Niccolo` Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli sat down, observed, and produced common placed truths. That seems like a sensible statement to me. He thinks leaders should be both but since that is impossible fear should be the one of choice. I would have to say that I slightly disagree for the simple fact I believe if you pay someone enough money they would die fighting someone's war.

In matters of soldiers and war he lays out the difference between a Prince's own subjects (homeland troops) or mercenaries. "For love is held by the tie of obligation, which, because men are a sorry breed, is broken on every whisper of private interest; but fear is bound by the apprehension of punishment which never relaxes its grasp. Kerry and the comparison jumps out at you. "And this because they have no tie or motive to keep them in the field beyond their paltry pay , in return for which it would be too much to expect them to give their lives. If they fear you they are too afraid to do anything even if they no longer love you from fear of what you'll do to them. Every mercenary has a price to a certain extent or at least one would like to think that. He paints the mercenaries as unreliable and cowardly in battle.