# CHAPTER XXXI.—_Of the Danger of trusting banished Men._

The danger of trusting those who are in exile from their own country,
being one to which the rulers of States are often exposed, may, I
think, be fitly considered in these Discourses; and I notice it the
more willingly, because I am able to illustrate it by a memorable
instance which Titus Livius, though with another purpose, relates in
his history. When Alexander the Great passed with his army into Asia,
his brother-in-law and uncle, Alexander of Epirus, came with another
army into Italy, being invited thither by the banished Lucanians, who
gave him to believe that, with their aid, he might get possession of
the whole of that country. But when, confiding in the promises of these
exiles, and fed by the hopes they held out to him, he came into Italy,
they put him to death, their fellow-citizens having offered to restore
them to their country upon this condition. It behoves us, therefore, to
remember how empty are the promises, and how doubtful the faith, of men
in banishment from their native land. For as to their faith, it may be
assumed that whenever they can effect their return by other means than
yours, notwithstanding any covenants they may have made with you, they
will throw you over, and take part with their countrymen. And as for
the empty promises and delusive hopes which they set before you, so
extreme is their desire to return home that they naturally believe many
things which are untrue, and designedly misrepresent many others; so
that between their beliefs and what they say they believe, they fill
you with false impressions, on which if you build, your labour is in
vain, and you are led to engage in enterprises from which nothing but
ruin can result.

To this instance of Alexander I shall add only one other, that, namely,
of Themistocles the Athenian, who, being proclaimed a traitor, fled
into Asia to Darius, to whom he made such lavish promises if he would
only attack Greece, that he induced him to undertake the enterprise.
But afterwards, when he could not fulfil what he had promised, either
from shame, or through fear of punishment, he poisoned himself. But, if
such a mistake as this was made by a man like Themistocles, we may
reckon that mistakes still greater will be made by those who, being of
a feebler nature, suffer themselves to be more completely swayed by
their feelings and wishes Wherefore, let a prince be careful how he
embarks in any enterprise on the representations of an exile; for
otherwise, he is likely either to be put to shame, or to incur the
gravest calamities.

Because towns are sometimes, though seldom, taken by craft, through
secret practices had with their inhabitants, I think it not out of
place to discuss the matter in the following Chapter, wherein I shall
likewise show in how many ways the Romans were wont to make such
acquisitions.