《君主论·第七章·凭他人武力与命运获得的新君主国》第2节
“Le radici e corrispondenze,” their roots (i.e. foundations) and correspondencies or relations with other states—a common meaning of “correspondence” and “correspondency” in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Concerning these two methods of rising to be a prince by ability or fortune, I wish to adduce two examples within our own recollection, and these are Francesco Sforza and Cesare Borgia. Francesco, by proper means and with great ability, from being a private person rose to be Duke of Milan, and that which he had acquired with a thousand anxieties he kept with little trouble. On the other hand, Cesare Borgia, called by the people Duke Valentino, acquired his state during the ascendancy of his father, and on its decline he lost it, notwithstanding that he had taken every measure and done all that ought to be done by a wise and able man to fix firmly his roots in the states which the arms and fortunes of others had bestowed on him. Francesco Sforza, born 1401, died 1466. He married Bianca Maria Visconti, a natural daughter of Filippo Visconti, the Duke of Milan, on whose death he procured his own elevation to the duchy. Machiavelli was the accredited agent of the Florentine Republic to Cesare Borgia (1478-1507) during the transactions which led up to the assassinations of the Orsini and Vitelli at Sinigalia, and along with his letters to his chiefs in Florence he has left an account, written ten years before The Prince, of the proceedings of the duke in his “Descritione del modo tenuto dal duca Valentino nello ammazzare Vitellozzo Vitelli,” etc., a translation of which is appended to the present work.
注释摘要
马基雅维利在这里做了一个关键区分，他把凭借自身能力崛起的人和凭借他人武力或命运崛起的人，用两个同时代的意大利人物做了对比：一个是弗朗切斯科·斯福尔扎，另一个是切萨雷·博尔贾。这个对比直接服务于本章的核心论点，即靠运气和他人之力得到国家的人，上台容易守成难，除非他具备极其出众的能力，可以在事后紧急补打地基。 斯福尔扎是十五世纪意大利最成功的雇佣兵首领之一。他…