Page images
PDF
EPUB

94

[blocks in formation]

DOCUMENTS

ILLUSTRATIVE

OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

PART I

DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATING THE NATURE, ORIGIN, AND DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

1. Excerpts from Nicolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527

CALCULATED CRUELTY

[ocr errors]

From whence it is to be observed, that he who usurps the government of any State is to execute and put in practice all the cruelties which he thinks material at once, that he may have no occasion to renew them often, but that by his discontinuance he may mollify the people, and by his benefits bring them over to his side. He who does otherwise, whether for fear or ill counsel, is obliged to be always ready with his knife in his hand; for he can never repose any confidence in his subjects, whilst they, by reason of his fresh and continued inhumanities, cannot be secure against him. So then injuries are to be committed all at once, that the last being the less, the distaste may be likewise the less; but benefits should be distilled by drops, that the relish may be greater. - (The Prince, ch. viii.)

WAR

A Prince, then, is to have no other design, nor thought, nor study but war and the arts and disciplines of it; for, indeed, that is the only profession worthy of a prince, and is of so much

« EelmineJätka »