XVI. Generosity and Parsimony
Beginning, then, with the first of the qualities listed above, I say that it would be good to be held generous. Nevertheless, generosity used in such a way that you are held generous will harm you; for if it is used virtuously and as it should be used, it will not be recognized, and you will not escape the infamy of its opposite. And so, if you want to keep a name for generosity among men, you cannot leave out any kind of lavishness; so that a prince of this kind will always use up all his resources in such displays, and in the end, if he wants to keep his name for generosity, he will be forced to burden the people extraordinarily, to be grasping in taxation, and to do all the things one can do to get money. This will begin to make him hateful to his subjects, and, once he becomes poor, little esteemed by anyone; so that, having offended the many and rewarded the few with this generosity of his, he feels every first hardship and is endangered by every first danger. And when he realizes this and wants to draw back, he at once incurs the infamy of a miser.
A prince, then, since he cannot use this virtue of generosity in such a way that it is recognized without harm to himself, should not, if he is prudent, mind being called a miser. For with time he will come to be held more and more generous, when people see that because of his parsimony his revenues are enough for him, that he can defend himself against whoever makes war on him, and that he can undertake enterprises without burdening the people. So he comes to be generous toward all those from whom he does not take, who are countless, and miserly toward all those to whom he does not give, who are few. In our own times we have seen great things done only by those who were held to be misers; the others have been wiped out. Pope Julius II, after he had made use of a name for generosity to attain the papacy, did not think of keeping it afterward, so that he could make war. The present king of France has waged so many wars without imposing an extraordinary tax on his people, solely because his long parsimony has provided for the extra expenses.1 The present king of Spain, if he were held generous, would not have undertaken or won so many enterprises.
Therefore a prince should think little of being called a miser, so as not to have to rob his subjects, so as to be able to defend himself, so as not to become poor and contemptible, and so as not to be forced to become rapacious; for this is one of those vices that enable him to rule. And if someone should say that Caesar came to power through generosity, and that many others have risen to the highest ranks because they were and were held to be generous, I answer: either you are already a prince, or you are on the way to becoming one. In the first case this generosity is harmful; in the second it is indeed necessary to be held generous. And Caesar was one of those who wanted to attain the principate of Rome; but if he had survived after attaining it and had not moderated those expenses, he would have destroyed that empire. And if someone should reply that there have been many princes, held to be extremely generous, who have done great things with their armies, I answer: either the prince spends what is his own and his subjects’, or what belongs to others. In the first case he should be sparing; in the second he should not leave out any part of generosity. And the prince who goes out with his armies, who lives on plunder, sacking, and ransoms, and handles what belongs to others, needs this generosity; otherwise his soldiers would not follow him. And of what is not yours or your subjects’ you can be a more lavish giver, as Cyrus, Caesar, and Alexander were; because spending what belongs to others does not take reputation away from you but adds to it. Only spending your own is what harms you. And there is nothing that uses itself up as generosity does: while you practice it, you lose the means of practicing it, and you become either poor and contemptible or, to escape poverty, rapacious and hated. And among all the things a prince must guard against is being contemptible and hated, and generosity leads you to both. So it is wiser to keep the name of miser, which breeds infamy without hatred, than to be forced, because you want a name for generosity, to incur the name of rapacious, which breeds infamy with hatred.
Notes
1. Louis XII, king of France until January 1515.