He called for his secretary, a shrewd priest named Fra Giovanni.
Fra Giovanni smiled thinly. “It is new, my lord—new to you. Hereditary princes have it easy. The bloodline keeps the people loyal. But you… you are a new prince in an old state. That is the most fragile kind.” el principe capitulo 1
That night, Marco did not sleep. He wrote a list: allies to reward, enemies to crush, walls to rebuild. By dawn, he had learned the first lesson of El Príncipe —all states are either republics or principalities, and his was now a new principality, held by his own virtue and fortune. He called for his secretary, a shrewd priest
But fortune, he knew, was a woman who favored the bold. Hereditary princes have it easy
But as Marco walked through the empty halls, he felt no triumph—only a gnawing unease.
“Tell me,” Marco said, pouring two cups of dark wine. “Is this a hereditary principality or a new one? My uncle ruled forty years, but I am not his son.”