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Conclusion
Machiavelli believed that diplomacy, unlike military service, was of no significance
for civic virtue, and that in foreign policy it was no substitute for arms and money.
Nevertheless, it enhanced the virt of even the strongest prince. It was for this and
other reasons that Machiavelli also believed that the good faith on which
negotiation depends wasgenerally observed. His view that promises need not
outlast the conditions that produce them is an escape clause that is equally
necessary. Machiavelli does not deserve the charge, laid at his door by Harold
Nicolson, of corrupting the art of diplomacy.
Houndmills,