Machiavelli gathers the remaining qualities under one rule: avoid what makes a prince hated or despised. Hatred comes above all from rapacity and from violating subjects' property and women; when those are untouched most men live content and only a few ambitious men need curbing. Contempt comes from seeming fickle, frivolous, effeminate, mean spirited, or irresolute, so a prince should show greatness, courage, gravity, and fortitude, with judgments so firm that no one hopes to deceive him.
Internal conspiracy is the chief domestic danger when outside affairs are quiet. The best remedy is not to be hated or despised by the people, because conspirators expect to please the public by removing a prince; if they would only offend the people, they rarely dare act. Machiavelli cites Annibale Bentivogli of Bologna: after his murder the people destroyed the conspirators and later restored the Bentivogli even through a blacksmith's son until Giovanni came of age. Well ordered France shows another device: parliament absorbs reproach while the king keeps grace, and nobles are cherished without making the prince hated by the people.
Roman emperors after Marcus Aurelius complicate the rule because they faced a third force: greedy, cruel soldiers who wanted a warlike rapacious prince while the people wanted peace. When a prince cannot escape all hatred, he must avoid the hatred of the most powerful group. Marcus alone ended well among the mild emperors because he inherited power and kept both soldiers and people in place. Pertinax and the humane Alexander were destroyed; Pertinax because reforming soldiers bred hatred and age bred contempt, Alexander because effeminacy made him despised.
Severus succeeded by satisfying soldiers while oppressing the people, using fox and lion against Niger and Albinus until renown shielded him from popular hatred. Caracalla, Commodus, and Maximinus show the limits: excessive cruelty, contemptible behavior, or low birth can still destroy a prince. Modern rulers usually must satisfy the people rather than soldiers, except the Turk and the Soldan. A new prince should take from Severus what is needed to found a state and from Marcus what is proper to keep one already stable.
Coming Up in Chapter 20
In the next chapter, Machiavelli turns to another crucial aspect of power and leadership Machiavelli lists the tricks princes use to hold a state: disarm subjects, keep towns split by faction, foster enmities, win over early distrust, build fortresses, or tear them down. He will not give one rule for every state, but he can reason about each tool..
