Nico Machiavelli discussing the cautious Roman general Fabius Maximus methods versus Scipio’s desire to take the fight back to Africa during the war with Hannibal and the invading Carthaginians:
…if it had been left to him, Hannibal would still be in Italy, for he did not see that times had changed, and that new methods of warfare were called for. So that, if Fabius had been king of Rome, he might easily have lost this war, since he was incapable of altering his methods according as circumstances changed. Since, however, he was born in a republic where there were diverse citizens with diverse dispositions, it came about that, just as it had a Fabius, who was the best man to keep the war going when circumstances required this, so later it has a Scipio at a time suited to its victorious consummation.
For this reason a republic has a fuller life and enjoys good fortune for a longer time than a principality, since it better able to adapt itself to diverse circumstances owing to the diversity found among its citizens than a prince can do. For a man who is accustomed to act in one particular way, never changes, as we have said. Hence, when times change and no longer suit his ways, he is inevitably ruined.
-- from The Discourses, “Adaptation to the Times”
Italics are mine.
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