# CHAPTER 32 — A Republic or a Prince Should Not Delay in Rewarding Men Even in Situations of Necessity

The Romans happily succeeded in being generous to the populace once danger arose, and when Porsenna came to attack Rome to restore the Tarquins, (even though the senate, suspecting that the plebeians preferred to accept the kings rather than to sustain a war, relieved them of the duty on salt and all other taxes to secure their favour, stating that the poor did enough to benefit the public by feeding their children), the plebeians exposed themselves to enduring siege, famine, and war in order to gain these benefits. But let no one, relying upon this example, defer winning popular support during periods of danger; what worked for the Romans will never work for you, because people in general will decide that they gained this favour not from you but from your adversaries, and since they must fear that after the danger has passed you will take back from them what you have been forced to give them, they will feel no obligation to you whatsoever. This policy succeeded for the Romans because their government was new and not yet stabilized; the people had seen how earlier laws were passed for their benefit, such as the right of appeal to the plebeians, and they could therefore persuade themselves that this benefit had been bestowed upon them not so much because of the enemy’s arrival but rather because of the senate’s inclination to help them. Besides this, their memory of the kings by whom they had been scorned and abused in many ways was still fresh. Because similar circumstances rarely occur, it will rarely occur that similar remedies are of much use. Any type of state, therefore, whether a republic or a principality, must consider in advance what kinds of adverse times are likely to befall it and what kinds of men it is likely to need in adverse times, and then it must live with them in the way it deems necessary no matter what occurs. Any state, whether republic or principality but especially a principality, that acts otherwise and really believes it can win men back with benefits the instant danger arises deceives itself, because not only will this fail to make the state secure, but it will accelerate its own ruin.