1 And the same was witnessed a few years ago in the case of the Venetians, whose city, had it not been girdled by the sea, must then have found its end.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XXX. 2 For standing on the extremity of a hill, named by the Genoese Codefa, which juts out into the sea, it commanded the whole harbour and the greater part of the town.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XXIV. 3 Whereupon, Alexander laughed, and leaving Mount Athos as it stood, built Alexandria; where, the fruitfulness of the soil, and the vicinity of the Nile and the sea, might attract many to take up their abode.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 1: CHAPTER I. 4 For Venice has been far feebler since she acquired Lombardy, and Florence since she acquired Tuscany, than when the one was content to be mistress of the seas, and the other of the lands lying within six miles from her walls.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER XIX. 5 For desiring to join battle, he bade the soothsayers take the auspices, and on their announcing that the fowls refused to feed, he answered, "Let us see, then, whether they will drink," and, so saying, caused them to be thrown into the sea.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 1: CHAPTER XIV. 6 In Italy, before the Romans became supreme, the Etruscans were very powerful, both by sea and land; and although we have no separate history of their affairs, we have some slight records left us of them, and some indications of their greatness.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER IV. 7 We know, for instance, that they planted a colony, to which they gave the name of Hadria, on the coast of the upper sea; which colony became so renowned that it lent its name to the sea itself, which to this day by the Latins is called the Hadriatic.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 2: CHAPTER IV. 8 And by reason of the prolonged tranquility which their position secured, they being protected by the narrow sea and by the circumstance that the tribes who then harassed Italy had no ships wherewith to molest them, they were able from very small beginnings to attain to that greatness they now enjoy.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 1: CHAPTER I. 9 For it may be expected that in some sea of disaster, when a State must always be wanting prudent counsels and in strength, it will become subject to some neighbouring and better-governed State; though assuming this not to happen, it might well pass for an indefinite period from one of these forms of government to another.
Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius By Niccolo MachiavelliContextHighlight In BOOK 1: CHAPTER II.