XXVII. All the lessons however, which are given to Princes, should
be calculated to train them to, and make them enamoured with those
virtues, which may be of the most consequence, and the most useful
to them, both as Princes and men; above all, regard should be had,
as a matter of the utmost importance, to implanting in them, the
feelings of humanity and moderation of spirit, which virtues, as being
diametrically opposite to, are the best counterpoises to the vice of
ambition. Other vices may be prejudicial to themselves, or injurious
to particular individuals; but ambition, or the inordinate lust of
dominion and controul, are pernicious, and evils to a whole kingdom.
There is no doubt, but an unjust or a cruel Prince, is extremely
abhorrent, though with all this, if you attend to the mischief these
vices produce, you will find, that that occasioned by ambition, far
exceeds the other; for on account of its being most generally felt,
it is by far the greatest. Injustice and cruelty are exercised on
determined individuals, but ambition oppresses all. Or we should
express it better, by saying, the unjust and cruel, is cruel and unjust
to some particular people; but the ambitious is unjust and cruel to
the whole community. These are the ordinary steps and progressions
of ambition. It begins by injustice, goes on to rigour, and ends
with cruelty. The Prince is unjust to a state, who, by extending his
demands beyond the limits of right reason, is desirous of burthening
his subjects more than the rules of equity permit. But what follows
this oppressive mode of conduct? Why that the subjects, as soon as
it is introduced, begin to be dissatisfied and complain; and that
the Prince, regarding their complaints and applications for redress,
though couched in never so submissive terms, as affronts and injuries,
begins to direct chastisements. Measures of rigour are now determined
on; and what follows the execution of them? Why, that the clamours and
complaints grow louder, and that the cries of the oppressed in the ears
of the King, sound like the voice of rebellion. Upon this, the rigour,
under the colour of law and justice, is augmented, till it ascends
to the degree of cruelty; but in case things do not arrive at this
extremity, because fear suffocates in the breasts of the afflicted, the
voice of murmur; yet what greater torment can a man undergo, than that
of supporting a heavy yoke on his shoulders, and having at the same
time a cord drawn so tight round his neck, as to obstruct the relief of
a sigh? This then being a great martyrdom, the oppression which is the
cause of it, can’t fail of being a great cruelty.