乐文书包网

手机浏览器扫描二维码访问

第8部分(第1页)

and the republic ofcitizens unaccustomed to arms; both menced to enlist foreigners。The first who gave renown to this soldiery was Alberigo da Conio; anative of the Romagna。 From the school of this man sprang; among others;Braccio and Sforza; who in their time were the arbiters of Italy。 Afterthese came all the other captains who till now have directed the arms ofItaly; and the end of all their valour has been; that she has beenoverrun by Charles; robbed by Louis; ravaged by Ferdinand; and insultedby the Switzers。 The principle that has guided them has been; first; tolower the credit of infantry so that they might increase their own。 Theydid this because; subsisting on their pay and without territory; theywere unable to support many soldiers; and a few infantry did not givethem any authority; so they were led to employ cavalry; with a moderateforce of which they were maintained and honoured; and affairs werebrought to such a pass that; in an army of twenty thousand soldiers;there were not to be found two thousand foot soldiers。 They had; besidesthis; used every art to lessen fatigue and danger to themselves andtheir soldiers; not killing in the fray; but taking prisoners andliberating without ransom。 They did not attack towns at night; nor didthe garrisons of the towns attack encampments at night; they did notsurround the camp either with stockade or ditch; nor did they campaignin the winter。 All these things were permitted by their military rules;and devised by them to avoid; as I have said; both fatigue and dangers;thus they have brought Italy to slavery and contempt。1。 With which to chalk up the billets for his soldiers。2。 As Sir John Hawkwood; the English leader of mercenaries; was calledby the Italians。CHAPTER XIIICONCERNING AUXILIARIES; MIXED SOLDIERY; AND ONES OWNAUXILIARIES; which are the other useless arm; are employed when a princeis called in with his forces to aid and defend; as was done by PopeJulius in the most recent times; for he; having; in the enterpriseagainst Ferrara; had poor proof of his mercenaries; turned toauxiliaries; and stipulated with Ferdinand; King of Spain; for hisassistance with men and arms。 These arms may be useful and good inthemselves; but for him who calls them in they are alwaysdisadvantageous; for losing; one is undone; and winning; one is theircaptive。And although ancient histories may be full of examples; I do not wish toleave this recent one of Pope Julius II; the peril of which cannot fallto be perceived; for he; wishing to get Ferrara; threw himself entirelyinto the hands of the foreigner。 But his good fortune brought about athird event; so that he did not reap the fruit of his rash choice;because; having auxiliaries routed at Ravenna; and the Switzers havingrisen and driven out the conquerors (against all expectation; both hisand others); it so came to pass that he did not bee prisoner to hisenemies; they having fled; nor to his auxiliaries; he having conqueredby other arms than theirs。The Florentines; being entirely without arms; sent ten thousandFrenchmen to take Pisa; whereby they ran more danger than at any othertime of their troubles。The Emperor of Constantinople; to oppose his neighbours; sent tenthousand Turks into Greece; who; on the war being finished; were notwilling to quit; this was the beginning of the servitude of Greece tothe infidels。Therefore; let him who has no desire to conquer make use of these arms;for they are much more hazardous than mercenaries; because with them theruin is ready made; they are all united; all yield obedience to others;but with mercenaries; e and betteropportunities are needed to injure you; they are not all of onemunity; they are found and paid by you; and a third party; which youhave made their head; is not able all at once to assume enough authorityto injure you。 In conclusion; in mercenaries dastardy is most dangerous;in auxiliaries; valour。 The wise prince; therefore; has always avoidedthese arms and turned to his own; and has been willing rather to losewith them than to conquer with others; not deeming that a real victorywhich is gained with the arms of others。I shall never hesitate to cite Cesare Borgia and his actions。 This dukeentered the Romagna with auxiliaries; taking there only French soldiers;and with them he captured Imola and Forli; but afterwards; such forcesnot appearing to him reliable; he turned to mercenaries; discerning lessdanger in them; and enlisted the Orsini and Vitelli; whom presently; onhandling and finding them doubtful; unfaithful; and dangerous; hedestroyed and turned to his own men。 And the difference between one andthe other of these forces can easily be seen when one considers thedifference there was in the reputation of the duke; when he had theFrench; when he had the Orsini and Vitelli; and when he relied on hisown soldiers; on whose fidelity he could always count and found it everincreasing; he was never esteemed more highly than when every one sawthat he was plete master of his own forces。I was not intending to go beyond Italian and recent examples; but I amunwilling to leave out Hiero; the Syracusan; he being one of those Ihave named above。 This man; as I have said; made head of the army by theSyracusans; soon found out that a mercenary soldiery; constituted likeour Italian condottieri; was of no use; and it appearing to him that hecould neither keep them nor let them go; he had them all cut to pieces;and afterwards made war with his own forces and not with aliens。I wish also to recall to memory an instance from the Old Testamentapplicable to this subject。 David offered himself to Saul to fight withGoliath; the Philistine champion; and; to give him courage; Saul armedhim with his own weapons; which David rejected as soon as he had them onhis back; saying he could make no use of them; and that he wished tomeet the enemy with his sling and his knife。 In conclusion; the arms ofothers either fall from your back; or they weigh you down; or they bindyou fast。Charles VII; the father of King Louis XI; having by good fortune andvalour liberated France from the English; recognized the necessity ofbeing armed with forces of his own; and he established in his kingdomordinances concerning men…at…arms and infantry。 Afterwards his son; KingLouis; abolished the infantry and began to enlist the Switzers; whichmistake; followed by others; is; as is now seen; a source of peril tothat kingdom; because; having raised the reputation of the Switzers; hehas entirely diminished the value of his own arms; for he has destroyedthe infantry altogether; and his men…at…arms he has subordinated toothers; for; being as they are so accustomed to fight along withSwitzers; it does not appear that they can no。Hence it arises that the French cannot stand against the Switzers; andwithout the Switzers they do not e off well against others。 Thearmies of the French have thus bee mixed; partly mercenary and partlynational; both of which arms together are much better than mercenariesalone or auxiliaries alone; yet much inferior to ones own forces。 Andthis example proves it; the kingdom of France would be unconquerable ifthe ordinance of Charles had been enlarged or maintained。But the scanty wisdom of man; on entering into an affair which lookswell at first; cannot discern the poison that is hidden in it; as I havesaid above of hectic fevers。 Therefore; if he who rules a principalitycannot recognize evils until they are upon him; he is not truly wise;and this insight is given to few。 And if the first disaster to the RomanEmpire should be examined; it will be found to have menced only withthe enlisting of the Goths; because from that time the vigour of theRoman Empire began to decline; and all that valour which had raised itpassed away to others。I conclude; therefore; that no principality is secure without having itsown forces; on the contrary; it is entirely dependent on good fortune;not having the valour which in adversity would defend it。 And it hasalways been the opinion and judgment of wise men that nothing can be souncertain or unstable as fame or power not founded on its own strength。And ones own forces are those which are posed either of subjects;citizens; or dependants; all others are mercenaries or auxiliaries。 Andthe way to take ready ones own forces will be easily found if the rulessuggested by me shall be reflected upon; and if one will consider howPhilip; the father of Alexander the Great; and many republics andprinces have armed and organized themselves; to which rules I entirelymit myself。CHAPTER XIVTHAT WHICH CONCERNS A PRINCE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE ART OF WARA PRINCE ought to have no other aim or thought; nor select anything elsefor his study; than war and its rules and discipline; for this is thesole art that belongs to him who rules; and it is of such force that itnot only upholds those who are born princes; but it often enables men torise from a private station to that rank。 And; on the contrary; it isseen that when princes have thought more of ease than of arms they havelost their states。 And the first cause of your losing it is to neglectthis art; and what enables you to acquire a state is to be master of theart。 Francesco Sforza; through being martial; from a private personbecame Duke of Milan; and the sons; through avoiding the hardships andtroubles of arms; from dukes became private persons。 For among otherevils which being unarmed brings you; it causes you to be despised; andthis is one of those ignominies against which a prince ought to guardhimself; as is shown later on。 Because there is nothing proportionatebetween the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he whois armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed; or thatthe unarmed man should be secure among armed servants。 Because; therebeing in the one disdain and in the other suspicion; it is not possiblefor them to work well together。 And therefore a prince who does notunderstand the art of war; over and above the other misfortunes alreadymentioned; cannot be respected by his soldiers; nor can he rely on them。He ought never; therefore; to have out of his thoughts this subject ofwar; and in peace he should addict himself more to its exercise than inwar; this he can do in two ways; the one by action; the other by study。As regards action; he ought above all things to keep his men wellorganized and drilled; to follow incessantly the chase; by which heaccustoms his body to hardships; and learns something of the nature oflocalities; and gets to find out how the mountains rise; how the valleysopen out; how the plains lie; and to understand the nature of rivers andmarshes; and in all this to take the greatest care。 Which knowledge isuseful in two ways。 Firstly; he learns to know his country; and isbetter able to undertake its defence; afterwards; by means of theknowledge and observation of that locality; he understands with ease anyother which it may be necessary for him to study hereafter; because thehills; valleys; and plains; and rivers and marshes that are; forinstance; in Tuscany; have a certain resemblance to those of othercountries; so that with a knowledge of the aspect of one country one caneasily arrive at a knowledge of others。 And the prince that lacks thisskill lacks the essential which it is desirable that a captain shouldpossess; for it teaches hi

山羊岛的蓝色奇迹  流星慢舞  欢未央  绞刑架下的报告  莫里哀传  少年维特的烦恼  心理医生在吗  冬天里的春天  the world i live in-海伦·凯勒自传(英文版)  少年天草的秀逗咒语  爱情不风流(短篇集)  四季随笔-the private papers of henry ryecroft(英文版)  为了告别的聚会  叙情  浮士德  误入桃花源  爱的教育  王子猎情记  山月记  高山上的呼喊-go tell it on the mountain  

热门小说推荐
悦女吴县

悦女吴县

书名?阅女无限??呵呵,广大银民,请看清楚哦。吴县,这个二十岁的青涩小子,进城上学,居然一不留神,取悦于众多美女,在众女的帮助下,事业也是蒸蒸日上。且看主角如何将有限的生命,投入到吴县的悦女事业中去。蹩脚的猪脚,由一个初哥,逐渐成为花丛高手。...

鹿鼎风流记

鹿鼎风流记

少年附身韦小宝,和康熙做兄弟,唬弄皇帝有一手绝色美女尽收,色遍天下无敌手!睿智独立,诱惑惊艳的蓝色妖姬苏荃花中带刺刺中有花的火红玫瑰方怡温柔清新纯洁可人的水仙花沐剑屏空谷幽香,善解人意的解语花双儿倾国倾城,美丽绝伦的花中之王牡丹阿珂诱惑惊艳美艳毒辣的罂粟花建宁空灵纯洁娇艳精怪的山涧兰花曾柔...

超凡世界

超凡世界

地球少年江云卷入了一个神秘的超凡世界之中,获得了超凡之力,并且开始在地球以及一个个超凡世界,开启了自己追逐巅峰的超凡旅程。(ps已经完本异世之虫族无敌神卡神魔系统神魔无双机械神皇)...

天美地艳男人是山

天美地艳男人是山

从农村考入大学的庾明毕业后因为成了老厂长的乘龙快婿,后随老厂长进京,成为中央某部后备干部,并被下派到蓟原市任市长。然而,官运亨通的他因为妻子的奸情发生了婚变,蓟原市急欲接班当权的少壮派势力以为他没有了后台,便扯住其年轻恋爱时与恋人的越轨行为作文章,将其赶下台,多亏老省长爱惜人才,推荐其参加跨国合资公司总裁竞聘,才东山再起然而,仕途一旦顺风,官运一发不可收拾由于庾明联合地方政府开展棚户区改造工程受到了中央领导和老百姓的赞誉。在省代会上,他又被推举到了省长的重要岗位。一介平民跃升为省长...

倚天屠龙夺艳记

倚天屠龙夺艳记

赵敏的娇蛮狐媚周芷若的举止优雅小昭的温柔体贴不悔的秀丽美艳蛛儿的任性刁蛮  一梦醒来,该是倚天屠龙的另一个新主角上场了...

我的极品老婆们(都市特种兵)

我的极品老婆们(都市特种兵)

一个被部队开除军籍的特种兵回到了都市,看他如何在充满诱惑的都市里翻云覆雨...

每日热搜小说推荐