《君主论·第十四章·君主与军事》第4节
But to exercise the intellect the prince should read histories, and study there the actions of illustrious men, to see how they have borne themselves in war, to examine the causes of their victories and defeat, so as to avoid the latter and imitate the former; and above all do as an illustrious man did, who took as an exemplar one who had been praised and famous before him, and whose achievements and deeds he always kept in his mind, as it is said Alexander the Great imitated Achilles, Caesar Alexander, Scipio Cyrus. And whoever reads the life of Cyrus, written by Xenophon, will recognize afterwards in the life of Scipio how that imitation was his glory, and how in chastity, affability, humanity, and liberality Scipio conformed to those things which have been written of Cyrus by Xenophon. A wise prince ought to observe some such rules, and never in peaceful times stand idle, but increase his resources with industry in such a way that they may be available to him in adversity, so that if fortune chances it may find him prepared to resist her blows.
注释摘要
这一段讲的是君主在和平时期如何通过心智的锻炼来备战。马基雅维利在这里提出的方法不是闭门造车，而是阅读历史，研究那些杰出人物在战争中的作为，分析他们胜利与失败的原因。他建立了一条推理链条：历史提供了经过检验的成功与失败的案例库，君主通过研读这些案例，可以从中提炼出可模仿的法则，避免重蹈覆辙，主动塑造自己的行为模式。 他用了四个历史上环环相扣的模仿范例来支撑这…