alled, but for the rest of his life honoured as
a prince. But the ingratitude shown towards Scipio arose from the
suspicion wherewith the citizens came to regard him, which they had
not felt in the case of the others, and which was occasioned by the
greatness of the enemy whom he had overthrown, the fame he had won by
prevailing in so dangerous and protracted a war, the suddenness of his
victories, and, finally, the favour which his youth, together with his
prudence and his other memorable qualities had gained for him. These
qualities were, in truth, so remarkable that the very magistrates,
not to speak of others, stood in awe of his authority, a circumstance
displeasing to prudent citizens, as before unheard of in Rome. In short,
his whole bearing and character were so much out of the common, that
even the elder Cato, so celebrated for his austere virtue, was the first
to declare against him, saying that no city could be deemed free which
contained a citizen who was feared by the magistrates. And since, in
this instance, the Romans followed the opinion of Cato, they merit that
excuse which, as I have said already, should be extended to the prince
or people who are ungrateful through suspicion.

In conclusion it is to be said that while this vice of ingratitude has
its origin either in avarice or in suspicion, commonwealths are rarely
led into it by avarice, and far seldomer than princes by suspicion,
having, as shall presently be shown, far less reason than princes for
suspecting.

[Footnote 1: Proclivius est injuriae quam beneficio vicem exsolvere, quia
gratia oneri, ultio in quastu habetur. _Tacit. Hist._ iv. 2.]

CHAPTER XXX.--_How Princes and Commonwealths may avoid the vice of
Ingratitude; and how a Captain or Citizen may escape being undone by
it._

That he may not be tormented by suspicion, nor show ungrateful, a prince
should go himself on his wars as the Roman emperors did at first, as the
Turk does now, and, in short, as all valiant princes have done and do.
For when it is the prince himself who conquers, the glory and the gain
are all his own; but when he is absent, since the glory is another's, it
will seem to the prince that he profits nothing by the gain, unless that
glory be quenched which he knew not how to win for himself; and when he
thus becomes ungrateful and unjust, doubtless his loss is greater than
his gain. To the prince, therefore, who, either through indolence or
from want of foresight