# CHAPTER 31 — How Dangerous It Is to Believe Exiles

It does not seem beside the point to discuss somewhere in these discourses how dangerous a thing it is to believe those who have been driven from their native land, since those who rule states must deal with such matters everyday, and since this idea can be demonstrated with a memorable example cited by Livy in his histories, even though it was outside the scope of his topic. When Alexander the Great passed through Asia with his army, his brother-in-law and uncle Alexander of Epirus came into Italy with his troops, summoned by the exiled Lucanians, who gave him hope that with their help he could occupy that entire country. Whereupon, based upon their word and in that hope, he entered Italy and was killed by them once their fellow-citizens promised them they could return home if they murdered him. * One must consider, therefore, how vain are both the word and promises of those who find themselves deprived of their homeland. Accordingly, with respect to their word, it must be assumed that any time they can return to their native land by any other means than with your assistance, they will abandon you and draw near to others, notwithstanding whatever promises they have made to you. As for their vain promises and hopes, their desire to return home is so intense that they naturally believe many things which are false, and to them they add many things with guile, so that between the things they believe and the things they say they believe to fill you with hope, they fill you up with so much hope that if you rely upon it, you either incur expenses or undertake an enterprise in which you are ruined.

I want the previously mentioned example of Alexander to suffice, along with that of Themistocles of Athens, who, after being declared a rebel and fleeing to Darius in Asia, promised him so much, if he would attack Greece, that Darius undertook the invasion. Unable to keep these promises later on, Themistocles poisoned himself, either out of shame or for fear of retribution. * And if this error was committed by Themistocles, a man of great excellence, it must be assumed that those men of lesser ability who allow themselves to be pulled along by their desire and their passion make even more mistakes. A prince must, therefore, go slowly in undertaking actions based upon the report of an exile, because most often he will end up suffering either shame or very serious harm. And also, since taking cities by stealth or through intelligence from others on the inside rarely succeeds, it does not seem beside the point to discuss this subject in the following chapter, adding to this discussion material about the many methods by which the Romans acquired them.