He of a private man, became Prince of siracusa, nor knew he any other ayd of fortune than the occasion: for the siracusans being oppress'd, made choyce of him for their Captain, whereupon he deserv'd to be made their Prince: and he was of such vertue even in his private fortune, that he who writes of him, sayes, he wanted nothing of reigning, but a Kingdom; this man extinguish'd all the old soldiery, ordaind the new; left the old allyances, entertained new; and as he had friendship, and soldiers that were his own, upon that ground he was able to build any edifice; so that he indured much trouble in gaining, and suffered but little in maintaining.
"Machiavelli, Volume I The Art of War; and The Prince"
Niccolò Machiavelli
Agathocles the Sicilian, not of a private man onely, but from a base and abject fortune, got to be King of siracusa.
"Machiavelli, Volume I The Art of War; and The Prince"
Niccolò Machiavelli