In the first place care should be taken entirely to extinguish the family of the ancient sovereign; in the second, laws should not be changed, nor taxes increased." Thus Macchiavelli.

The second point is all that is excellent; the first is all that is wise--cold, horrible, and revolting though it be to our twentieth-century notions.
Cesare Borgia, as a matter of fact, hardly went so far as Macchiavelli advises.

He practised discrimination.

He did not, for instance, seek the lives of Pandolfaccio Malatesta, or of Caterina Sforza-Riario.

He saw no danger in their living, no future trouble to apprehend from them.