单项选择题

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No man has been more harshly judged than Machiavelli，especially in the two centuries following his death.But he has since found many able champions and the tide has turned.The Prince has been termed a manual for tyrants，the effect of which has been most harmful.But were Machiavelli’s doctrines really new? Did he discover them?He merely had the frankness and courage to write down what everybody was thinking and what everybody knew.He merely gives us the impressions he had received from a long and intimate inter— course with princes and the affairs of state.It was Lord Bacon who said that Machiavelli tells us what princes do，not what they ought to d0.When Machiavelli takes Caesar Borgia as a model，he does not praise him as a hero at all，but merely as a prince who was capable of attaining the end in view.The life of the state was the primary object.It must be maintained.And Machiavelli has laid down the principles，based upon his study andwide experience，by which this may be accomplished.He wrote from the viewpoint of the politician—— not llot of the moralist.What is good politics may be bad morals，and in fact，by a strange fatality，where morals and politics clash，the latter generally gets the upper hand.And will anyone contend that the principles set brth by Machiavelli in his Prince or his Discourses have entirely perished from the earth?Has diplomacy been entirely stripped of fraud and duplicity?Let anyone read the famous eighteenth chapter of the Prince：“In what Manner Princes should Keep their Faith.”and he will be convinced that what was true nearly four hundred years ago，is quite as true today.
Of the remaining works of Machiavelli the most important is the History of Florence written between1521 and l525，and dedicated to ClementⅦ.This book is merely a rapid review of the Middle Ages，and as part of it the history of Florence.Machiavelli’s method has been criticized for adhering at times too closely to the chroniclers of his time，and at others rejecting their testimony without apparent reason，while in its details the authority of his History is often questionable.It is the straightforward，logical narrative，which always holds the interest of the reader。that is the greatest charm of the History.

In the case of Caesar Borgia, the author holds that（）

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