Ferrante, being the King of Arragon's General in the Kingdom of Naples against the French, behaved himself so well, that by his singular Conduct he conquered it, and put it wholly under the obedience of his Master, who coming afterwards to Naples himself, took from him the Command of his Army, dispossessed him of many strong places which he held in that Country, and carried him with him into Spain, where not long after, he died in obscurity. But there is no remedy; these kind of jealousies are so natural to Princes, that it is almost impossible for them to be grate∣ful to any man, who has performed any great thing for them. And if it be so with Kings, no wonder if it be so with the people, for in a free State, they have always two principal ends, one is to enlarge their Dominions, the other to keep what they have got, and their eagerness to both these, makes them so often guilty of ingratitude. As to the first point, we shall speak elsewhere; the errors in preserving their liberty; to disgust such persons as ought to be rewarded, and to suspect such as ought to be trusted; and though such practices are the occasion of great mischiefs in a corrupt Commonwealth, and Tyranny does many times ensue (as in Rome by Caesar, who took that by force, which the ingrati∣tude of the people denied to his merits,) yet in a Town that is entire, and incorrupt, they do very well, and add much to the duration of their liberty, to enforce great and ambitious men for fear of punishment to comport themselves better. In my judgment of all the Commonwealths that ever had Empire, Rome was the least ingratful for the reasons abovesaid, there being never an Example of its ingratitude but in the case of Scipio: For Coriolanus and Camillus were banished for their injuries to the people, and though one of them remaining obstinate, was never recalled; yet the other was not only recalled, but so restored to the affections of the people, that all his life after, they adored him as a Prince. But their jealousie of Scipio was of such a sort, as had never been known before, proceeding from the Ornaments of his body, and the endowments of his mind; His youth, his wis∣dom, his excellent qualifications had render'd him too admirable; the powerfulness of his Enemy, the danger and tediousness of the War (which he had concluded in a very short time) his deliberation in resolving, and his quickness in Execution, had gained him a greater reputation, than was ever got by any General before him, insomuch as the Senators, Pretors, and all the chief Magistrates in the City began to fear and respect him. This was no pleasing sight to the graver sort, because it had not been formerly the Custom in Rome; whereupon Cato (a man of great esteem for his piety and justice) took up the Cudgels against him, and complained publickly that the City could not be called free, whil'st the Magistrates were in awe of any particular Citizen; if then in a thing so nearly importing their liberty, the people followed the opinion of Cato, in my judgment they were in some measure to be excused. In short, my opinion is, as I said before, that it is avarice and suspicion which makes men ingrateful: To the first of which the people are not naturally addicted; and to the last, with much less propensity than Princes, as having less occasion, which shall be proved hereafter.