Lehal Library

States won by the new ruler’s own forces and abilities In the following discussion dealing with states where both the ruler and the form of government are entirely new, no one should be surprised if I choose to cite the most impressive examples. The fact is that although people almost always proceed by imitation, following in another man’s footsteps, you can never tread a model’s path or reproduce his qualities exactly. So, if you’re sensible, you set out to follow a trail blazed by someone who was truly great, someone really worth imitating, so that even if you’re not on the same level yourself at least you’ll reflect a little of his brilliance. It’s like the clever archer who senses that his target is too far off, knows the limitations of his bow, and so aims far higher than he nor- mally would, not because he really wants his arrow to go that high, but to have it fall from a height on to his target. So let’s start by saying that when it comes to entirely new regimes where a new ruler has seized the state, the ease or difficulty of his staying in power will be in proportion to his abilities or failings. And since you can’t go from being an ordinary citizen to a ruler without either talent or favourable circumstances, we must suppose that one or the other of counteracting these factors will be offsetting, at least in part, a great many difficulties. That said, those who haven’t relied too much on lucky circumstances have lasted longer. Another positive factor is that since in this case the ruler doesn’t already possess another state, he will be forced to live in his new territory.