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. VIII.

What it is that disposes some people to leave their native Countries, to dispossess other people.

SEeing I have spoken already of the Military Discipline of the Romans; and how the Tuscans were invaded by the French; it follows properly enough that we say some∣thing of their several kinds of War, which are two: one sort of commenced upon the am∣bition of some Prince or commonwealth, in hopes to extend, and enlarge his Empire; as those wars which were made by Alexander the Great, by the Romans, and by one Prince against another: which wars, though dangerous, are not yet so pernicious as to supplant the inhabitants, and drive them out of their Country; for the Conqueror contents him∣self with his Victory, and the submission of the people allows them their own Laws, and many times their Estates. The other kind of war is much more dangerous and destru∣ctive, and that is when an entire Nation with their Wives and their Children, compelled either by hunger, or war, leaves its own Country, to fix themselves somewhere else, not to extend their dominion, or exercise any authority, (as in the other) but to kill or expel all the Natives, and possess themselves of their Estates.

This war indeed is most bloody and dreadful, as Salust shews very well in the end of his Bellum Iugurthinum, where, after Iugurtha was beaten, speaking of the invasion of the Gauls he tells us, Cum caeteris Gentibus a populo Romano de imperio tantum fuisse dimicatum, cum Gallis, de singulorum hominum salute; With other Nations the Romans fought only for Em∣pire and Dominion, with the Gauls they fought for their Country and Lives. For when a Prince or Commonwealth invades a Country according to the first way, it is sufficient, if those who are at the Helm be removed or destroyed; in this every mans life is in danger; for when a whole Nation transplants, and invades a new Province, not only the Colonies, but the Natives must be extinguished, that they may fix themselves upon their Lands, and possess themselves of their Goods: and by these kind of people the Romans were three times invaded. First by the Gauls, who took Rome, and (as I said before) drove the Tuscans out of Lombardy; of which invasion Titus Livius gives two reasons: one was the pleasant∣ness of the Country, and the delicacy of the Wine, wherewith (being then but ill provi∣ded in France) they were infinitely taken: the other was, the Country was grown so ex∣ceedingly populous, that it was not able to sustain its own natives; whereupon the Princes of those parts judging it necessary to find them new quarters they appointed which were to transplant, and putting Bellovesus and Sicovesus (two French Princes) at the head of them they sent one part of them into Italy, and the other into Spain: it was Bellovesus lot to in∣vade Italy, and he did it so effectually, that he possessed himself of all Lombardy, and made the first war upon the Romans that was ever made upon them by the French. The second

time they were invaded in this manner was likewise by the French, and it was after the first Punic war, in which invasion the Gauls lost above 200000 men betwixt Pisa and Piombino: the third and last was by the Germans and Cimbrians, who having defeated several Armies of the Romans, were at last themselves defeated by Marius. From whence we may ob∣serve the great courage and constancy of the Romans of old, that could not only bear up against three such dangerous invasions, but overcome them at last; whereas afterwards their courage began to fail, and they were not able to resist the inundation of those Barbarians; for when the Goths and the Vandals invaded, they possessed themselves of the whole Western Empire, without any considerable opposition. The reasons which move these Nations to transmigrate (as I said before) is necessity, and that necessity proceeds either from famine, or from wars and disturbances at home; and when they undertake these Expedi∣tions with vast and innumerable numbers, they invade with irresistible violence, put all the Natives to the sword; possess themselves of their Estates; establish a new Kingdom, and change the very name of the Province, as Moses did of old, and the Barbarians since, who possessed themselves of the Roman Empire.

From hence are all the new names in Italy and elsewhere imposed by their several Con∣querors: Lombardy was called anciently Gallia Cisalpina, Francia (from the Franks) was called anciently Gallia trans Alpina, Sclavonia was called Illyria, Hungaria, Pannonia, An∣glia, Britannta; Moses gave the name of Iudea to that part of Syria which he conquered, and many other Countries have changed their names upon the same occasion, which would be too long to recount. And because I have said before, that sometimes these kind of peo∣ple are forc'd out of their Country by intestine troubles and disturbances, I shall present you with one example of the Maurusians an ancient people of Syria, who foreseeing the invasion of the Hebrews, and knowing themselves unable to oppose them, thought it more wisdom to forsake their Country betimes, and preserve themselves, than to expect their coming, and lose both; whereupon they pack'd up their goods, and with their wives and children removed into Africk, where they drove out the inhabitants, and setled in their Country: so that they who were too weak to defend their own Province, were strong enough to force out another people. To this purpose Prooopius who writes the wars of Bellisarius against the Vandals (who had setled themselves in Africk) tells us, that upon certain pillars in the houses where these Maurusians had lived, he himself read these words, Nos Maurusii qui fugimus a facie Iesu latronis filii Navae; We Maurisians fled hither from Iesus the Usurper, who was the son of Navi. By which we may perceive the occasion of their departure out of Syria. And certainly these Nations forc'd out of their own Country by irresistible ne∣cessity, are more than ordinarily dreadful, and not to be opposed but by a potent and well disciplin'd people: but when they move in small numbers, their danger is not so great, be∣cause they dare not use that violence, but are put to their wits, and to possess themselves of some quarters by cunning and insinuation, which they are to keep afterwards by ways of amity and friendship, as Aeneas did, and Dido, the Massilians and others, who by the as∣sistance and friendship of their neighbours, made good what they had possessed. But the people that came out of their own Countries the most numerous and strong, were the Scy∣thians; for their Country being barren and cold, and the natives too numerous to be su∣stained in it, they were forced abroad, as having nothing to preserve them at home. And if now for five hundred years and upwards we have not heard of any such transmigration, I conceive the reasons may be several: the first may be the great evacuation in those Coun∣tries, from whence the Roman Empire was invaded. A second may be, because Germany and Hungaria (from whence those inundations came) is better cultivated and improved, so as they can live plentifully at home, without rambling abroad: another reason may be, that the Germans, Poles, Cimbrians, and other Nations which border upon the Scythians, being martial people, and continually at wars with them, are as it were a Bulwark to these parts, and keep the Scythians from all new invasions. The Tartars likewise have been many times upon their march with very great Armies, but they have been always encountred and repulsed by the Poles and Hungarians, which has given them occasion frequently to boast, that were it not for their arms and resistance, not only Italy, but the very Roman Church had been many times sensible of the barbarity of the Tartars.