Lehal Library

regard to this invitation to remain neutral, nothing could be more damaging to your interests: you’ll get no thanks, no consideration and will be taken as a reward by whoever wins.’ The contender who is not your ally will always try to get you to stay neutral and your ally will always try to get you to fight. Indecisive rulers who want to avoid immediate danger usually decide to stay neutral, and usually things end badly for them. But if you declare yourself courageously for one side or the other and your ally wins, he’ll be indebted to you and there’ll be a bond of friendship between you, so that even if he is more powerful now and has you at his mercy he’s not going to be so shameless as to take advantage of the circumstances and become an example of ingratitude. Vic- tories are never so decisive that the winner can override every principle, justice in particular. But if your ally loses, you’re still his friend and he’ll offer what help he can: you become companions in misfortune, and your luck could always turn. In the event that the two neighbours going to war are not so powerful that you need fear the winner, it is even more sensible to take sides and get involved: you’ll be destroying one with the help of another who, if he had any sense, would be protecting the loser. And when your ally wins, which with your help is inevitable, he’ll be at your mercy. Here it’s worth noting that a ruler must never ally himself with someone more powerful in order to attack his enemies, unless, as I said above, it is absolutely necessary. Because when you win you’ll be at your ally’s mercy, and whenever possible rulers must avoid placing themselves in another’s power. The Venetians allied themselves with France to attack the Duke of Milan. It was an alliance they could have avoided and it led to disaster. But when such an alliance can’t be avoided, as was the case with Florence when the pope and Spain took their armies to attack Lombardy, then a ruler must take sides for the reasons set out above. In general, a ruler must never imagine that any decision he takes is safe; on the