Milverto?i. I will not molest you with more
than one ; here it is.
" Che to assaltare una citta disunita, per occu-
parla mediante la sua disunione, e partito con-
trario"

" That to besiege a disunited city, in order to



AND GENERAL CULTURE. 119

occupy it by means of its disunion, is an unwise



course."



You will admit, I believe, that it is probable
that not a little wisdom bearing upon the present
siege of Paris may be extracted from this chapter.
Machiavelli gives several examples to prove the
truth of his assertion, and concludes by adducing
the contests of Philip Visconti, Duke of Milan,
with the Florentines, in which contests he
always relied much upon their disunion. At last,
grieving over these military undertakings of his,
he exclaimed that the factions of Florence had
made him expend uselessly " two millions of
gold." I suppose he means two millions of
ducats.
Ellesmere. Come here, Fairy. No : you
needn't kiss me so much. I am not proud of
being kissed, even by the most charming of
does. She shall have a new collar, she shall ;
and without any expense to her master. I must
own, Milverton, that this Machiavelli of yours
appears to be a very fine fellow, and that his
writings, as is the case with the writings of all
the greatest men, have a perennial meaning and
application. Now I have given up handsomely,
have I not ? Your success in this bet has made



120 CONVERSATIONS ON WAR

me anxious to hear the question which you were
about to put before us at the beginning of this
conversation, but which you thought we were
scarcely worthy to hear, and which you longed
to discuss with your beloved Florentine.
