Machiavelli says a prince should have no aim or study but war and its rules, the sole art of the ruler. It upholds born princes and often raises private men to power; neglect it and you lose what you have. Francesco Sforza became Duke of Milan through martial ability, while his sons, shunning the hardships of arms, fell from dukes to private persons.
Being unarmed brings contempt and makes command impossible. There is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; armed men will not willingly obey an unarmed prince, nor can he be secure among armed servants. A prince ignorant of war cannot be respected by soldiers or rely on them.
He must never put war out of his thoughts. In peace he should practice it more than in war, by action and by study. In action he keeps men drilled, hunts to harden himself, and learns terrain: how mountains, valleys, plains, rivers, and marshes lie, first for his own country and then for any other he may need to read. Philopoemen, in peacetime walks with friends, rehearsing where enemy and army should stand, how to advance, retreat, or pursue, so no surprise in war could find him unprepared.
In study the prince reads histories, examines victories and defeats, and imitates illustrious commanders. Alexander imitated Achilles, Caesar Alexander, Scipio Cyrus; Xenophon's Cyrus shows how Scipio built his glory. A wise prince never stands idle in peace but builds resources for adversity so fortune finds him ready.
Coming Up in Chapter 15
In the next chapter, Machiavelli turns to another crucial aspect of power and leadership Machiavelli turns from arms to conduct, warning that he will depart from other writers because he follows the real truth of the matter, not imaginary republics that were never seen. How one lives is so far from how one ought to live that he who neglects what is done for.
