《君主论·第十九章·应当避免受轻视与憎恨》第3节
But concerning his subjects, when affairs outside are disturbed he has only to fear that they will conspire secretly, from which a prince can easily secure himself by avoiding being hated and despised, and by keeping the people satisfied with him, which it is most necessary for him to accomplish, as I said above at length. And one of the most efficacious remedies that a prince can have against conspiracies is not to be hated and despised by the people, for he who conspires against a prince always expects to please them by his removal; but when the conspirator can only look forward to offending them, he will not have the courage to take such a course, for the difficulties that confront a conspirator are infinite. And as experience shows, many have been the conspiracies, but few have been successful; because he who conspires cannot act alone, nor can he take a companion except from those whom he believes to be malcontents, and as soon as you have opened your mind to a malcontent you have given him the material with which to content himself, for by denouncing you he can look for every advantage; so that, seeing the gain from this course to be assured, and seeing the other to be doubtful and full of dangers, he must be a very rare friend, or a thoroughly obstinate enemy of the prince, to keep faith with you.
注释摘要
在这一段里，马基雅维利把论述的重心从外部的军事威胁转向了内部的隐蔽危险：臣民的秘密阴谋。他的核心论点很直接：君主防止阴谋的最有效手段，不是密探和酷刑，而是避免被人民憎恨和蔑视。这个论证建立在他对密谋者心理的冷静计算之上。密谋者之所以敢冒险，是因为他预期除掉君主能讨好民众；如果民众非但不会欢庆，反而会愤怒，那密谋就失去了最根本的动力——没有人愿意冒杀身之祸去…