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On The Art of War

Niccolo Machiavelli

On The Art of War

Table of Contents

On The Art of War .............................................................................................................................................1

Niccolo Machiavell. ................................................................................................................................1

PREFACE. ...............................................................................................................................................1

FIRST BOOK. ........................................................................................................................................2

SECOND BOOK. .................................................................................................................................16

THIRD BOOK. .....................................................................................................................................31

FOURTH BOOK. .................................................................................................................................42

FIFTH BOOK. ......................................................................................................................................48

SIXTH BOOK. .....................................................................................................................................56

SEVENTH BOOK. ...............................................................................................................................68

On The Art of War

Niccolo Machiavelli

· Book I

Preface

· Book II

· Book III

· Book IV

· Book V

· Book VI

· Book VII

PREFACE

Many, Lorenzo, have held and still hold the opinion, that there is nothing which has less in common with

another, and that is so dissimilar, as civilian life is from the military. Whence it is often observed, if anyone

designs to avail himself of an enlistment in the army, that he soon changes, not only his clothes, but also his

customs, his habits, his voice, and in the presence of any civilian custom, he goes to pieces; for I do not

believe that any man can dress in civilian clothes who wants to be quick and ready for any violence; nor can

that man have civilian customs and habits, who judges those customs to be effeminate and those habits not

conducive to his actions; nor does it seem right to him to maintain his ordinary appearance and voice who,

with his beard and cursing, wants to make other men afraid: which makes such an opinion in these times to be

very true. But if they should consider the ancient institutions, they would not find matter more united, more

in conformity, and which, of necessity, should be like to each other as much as these (civilian and military);

for in all the arts that are established in a society for the sake of the common good of men, all those

institutions created to (make people) live in fear of the laws and of God would be in vain, if their defense had

not been provided for and which, if well arranged, will maintain not only these, but also those that are not

well established. And so (on the contrary), good institutions without the help of the military are not much

differently disordered than the habitation of a superb and regal palace, which, even though adorned with

jewels and gold, if it is not roofed over will not have anything to protect it from the rain. And, if in any other

institutions of a City and of a Republic every diligence is employed in keeping men loyal, peaceful, and full

of the fear of God, it is doubled in the military; for in what man ought the country look for greater loyalty

than in that man who has to promise to die for her? In whom ought there to be a greater love of peace, than in

him who can only be injured by war? In whom ought there to be a greater fear of God than in him who,

undergoing infinite dangers every day, has more need for His aid? If these necessities in forming the life of

the soldier are well considered, they are found to be praised by those who gave the laws to the Commanders

and by those who were put in charge of military training, and followed and imitated with all diligence by

others.

But because military institutions have become completely corrupt and far removed from the ancient ways,

these sinister opinions have arisen which make the military hated and intercourse with those who train them

avoided. And I, judging, by what I have seen and read, that it is not impossible to restore its ancient ways and

return some form of past virtue to it, have decided not to let this leisure time of mine pass without doing

something, to write what I know of the art of war, to the satisfaction of those who are lovers of the ancient

deeds. And although it requires courage to treat of those matters of which others have made a profession,

none the less, I do not believe that it is a mistake to occupy a position with words, which may, with greater

presumption, have been occupied with deeds; for the errors which I should make in writing can be corrected

On The Art of War

On The Art of War

without injury to anyone, but those which are made with deeds cannot be found out except by the ruin of the

Commanders.

You, Lorenzo, will therefore consider the quality of these efforts of mine, and will give in your judgement of

them that censure or praise which will appear to you to be merited. I send you these, as much as to show

myself grateful for all the benefits I have received from you, although I will not include in them the (review)

of this work of mine, as well as also, because being accustomed to honor similar works of those who shine

because of their nobility, wealth, genius, and liberality, I know you do not have many equals in wealth and

nobility, few in ingenuity, and no one in liberality.

ON THE ART OF WAR BY

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

CITIZEN AND SECRETARY OF FLORENCE TO

LORENZO DI FILIPPO STROZZI,

A GENTLEMEN OF FLORENCE

FIRST BOOK

As I believe that it is possible for one to praise, without concern, any man after he is dead since every reason

and supervision for adulation is lacking, I am not apprehensive in praising our own Cosimo Ruccelai, whose

name is never remembered by me without tears, as I have recognized in him those parts which can be desired

in a good friend among friends and in a citizen of his country. For I do not know what pertained to him more

than to spend himself willingly, not excepting that courage of his, for his friends, and I do not know of any

enterprise that dismayed him when he knew it was for the good of his country. And I confess freely not to

have met among so many men whom I have known and worked with, a man in whom there was a mind more

fired with great and magnificent things. Nor does one grieve with the friends of another of his death, except

for his having been born to die young unhonored within his own home, without having been able to benefit

anyone with that mind of his, for one would know that no one could speak of him, except (to say) that a good

friend had died. It does not remain for us, however, or for anyone else who, like us, knew him, to be able

because of this to keep the faith (since deeds do not seem to) to his laudable qualities. It is true however, that

fortune was not so unfriendly to him that it did not leave some brief memory of the dexterity of his genius, as

was demonstrated by some of his writings and compositions of amorous verses, in which (as he was not in

love) he (employed as an) exercise in order not to use his time uselessly in his juvenile years, in order that

fortune might lead him to higher thoughts. Here, it can be clearly comprehended, that if his objective was

exercise, how very happily he described his ideas, and how much he was honored in his poetry. Fortune,

however, having deprived us of the use of so great a friend, it appears to me it is not possible to find any other

better remedy than for us to seek to benefit from his memory, and recover from it any matter that was either

keenly observed or wisely discussed. And as there is nothing of his more recent than the discussions which

the Lord Fabrizio Colonna had with him in his gardens, where matters pertaining to war were discussed at

length by that Lord, with (questions) keenly and prudently asked by Cosimo, it seemed proper to me having

been present with other friends of ours, to recall him to memory, so that reading it, the friends of Cosimo who

met there will renew in their minds the memory of his virtue, and another part grieving for not having been

there, will learn in part of many things discussed wisely by a most sagacious man useful not only to the

military way of life, but to the civilian as well. I will relate, therefore, how Fabrizio Colonna, when he

returned from Lombardy where he had fought a long time gloriously for the Catholic King, decided to pass

through Florence to rest several days in that City in order to visit His Excellency the Duke, and see again

several gentlemen with whom he had been familiar in the past. Whence it appeared proper to Cosimo to

invite him to a banquet in his gardens, not so much to show his generosity as to have reason to talk to him at

length, and to learn and understand several things from him, according as one can hope to from such a man,

FIRST BOOK

On The Art of War

for it appeared to him to give him an opportunity to spend a day discussing such matters as would satisfy his

mind.

Fabrizio, therefore, came as planned, and was received by Cosimo together with several other loyal friends of

his, among whom were Zanobi Buondelmonti, Battista Della Palla, and Luigi Alamanni, young men most

ardent in the same studies and loved by him, whose good qualities, because they were also praised daily by

himself, we will omit. Fabrizio, therefore, was honored according to the times and the place, with all the

highest honors they could give him. As soon as the convivial pleasures were past and the table cleared and

every arrangement of feasting finished, which, in the presence of great men and those who have their minds

turned to honorable thoughts is soon accomplished, and because the day was long and the heat intense,

Cosimo, in order to satisfy their desire better, judged it would be well to take the opportunity to escape the

heat by leading them to the more secret and shadowy part of his garden: when they arrived there and chairs

brought out, some sat on the grass which was most fresh in the place, some sat on chairs placed in those parts

under the shadow of very high trees; Fabrizio praised the place as most delightful, and looking especially at

the trees, he did not recognize one of them, and looked puzzled. Cosimo, becoming aware of this said:

Perhaps you have no knowledge of some of these trees, but do not wonder about them, because here are some

which were more widely known by the ancients than are those commonly seen today. And giving him the

name of some and telling him that Bernardo, his grandfather, had worked hard in their culture, Fabrizio

replied: I was thinking that it was what you said I was, and this place and this study make me remember

several Princes of the Kingdom, who delighted in their ancient culture and the shadow they cast. And

stopping speaking of this, and somewhat upon himself as though in suspense, he added: If I did not think I

would offend you, I would give you my opinion: but I do not believe in talking and discussing things with

friends in this manner that I insult them. How much better would they have done (it is said with peace to

everyone) to seek to imitate the ancients in the strong and rugged things, not in the soft and delicate, and in

the things they did under the sun, not in the shadows, to adopt the honest and perfect ways of antiquity, not

the false and corrupt; for while these practices were pleasing to my Romans, my country (without them) was

ruined. To which Cosimo replied (but to avoid the necessity of having to repeat so many times who is

speaking, and what the other adds, only the names of those speaking will be noted, without repeating the

others). Cosimo, therefore, said: You have opened the way for a discussion which I desired, and I pray you to

speak without regard, for I will question you without regard; and if, in questioning or in replying, I accuse or

excuse anyone, it will not be for accusing or excusing, but to understand the truth from you.

FABRIZIO: And I will be much content to tell you what I know of all that you ask me; whether it be true or

not, I will leave to your judgement. And I will be grateful if you ask me, for I am about to learn as much from

what you ask me, as you will from me replying to you, because many times a wise questioner causes one to

consider many things and understand many others which, without having been asked, would never have been

understood.

COSIMO: I want to return to what you first were saying, that my grandfather and those of yours had more

wisely imitated the ancients in rugged things than in delicate ones, and I want to excuse my side because I

will let you excuse the other (your side). I do not believe that in your time there was a man who disliked

living as softly as he, and that he was so much a lover of that rugged life which you praise: none the less he

recognized he could not practice it in his personal life, nor in that of his sons, having been born in so

corrupted an age, where anyone who wanted to depart from the common usage would be deformed and

despised by everyone. For if anyone in a naked state should thrash upon the sand under the highest sun, or

upon the snow in the most icy months of winter, as did Diogenes, he would be considered mad. If anyone

(like the Spartan) should raise his children on a farm, make them sleep in the open, go with head and feet

bare, bathe in cold water in order to harden them to endure vicissitudes, so that they then might love life less

and fear death less, he would be praised by few and followed by none. So that dismayed at these ways of

living, he presently leaves the ways of the ancients, and in imitating antiquity, does only that which he can

with little wonderment.

FIRST BOOK

Niccolo Machiavelli - On The Art of War.pdf

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