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the prince At a prearranged signal his soldiers moved in and killed all the senators and richest men in town. After this massacre Agathocles became King of Syracuse and held his throne without any resistance from the people. Twice defeated by the Carthaginians and then actually besieged, not only did he manage to defend his town but, leaving some men behind to resist the siege, he led the rest out of Syracuse to attack Africa. The siege was lifted and the Carthaginians pushed to the brink of collapse, at which point they accepted an agreement which allowed them to keep Africa and left Sicily to Agathocles. Looking at Agathocles’ life and achievements, you won’t find much that can be attributed to luck. As I said, he had no backers or benefactors when he took power but rose through the ranks, surviving all kinds of hardships and dangers. And when he’d got power he knew how to take tough, dangerous decisions to hold on to it. On the other hand, we can hardly describe killing fellow citizens, betraying friends and living without loyalty, mercy or creed as signs of talent. Methods like that may bring you power, but not glory. If you consider Agathocles’ ability to take risks and come out on top, and his remarkable spirit when it came to facing and overcoming obstacles, it’s hard to see why he isn’t rated as highly as the most outstanding military leaders. But his brutality, cruelty and inhumanity, together with the endless crimes he com- mitted, mean he has no place among the men we most admire. In conclusion, we can’t attribute Agathocles’ achievements to luck or to positive qualities, since he needed neither. In our own times, we have the example of Oliverotto, a man from the town of Fermo who lived during the papacy of Alexander VI. Orphaned of his father while still very young, Oliverotto was brought up by his uncle, Giovanni Fogliani, who had him join the army under Paulo Vitelli in the hope that, with military discipline, he would rise to a high rank. On Paulo’s death, Oliverotto served under his brother, Vitellozzo, and being very capable, with a strong personality and power-