" 'It is necessary' [he wrote] for a prince, if he wants to maintain his realm, 'to learn to be able not to be good' and to use or not use this, 'according to necessity.' ... A good prince, it has been said for centuries ... should try not to instill fear in but to win the love of his subjects. ... Machiavelli argues instead that a prince ... should 'know well how to use the beast and the man.' ... With similar daring, he discarded the doctrine that a good prince must be generous, lavishing gifts and favors on his friends, [writing that he] will succeed only in flattering a few hangers-on and bankrupting his estate. ... Machiavelli [writes that] a prince should certainly hope to be considered merciful and kind but that cruelty [could be] 'well-used.' ... It is difficult to be loved and feared at the same time, but 'it is much safer to be feared than loved if one has to lack one of the two.' ... [Further] princes who have readily broken their word have, 'done great things', and have triumphed over princes who have kept their word. ... In short, he wants a prince who knows how to win.
"When Francesco Vettori who had become Lorenzo [de Medici, Duke of Urbino]'s most authoritative adviser presented Lorenzo with Niccolo's masterpiece, Lorenzo barely glanced at it, showing much more interest in two stud dogs that someone had sent him."
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