they muft become a prey to any that would attack them. Thcfe things in the ^ear lapj.. were the occadoii of thofe flights, and fears, and depredatiohs, by which three of the moU potent States in Italy were frequerJtly dedroyed. But the worft is, they which remain, continue in the fame errors, and live in the fame diforder, without any confiderati'on rliac thofe who formerly defired to prefcrve their Dominions, did all that I have prefcribfed this day; and that their whole ftudy was to aecullom theitifelves both minds and bodies to labour, to trouble, and defpifing of danger. And this was the caufe thatC^/^/-, Alexander ^ and all the valiant and brave Princes were always at the head of their Armies, compleacly armed and on foot, and rather than lofe their flates they v/ould lofe their lives; fo as they Jived and dyed with a gre?t deal of honoars And though perhaps fome of them might be condemned for their ambition, and exor^ bitanc delirfe to reign j yet they could never be accufed of effeminacy, or doing any thing that might render fhem delicate and unmanly. Which paffages if they were read and believed by the Princes of our times, it would be impoffible but they muft alter their courfe of life, and their Provinces their fortune. But becaufe in the beginning of our difcourfe you complained of your Militia, I tell you, that if you have ordered it accord- ing to my abovefaid diredion, and it has not anfwered your expeftation, you have reafon to complain; but it be not ordered and exercifed according to my rules, the complaint lyes more properly againll you, who has made it rather an abortion, than a perfeft ptodudion. The Venettaasy and the Duke of Ferrara began very well, but they did not perfevere, and it was imputable rather to themfelves, than their Soldiers. And let me affirm this to you for a truth, and among all the prcfent Princes of Italy^ he who takes his way firff, and obferves thefe rules and thefe orders, fliall make himfelf greater than any Prince in that Country; and it fh^ll happen to his SubjeSs as to thd Kingdom of Macedon, which falling under the Dominion of King P/)/7//>, was improved to that height by this order and exercife (whilft the refl of Greece were idle, and if employed at all, it was in following Plays and Balls, andfuch effeminate entertainments) that in a few years time he was able to conquer the whole Country, and leave a foundation td his Son to make himfelf Monarch of the whole world. He then who dcfpifes this Do* ftrine, if he be a Prince defpifes his own Principality; and if a Citizen, his own City. And in this I cannot but complain of Nature, whofliould either have not fuffered me to have known thefe things; or have given me power to have executed them, which is a thing I can never hope for now, as growing old, and towards the end of ray days. For this reafon I have difcourfed the more frankly v/ith you who are young, and fo qualifi- ed that you may be able (if you be fatisfied with what is faid) to give the fame Coun- cil to your own Princes when occafion fhall be offered, and I hope with fuccefs; and of this I beg you would not difpond; for this Province feems to have a peculiar faculty of reviving things that are dead, as it has done Poetry, and Painting, and Sculpture; though for ray own part I cannot expeft to fee it, as having one foot already in the grave. Certainly had fortune indulged me in my young days, fo far as to have afforded fo much Territory as fuch an enterprize required, I believe in a ftort time I would have demonflrated to the world the power and eiEcacy of the orders of the Ancients, by means of which Ifhould have enlarged my Dominions with honour, or loft them without ftame^