Lehal Library

man of spirit who knows how to lead and doesn’t panic when things get tough, a man who takes the right precautions and whose personality and style of government keeps everybody in a positive state of mind, then the people will never let him down and time will show what solid foundations he laid. This kind of ruler is most at risk when passing from publicly supported leadership to absolute rule. At this point he either commands directly himself or gives orders by proxy through magistrates. If he’s ruling by proxy he’ll be weaker and exposed to greater risks, since he now depends entirely on the good will of the men appointed as magistrates and they can very easily strip him of his power, particularly when times are hard, either by attacking him directly or by just not carrying out his orders. Once the trouble has begun, the ruler won’t have time to take absolute command himself because his citizens and subjects will be used to taking orders from magis- trates and they aren’t going to start obeying him in a moment of crisis; so when he’s up against it, he’ll always be struggling to find anyone he can trust. A ruler in this position mustn’t count on what he sees when things are going well and the citizens need his government. Then everybody comes running, everyone is promising this and that, everyone is ready to die for him, since there is no question of dying. But when things get tough and it’s the government that needs the citizens, then hardly anyone shows. And what’s so dangerous about a critical moment like this is that you only get one shot at it. So if he’s sensible the ruler must work out a situation where his citizens will always need both his government and him, however well or badly things are going. Then they will always be loyal.