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bedlamsbardI am reading Machiavelli for class again. I also appear to be going through and underlining stuff, and my brain is quietly compartmentalizing certain things as "Golden Age Narnia" and "Dust-era Calormen-ruled Narnia."
In the first category:
*You should never let things get out of hand in order to avoid war. You don't avoid such a war, you merely postpone it, to your own disadvantage.
*Whenever the enemies of a new state have occasion to attack it, they do so furiously, while its friends come only languidly to its defense, so that the venture and its supporters are likely to collapse together.
In the second:
*And man who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom, and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it. Because such a city, when it rebels, can always call on the name of liberty and its ancient ordinances, which no passage of time or bestowal of gifts can ever cause to be forgotten. No matter what measures one takes for the present or future, if one does not divide or disperse the inhabitants, they will never forget that name or those ordinances; and, at the slightest incident, they will instantly have recourse to them. [...] In republics, you will find greater life, greater hate, more desire of revenge; memories of ancient liberties cannot and will not give them any rest.
*Injuries should be committed all at once, because the less time there is to dwell on them, the less they offend; but benefits should be distributed very gradually, so the taste will last longer.
The effects of this on Dust and my Golden Age fic hould be interesting. Dust especially, though.
In the first category:
*You should never let things get out of hand in order to avoid war. You don't avoid such a war, you merely postpone it, to your own disadvantage.
*Whenever the enemies of a new state have occasion to attack it, they do so furiously, while its friends come only languidly to its defense, so that the venture and its supporters are likely to collapse together.
In the second:
*And man who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom, and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it. Because such a city, when it rebels, can always call on the name of liberty and its ancient ordinances, which no passage of time or bestowal of gifts can ever cause to be forgotten. No matter what measures one takes for the present or future, if one does not divide or disperse the inhabitants, they will never forget that name or those ordinances; and, at the slightest incident, they will instantly have recourse to them. [...] In republics, you will find greater life, greater hate, more desire of revenge; memories of ancient liberties cannot and will not give them any rest.
*Injuries should be committed all at once, because the less time there is to dwell on them, the less they offend; but benefits should be distributed very gradually, so the taste will last longer.
The effects of this on Dust and my Golden Age fic hould be interesting. Dust especially, though.