BOOK II

[…] COSIMO: I would like you to tell me—if you have ever deliberated on the matter—what has caused the vileness, disorder, and laxity in the armies of our times?

FABRIZIO: I will gladly tell you my thoughts on this. You know that many men in Europe have been considered excellent in war, but few in Africa, and even fewer in Asia. This is because Africa and Asia had one or two principalities and only a few republics. Europe, on the other hand, has had several kingdoms and an infinite number of republics. Men become excellent and show their skill according to how their prince, republic, or king makes use of them and gives them authority. Where there are many rulers, there are many valiant figures, and where there are few rulers, valiant figures are few. In Asia there were Ninus, Cyrus, Artaxerxes, and Mithradates,¹⁹ but there were not many others in their league. The great warriors of Africa, if we leave aside those of ancient Egypt, were Massinissa, Jugurtha,²⁰ and the generals of the Carthaginian Republic. Compared to European warriors, they too were few in number, for in Europe there was an infinite number of excellent men, and there would have been many more were one to add those whose names have been extinguished by the ravages of time, for there has been more skill in the world when there have been more states that favored it, either from necessity or from some particular interest. Consequently, Asia created few exceptional men because it was ruled by a single kingdom: Much indolence resulted from its size, which hampered men who excelled in their vocation. The same is true of Africa, though the Carthaginian Republic gave rise to valiant men. More excellent men come from republics than from kingdoms because skill is usually honored in republics, while in kingdoms it is feared. As a result, republics encourage men of skill, while kingdoms destroy them.

Whoever, therefore, considers Europe will find it to have been full of republics and principalities which out of fear of one another were compelled to keep their military institutions alive and to honor those who rose to eminence within them. In Greece, besides the kingdom of the Macedonians, there were many republics, each producing excellent men. In Italy there were the Romans, the Samnites, the Etruscans, and the Cisalpine Gauls. France and Germany had many republics and principalities, as did Spain. And if besides the great Roman figures we hear of only a few heroes of these other peoples, it is because of the baseness of the historians who, in pursuit of Fortune, usually found it more to their advantage to praise the victors.²¹ Would it not be reasonable to surmise that the Samnites and the Etruscans, who fought the Romans for a hundred and fifty years before being defeated, would have had many excellent warriors too? The same is true of France and Spain. And yet the greatness that historians will not praise in individual men they praise in a people as a whole, exalting to the heavens the single-mindedness with which they defended their liberty.

As it is true that more valiant men arise where there are more states, it follows of necessity that when those states are destroyed, valor and skill are also destroyed little by little, there being fewer reasons for men to become valiant. The Roman Empire grew, extinguishing all the republics and principalities of Europe and Africa, and the greater part of those in Asia, and no other path to valor was left, except for Rome. The result was that valorous men began to be as few in Europe as they were in Asia, valor and skill ultimately falling into utter decline since it had all concentrated in Rome. But once Rome was corrupted, almost the whole world followed suit, and the Scythians were able to plunder Rome, which had extinguished the skill of others but did not know how to maintain its own. And even though the flood of barbarians caused the Roman Empire to split into several parts, the skill the empire had amassed did not resurge: first, because it is a long ordeal to rebuild institutions once they have been destroyed, and second because of the way of life today, where Christianity does not impose on man the necessity to fight and defend himself that existed in ancient times. In those times, men who were defeated in war either were slaughtered or remained slaves forever, living a life of misery²² Conquered states were either entirely devastated, or their inhabitants—their property seized—were driven out and scattered throughout the world. Those vanquished in war suffered extreme misery, and the ancients, terrified of this, kept their armies active, honoring those who excelled within them. But in our times this fear has for the most part been lost. Few of those defeated are slaughtered, and no one is kept prisoner for a long time, as prisoners can easily be freed. Cities might rebel a thousand times, but they are not destroyed, and their citizens are allowed to retain their property, so that the greatest evil they need fear is new levies. As a result, men do not want to subject themselves to military institutions and face continuous privation under them in order to escape dangers of which they have little fear. Furthermore, when compared to the past, the states of Europe exist under very few leaders, for all of France obeys a single king, all of Spain another, and Italy is divided into a few states. Hence weak cities defend themselves by allying themselves with victors, while the powerful states do not fear complete destruction, for the reasons I have just mentioned.

19. Ninus was a legendary king of Assyria and the founder of the city of Nineveh; Cyrus the Great (d. c. 529 BCE), founder of the Persian Empire, is also discussed in Discourses, Book II, chapter 13, and in The Prince, chapters 6, 14, and 26; Artaxerxes II (early fourth century) was King of Persia and described in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives; Mithradates the Great (d. 63 BCE) was King of Pontus and a formidable enemy of Rome in Asia Minor.

20. Massinissa (d. 148 BCE) was an influential ruler of Numidia in North Africa and an ally of Rome in the Second Punic War (218–201 BCE). Jugurtha (d. 104 BCE) was the grandson of Massinissa and fought the Romans to end their rule in Numidia.

21. See the preface to Discourses, Book II, in which Machiavelli develops this theme: “Most historians bow to the fortunes of conquerors.”

22. See also Discourses, Book II, chapter 2, in which Machiavelli discusses the weakening effect of Christianity from a different perspective: “Our religion glorifies men who are humble and contemplative rather than men of action. […] If our religion does demand that you be strong, it is so that you will be able to bear suffering rather than carry out feats of strength.”