# CHAPTER 57 — United the People Are Courageous, but Divided They Are Weak

After their native city had been destroyed following the invasion of the Gauls, many Romans went to live in Veii against the statutes and orders of the senate: to remedy this disorderly behaviour, the senate, through its public edicts, enjoined everyone to return to live in Rome within a certain time period and under certain penalties. At first these edicts were ridiculed by those against whom they were passed; later, when the time to obey them drew near, everyone obeyed. Livy offers these remarks: ‘their united defiance changed to individual obedience, everyone having fears for himself.’ * And truly, nothing can demonstrate the nature of a crowd any better, in this regard, than what is shown in this text. A crowd of people is audacious in speaking out on many occasions against the decisions of their ruler; then, when they see the penalty in sight, they do not trust each other and race to obey. Thus, it is quite evident that you should not give much consideration to what the people say concerning their good or bad inclinations as long as you are organized in such a way as to be able to maintain the people’s goodwill, if they are well disposed, or, if they are ill disposed, to make provisions so that they cannot harm you. This refers to those unfavourable inclinations that peoples possess, which arise from no other cause than either having lost their liberty or their prince whom they loved and who is still alive: inasmuch as unfavourable inclinations arising from these causes are formidable above all else, strong remedies are required to check them; other unfavourable inclinations of the people are easily remedied when they have no leaders to whom they may turn. Whereas, on the one hand, there is nothing more formidable than an uncontrolled crowd of people without a leader, still, on the other, there is nothing that is weaker, because despite the fact that the crowd may be armed, it will be easy to subdue it provided you have a place where you can take refuge from its first assault, because when their animosity cools down a bit and they all see that they must return home, they begin to have doubts about themselves and think about saving themselves, either by escaping or by coming to terms. Hence, a crowd of people excited in this fashion that wishes to avoid these dangers must immediately select from its own ranks a leader who will guide it, keep it united, and think about its defence, as Roman plebeians did when they left Rome after the death of Virginia, choosing twenty tribunes from their own ranks to save themselves. * If this is not done, then what Livy says in the passage cited above always happens: that all together the people are bold, but when each one then begins to think of the danger he faces, he becomes cowardly and weak.