《君主论·第十七章·残酷与仁慈·被爱戴与被畏惧孰优》第3节
Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women. But when it is necessary for him to proceed against the life of someone, he must do it on proper justification and for manifest cause, but above all things he must keep his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony. Besides, pretexts for taking away the property are never wanting; for he who has once begun to live by robbery will always find pretexts for seizing what belongs to others; but reasons for taking life, on the contrary, are more difficult to find and sooner lapse. But when a prince is with his army, and has under control a multitude of soldiers, then it is quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty, for without it he would never hold his army united or disposed to its duties.
注释摘要
在这一段里，马基雅维利开始精细地处理一个核心难题：既然君主让人畏惧比让人爱戴更安全，那这种畏惧的边界在哪里？他的回答很明确，畏惧必须被控制在不会滑向憎恨的范围内。君主可以承受被视为严厉乃至残酷的名声，只要他避免侵犯臣民的财产和妻女。这是一个非常具体的、几乎可以量化的界限。马基雅维利在此显露出他对十五、十六世纪意大利城邦和王国政治现实的冷酷观察：对普通人而言…