《君主论·第二十五章·命运在人事中的力量·如何抗衡》第4节
Pope Julius the Second went to work impetuously in all his affairs, and found the times and circumstances conform so well to that line of action that he always met with success. Consider his first enterprise against Bologna, Messer Giovanni Bentivogli being still alive. The Venetians were not agreeable to it, nor was the King of Spain, and he had the enterprise still under discussion with the King of France; nevertheless he personally entered upon the expedition with his accustomed boldness and energy, a move which made Spain and the Venetians stand irresolute and passive, the latter from fear, the former from desire to recover the kingdom of Naples; on the other hand, he drew after him the King of France, because that king, having observed the movement, and desiring to make the Pope his friend so as to humble the Venetians, found it impossible to refuse him. Therefore Julius with his impetuous action accomplished what no other pontiff with simple human wisdom could have done; for if he had waited in Rome until he could get away, with his plans arranged and everything fixed, as any other pontiff would have done, he would never have succeeded. Because the King of France would have made a thousand excuses, and the others would have raised a thousand fears. I will leave his other actions alone, as they were all alike, and they all succeeded, for the shortness of his life did not let him experience the contrary; but if circumstances had arisen which required him to go cautiously, his ruin would have followed, because he would never have deviated from those ways to which nature inclined him.
注释摘要
马基雅维利在这一节里想要证明一个核心论点：君主能否成功，最终取决于他的行动方式是否与时代的特性相契合，而人的天性让他极难主动改变一贯的作风。他用教皇尤利乌斯二世的整个执政经历来充当正面例证，随后又点明这个例子的反面风险，构成一个完整的推理链条。他的论证是这样展开的：尤利乌斯二世在所有事务上都表现得急躁而勇猛，碰巧当时的时局和条件正好适合这种冲动做派，所以他…