The mercenary is the worst, because he’s unpredictable. He has been known to change sides, or leave the field, if the paychests don’t arrive on schedule. (Ask Charles the Bold of Burgundy about that.)
Or this gentleman;
Mercenary captains are either very capable men or not. If they are, you cannot rely upon them, for they will always aspire to their own greatness, either by oppressing you, their master, or by oppressing others against your intentions; but if the captain is not an able man, he will generally ruin you.
I say, therefore, that the arms with which a prince defends his state are either his own, or they are mercenaries, auxiliaries, or mixed. Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies; they have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men, and destruction is deferred only so long as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed by them, and in war by the enemy.
The fact is, they have no other attraction or reason for keeping the field than a trifle of stipend, which is not sufficient to make them willing to die for you. They are ready enough to be your soldiers whilst you do not make war, but if war comes they take themselves off or run from the foe; which I should have little trouble to prove, for the ruin of Italy has been caused by nothing else than by resting all her hopes for many years on mercenaries, and although they formerly made some display and appeared valiant amongst themselves, yet when the foreigners came they showed what they were.
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The mercenary is the worst, because he’s unpredictable. He has been known to change sides, or leave the field, if the paychests don’t arrive on schedule. (Ask Charles the Bold of Burgundy about that.)
Or this gentleman;
-Niccolo Machiavelli
clear ether
eon
He’s not connected to either left or right. So…..a man with no principles?
“A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything” -Malcolm X
Two-parter; 1). Copy that Ensign Nemo. Bad news. ( Charlie Brown UGH after football pull by Lucy ).
2). I still remember how Zed dealt with Skye and that yutso abuser boyfriend of hers, long, long ago. Forgot his name, (Carl?).
I’m just glad I had two sons and no daughters.
When they came home with ripped shirts, I got pissed at the $$ loss of garments.
This reaction would not be in that category if my daughter came home with a ripped shirt…