that
what is done from necessity involves neither censure nor applause;
therefore, if you should accuse us of having caused the present war, by
receiving the ducal forces into the city, and allowing them to commit
hostilities against the Florentines, you are greatly mistaken. You are
well acquainted with the ancient enmity of the Florentines against you,
which is not occasioned by any injuries you have done them, or by fear
on their part, but by our weakness and their own ambition; for the one
gives them hope of being able to oppress us, and the other incites them
to attempt it. It is then vain to imagine that any merit of yours can
extinguish that desire in them, or that any offense you can commit, can
provoke them to greater animosity. They endeavor to deprive you of your
liberty; you must resolve to defend it; and whatever they may undertake
against us for that purpose, although we may lament, we need not wonder.
We may well grieve, therefore, that they attack us, take possession of
our towns, burn our houses, and waste our country. But who is so simple
as to be surprised at it? for were it in our power, we should do just
the same to them, or even worse. They declare war against us now, they
say, for having received Niccolo; but if we had not received him, they
would have done the same and assigned some other ground for it; and if
the evil had been delayed, it would most probably have been greater.
Therefore, you must not imagine it to be occasioned by his arrival, but
rather by your own ill fortune and their ambition; for we could not have
refused admission to the duke's forces, and, being come, we could
not prevent their aggressions. You know, that without the aid of some
powerful ally we are incapable of self-defense, and that none can render
us this service more powerfully or faithfully than the duke. He restored
our liberty; it is reasonable to expect he will defend it. He has always
been the greatest foe of our inveterate enemies; if, therefore, to avoid
incensing the Florentines we had excited his anger, we should have lost
our best friend, and rendered our enemy more powerful and more disposed
to oppress us; so that it is far preferable to have this war upon our
hands, and enjoy the favor of the duke, than to be in peace without it.
Besides, we are justified in expecting that he will rescue us from the
dangers into which we are brought on his account, if we only do not
abandon our own cause. You all know how f