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1It remains to discuss the character of Maximinus. He was a very warlike man, and the armies, being disgusted with the
2effeminacy of Alexander, of whom I have already spoken, killed him and elected Maximinus to the throne. This he did not
3possess for long, for two things made him hated and despised; the one, his having kept sheep in Thrace, which brought
4him into contempt (it being well known to all, and considered a great indignity by every one), and the other, his having
5at the accession to his dominions deferred going to Rome and taking possession of the imperial seat; he had also gained
6a reputation for the utmost ferocity by having, through his prefects in Rome and elsewhere in the empire, practised many
7cruelties, so that the whole world was moved to anger at the meanness of his birth and to fear at his barbarity. First
8Africa rebelled, then the Senate with all the people of Rome, and all Italy conspired against him, to which may be added
9his own army; this latter, besieging Aquileia and meeting with difficulties in taking it, were disgusted with his
10cruelties, and fearing him less when they found so many against him, murdered him. I do not wish to discuss
11Heliogabalus, Macrinus, or Julian, who, being thoroughly contemptible, were quickly wiped out; but I will bring this
12discourse to a conclusion by saying that princes in our times have this difficulty of giving inordinate satisfaction to
13their soldiers in a far less degree, because, notwithstanding one has to give them some indulgence, that is soon done;
14none of these princes have armies that are veterans in the governance and administration of provinces, as were the
15armies of the Roman Empire; and whereas it was then more necessary to give satisfaction to the soldiers than to the
16people, it is now more necessary to all princes, except the Turk and the Soldan, to satisfy the people rather the
17soldiers, because the people are the more powerful. From the above I have excepted the Turk, who always keeps round him
18twelve thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry on which depend the security and strength of the kingdom, and it
19is necessary that, putting aside every consideration for the people, he should keep them his friends. The kingdom of the
20Soldan is similar; being entirely in the hands of soldiers, it follows again that, without regard to the people, he must
21keep them his friends. But you must note that the state of the Soldan is unlike all other principalities, for the reason
22that it is like the Christian pontificate, which cannot be called either an hereditary or a newly formed principality;
23because the sons of the old prince are not the heirs, but he who is elected to that position by those who have
24authority, and the sons remain only noblemen. And this being an ancient custom, it cannot be called a new principality,
25because there are none of those difficulties in it that are met with in new ones; for although the prince is new, the
26constitution of the state is old, and it is framed so as to receive him as if he were its hereditary lord. But returning
27to the subject of our discourse, I say that whoever will consider it will acknowledge that either hatred or contempt has
28been fatal to the above-named emperors, and it will be recognized also how it happened that, a number of them acting in
29one way and a number in another, only one in each way came to a happy end and the rest to unhappy ones. Because it would
30have been useless and dangerous for Pertinax and Alexander, being new princes, to imitate Marcus, who was heir to the
31principality; and likewise it would have been utterly destructive to Caracalla, Commodus, and Maximinus to have imitated
32Severus, they not having sufficient valour to enable them to tread in his footsteps. Therefore a prince, new to the
33principality, cannot imitate the actions of Marcus, nor, again, is it necessary to follow those of Severus, but he ought
34to take from Severus those parts which are necessary to found his state, and from Marcus those which are proper and
35glorious to keep a state that may already be stable and firm.
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