[Book Excerpt Nicholas Prince Machiavelli]
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Say there are two ways of fighting: one with laws, the other with force. The first is distinctive of man, the second of the beast. But as is often the first is not sufficient, it must resort to the second.
A prince should, therefore, behave like a beast and a man. This is what the ancient writers taught princes a veiled way when they said that Achilles and many other ancient princes were entrusted to the centaur Chiron to be brought up and educated.
This means that as the tutor is half beast and half man, a prince should know how to use both natures, and that one can not long endure without the other. So, as it is forced to behave like a beast, agree that the prince is transformed into fox and a lion because the lion does not know to protect themselves from the traps, or the fox from wolves.
There is therefore be a fox to find the traps and a lion to frighten wolves.
A prince should, therefore, behave like a beast and a man. This is what the ancient writers taught princes a veiled way when they said that Achilles and many other ancient princes were entrusted to the centaur Chiron to be brought up and educated.
This means that as the tutor is half beast and half man, a prince should know how to use both natures, and that one can not long endure without the other. So, as it is forced to behave like a beast, agree that the prince is transformed into fox and a lion because the lion does not know to protect themselves from the traps, or the fox from wolves.
There is therefore be a fox to find the traps and a lion to frighten wolves.
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