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Ancients and Moderns under the Empire of Circe: Machiavelli’s The Ass, Translation2 6 3As soon as I distanced myself from her,I was filled with thoughts by the arrowwhose wound I had cured thanks to her.25 And I was like one who is suspiciousof various things, and confuses himself,desiring the good that he does not anticipate.And because to one thought the other respondsmy mind raced to things past,30 that time thus far does not hide from us;here and there it discoursed rethinking,how the ancient peoples, high and famous,Fortune often now stroked and now bit;and it seemed so marvelous to me,35 that I wanted to converse with myself the causeof the variation of worldly things.That which ruins kingdoms from the highest hills,more than anything else, is this: that the powerfulare never satiated by their power.40 From this is born that those who have lostare discontented, and this awakens the desire toruin those who remain victorious;so it happens that one rises and the other dies;and he who has risen up, is ever consumed with45 new ambition or fear.This appetite destroys states:and what is all the more remarkable is that everyoneknows this error, yet no one escapes it.San Marco 9 impetuous and importunate,50 always believing he had the wind astern,did not take care to ruin each one;nor did he see that too much powerwas harmful, and that it would be bestto keep underwater both tail and croup.55 Often one has complained about the state he had,and, after the fact, then realized howto his own ruin and harm he increased it.Athens and Sparta, of which such great renown9St. Mark the Evangelist, patron saint of Venice. Here a metonym for the Republic of Venice.