Nobody disputes that fact that Nicolo Machiavelli knew a little bit about life.
CHAPTER II
Concerning Hereditary PrincipalitiesI WILL leave out all discussion on republics, inasmuch as in another place I have written of them at length, 1 and will address myself only to principalities. In doing so I will keep to the order indicated above, and discuss how such principalities are to be ruled and preserved.
I entreat all of those in search of wisdom to read on.
I say at once there are fewer difficulties in holding hereditary senate seats, and those long accustomed to the family of their prince, than new ones; for it is sufficient only not to transgress the customs of his ancestors, and to deal prudently with circumstances as they arise, for a prince of average powers to maintain himself in his state, unless he be deprived of it by some extraordinary and excessive force; and if he should be so deprived of it, whenever anything sinister happens to the usurper, he will regain it.
We have in Delaware, for example, Biden the Younger, who could not have withstood the attacks of the Wharton of Ferris unless he his family had been long established in his dominions.
For the hereditary prince has less cause and less necessity to offend; hence it happens that he will be more loved; and unless extraordinary vices cause him to be hated, it is reasonable to expect that his subjects will be naturally well disposed towards him; and in the antiquity and duration of his rule the memories and motives that make for change are lost, for one change always leaves the toothing for another.
There you have it.