It is also
much better for those tyrants who quit their kingdom to do this than
to leave behind them money they have hoarded up; for their regents
will be much less desirous of making innovations, and they are more to
be dreaded by absent tyrants than the citizens; for such of them as he
suspects he takes with him, but these regents must be left behind. He
should also endeavour to appear to collect such taxes and require such
services as the exigencies of the state demand, that whenever they are
wanted they may be ready in time of war; and particularly to take care
that he appear to collect and keep them not as his own property, but
the public's. His appearance also should not be severe, but
respectable, so that he should inspire those who approach him with
veneration and not fear; but this will not be easily accomplished if
he is despised. If, therefore, he will not take the pains to acquire
any other, he ought to endeavour to be a man of political abilities,
and to fix that opinion of himself in the judgment of his subjects. He
should also take care not to appear to be guilty of the least offence
against modesty, nor to suffer it in those under him: nor to permit
the women of his family to treat others haughtily; for the haughtiness
of women has been the ruin of many tyrants. With respect to the
pleasures of sense, he ought to do directly contrary to the practice
of some tyrants at present; for they do not only continually indulge
themselves in them for many days together, but they seem also to
desire to have other witnesses of it, that they may wonder at their
happiness; whereas he ought really to be moderate in these, and, if
not, to appear to others to avoid them-for it is not the sober man who
is exposed either to plots or contempt, but the drunkard; not the
early riser, but the sluggard.
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