But it is in the new monarchy that difficulties really exist. Firstly,
if it is not entirely new, but a member as it were of a mixed state,
its disorders spring at first from a natural difficulty which exists
in all new dominions, because men change masters willingly, hoping to
better themselves; and this belief makes them take arms against their
rulers, in which they are deceived, as experience shows them that they
have gone from bad to worse. This is the result of another very natural
cause, which is the necessary harm inflicted on those over whom the
prince obtains dominion, both by his soldiers and by an infinite number
of other injuries unavoidably caused by his occupation.
Thus you find enemies in all those whom you have injured by occupying
that dominion, and you cannot maintain the friendship of those who have
helped you to obtain this possession, as you will not be able to fulfil
their expectations, nor can you use strong measures with them, being
under an obligation to them; for which reason, however strong your
armies may be, you will always need the favour of the inhabitants to
take possession of a province. It was from these causes that Louis XII.
of France, though able to occupy Milan without trouble, immediately
lost it, and the forces of Ludovico alone were sufficient to take it
from him the first time, for the inhabitants who had willingly opened
their gates to him, finding themselves deluded in the hopes they had
cherished and not obtaining those benefits that they had anticipated,
could not bear the vexatious rule of their new prince.