登陆注册
4705400000336

第336章

The Swiss and the Spaniards were, at that time, regarded as the best soldiers in Europe. The Swiss battalion consisted of pikemen, and bore a close resemblance to the Greek phalanx. The Spaniards, like the soldiers of Rome, were armed with the sword and the shield. The victories of Flamininus and Aemilius over the Macedonian kings seem to prove the superiority of the weapons used by the legions. The same experiment had been recently tried with the same result at the battle of Ravenna, one of those tremendous days into which human folly and wickedness compress the whole devastation of a famine or a plague. In that memorable conflict, the infantry of Arragon, the old companions of Gonsalvo, deserted by all their allies, hewed a passage through the thickest of the imperial pikes, and effected an unbroken retreat, in the face of the gendarmerie of De Foix, and the renowned artillery of Este. Fabrizio, or rather Machiavelli, proposes to combine the two systems, to arm the foremost lines with the pike for the purpose of repulsing cavalry, and those in the rear with the sword, as being a weapon better adapted for every other purpose. Throughout the work, the author expresses the highest admiration of the military science of the ancient Romans, and the greatest contempt for the maxims which had been in vogue amongst the Italian commanders of the preceding generation. He prefers infantry to cavalry, and fortified camps to fortified towns. He is inclined to substitute rapid movements and decisive engagements for the languid and dilatory operations of his countrymen. He attaches very little importance to the invention of gunpowder. Indeed he seems to think that it ought scarcely to produce any change in the mode of arming or of disposing troops. The general testimony of historians, it must be allowed, seems to prove that the ill-constructed and ill-served artillery of those times, though useful in a siege, was of little value on the field of battle.

Of the tactics of Machiavelli we will not venture to give an opinion: but we are certain that his book is most able and interesting. As a commentary on the history of his times, it is invaluable. The ingenuity, the grace, and the perspicuity of the style, and the eloquence and animation of particular passages, must give pleasure even to readers who take no interest in the subject.

The Prince and the Discourses on Livy were written after the fall of the Republican Government. The former was dedicated to the young Lorenzo di Medici. This circumstance seems to have disgusted the contemporaries of the writer far more than the doctrines which have rendered the name of the work odious in later times. It was considered as an indication of political apostasy. The fact however seems to have been that Machiavelli, despairing of the liberty of Florence, was inclined to support any government which might preserve her independence. The interval which separated a democracy and a despotism, Soderini and Lorenzo, seemed to vanish when compared with the difference between the former and the present state of Italy, between the security, the opulence, and the repose which she had enjoyed under her native rulers, and the misery in which she had been plunged since the fatal year in which the first foreign tyrant had descended from the Alps. The noble and pathetic exhortation with which The Prince concludes shows how strongly the writer felt upon this subject.

The Prince traces the progress of an ambitious man, the Discourses the progress of an ambitious people. The same principles on which, in the former work, the elevation of an individual is explained, are applied in the latter, to the longer duration and more complex interest of a society. To a modern statesman the form of the Discourses may appear to be puerile. In truth Livy is not an historian on whom implicit reliance can be placed, even in cases where he must have possessed considerable means of information. And the first Decade, to which Machiavelli has confined himself, is scarcely entitled to more credit than our Chronicle of British Kings who reigned before the Roman invasion. But the commentator is indebted to Livy for little more than a few texts which he might as easily have extracted from the Vulgate or the Decameron. The whole train of thought is original.

On the peculiar immorality which has rendered The Prince unpopular, and which is almost equally discernible in the Discourses, we have already given our opinion at length. We have attempted to show that it belonged rather to the age than to the man, that it was a partial taint, and by no means implied general depravity. We cannot, however, deny that it is a great blemish, and that it considerably diminishes the pleasure which, in other respects, those works must afford to every intelligent mind.

It is, indeed, impossible to conceive a more healthful and vigorous constitution of the understanding than that which these works indicate. The qualities of the active and the contemplative statesman appear to have been blended in the mind of the writer into a rare and exquisite harmony. His skill in the details of business had not been acquired at the expense of his general powers. It had not rendered his mind less comprehensive; but it had served to correct his speculations and to impart to them that vivid and practical character which so widely distinguishes them from the vague theories of most political philosophers.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 黄帝阴符经注

    黄帝阴符经注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 考试高手

    考试高手

    本书从心理、复习方案、考前准备方略、考试方略、选择题方略、非选择题方略、选志愿方略七个方面,介绍了考试高手的成功秘笈。
  • 私家侦探

    私家侦探

    《私家侦探》讲的是,吴诚是前大学教授、前知名剧作家,因一次酒后失态导致混乱的“龟山岛事件”愤而退出戏剧界,遁隐于六张犁当起私家侦探,他在咖比茶咖啡店看报兼接案,听修车厂阿鑫谯政治,和派出所小胖泡茶博感情,唯一助手是某次跟监行动中结识的出租车运将添来。然而,在看似平静的生活背后,台湾第一起计划性连续杀人命案正悄悄发生……
  • 我的仙女未婚妻

    我的仙女未婚妻

    因情醉酒,死于车轮之下,或命运或巧合,赵易便与她相遇了。一个契约,一个失意少年,一个冷冷的女妖,一条条穿心的红线,一段从不甘渺小到征战天下的传奇泪歌就此谱写。
  • 快穿无限之男主别过来

    快穿无限之男主别过来

    哇,想她一个如花似玉,闭月羞花的18岁妙龄少女,就这样撑死了。呜呜呜呜,不就多吃了一个汉堡,两只热狗,三只烧鸡在晚饭前。死就死了!还给她。。。欢迎您来到这里,我们将绑定系统人物。滴嘟,绑定成功,宿主即将穿越。哇,我怎么这么倒霉!
  • 梦去梦回

    梦去梦回

    大多数穿越其实是有意义的,比如替死去的懦弱女主各种斗,然后走向人生巅峰;再比如替某恶毒女配洗白,避免凄惨命运,而后又是走向人生巅峰。诸如此类还有很多,梁夏也看过不少,原以为自己也是这种境况,后来发现女主家庭和谐,生活幸福美满,她的到来是偶然,没有任何意义。老话说得好,船到桥头自然直,梁夏走的便是这路子。想她这个连国门都还没出过的人,一下子就来到了光年之外,多少还是有点激动的,多少还是带点期盼的,平凡了25年的人生,终于要来的不一样了,霸道的男一号,温柔的男二号,其他男N号等等,光想到这些小说桥段,梁夏一颗老少女的心就不可抑制的砰砰跳起来。佛祖玛利亚,上帝阎罗王,梁夏的春天要来了吗?
  • 赌徒

    赌徒

    来自一个赌徒的内心独白,作者陀斯妥耶夫斯基用他独特的观察方式来描写一位赌徒的故事。
  • 合格班干部的自我培养(优秀班干部从这里起步)

    合格班干部的自我培养(优秀班干部从这里起步)

    《优秀的班干部从这里起步:合格班干部的自我培养》细致入微的介绍了中小学班干部与少先队、共青团的干部的养成,帮助学生更好的处理班级事务,增加学生的班级建设能力和组织能力,增强自身的素质,成为一名合格的班级建设者。
  • 女配逆袭,有个太子好缠人

    女配逆袭,有个太子好缠人

    书穿《女配王妃逆袭升职记》,追了一年半的宫斗文,配角被作者写死了!羽楚楚崩溃了有木有,咒骂了一顿作者后,居然被作者塞到了文里,变身成了女配。女主天生媚骨万人迷,女主天资聪慧最得宠。羽楚楚:“主角有金手指啊,女主有成群结队的男人爱啊,我啥都没有!我活的过一章?”“谁说你什么也没有,你有一个祸害你的女主,利用你的渣男,还有嫌弃你的男主,还有还有……”羽楚楚:“我去你的!”【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 开锁的人(中篇)

    开锁的人(中篇)

    颜良重,福建大田人,曾在《福建文学》《诗歌月刊》《滇池》《诗潮》《满族文学》《海峡诗人》《新诗》和中国诗歌网等发表诗歌作品。在《山东文学》等发表小说。出版散文集《白发均溪》。玉田市神偷被抓的消息,对多少家庭形成快感的冲击很难说,但切切实实成了科勒和肖楠这两个死对头共同感兴趣的话题。这好比油锅滴进一滴水,让惠美感到十分意外。科勒感兴趣的是,这事是不是真的?房东老太太已经多次站在窗外告诫过,出门家要上锁,值钱的东西放在小偷够不着的地方。老太太说得挺离谱,却也是善意。惠美出门从来只是关了门,不上锁,因为科勒天天都在家里躺着。