Hobbes notes that there are three natural causes of conflict among people in the state of nature: distrust of one another, competition for limited resources, and glory (to preserve one's reputation): "So that in the nature of man, we find three principle causes of quarrel. ...
He also takes note of the fact that some leaders are much more talented in various aspects of ruling than others due to their own skills and abilities rather than good fortune. ... He mentions people such as King Agathocles, who obtained power through crime and was not revered as a pious figure. ... Public displays of joy and celebration are much more convincing of virtue than of punishment. ...
This is consistent with the belief that crimes have to be punished regardless of the personal and public merits of the criminal. "No ordered republic would all the demerits of its citizens to be cancelled out by their merits; but, having prescribed rewards for a good deed and punishments for a bad on and having rewarded someone for doing well, if the same person afterwards does wrong, it punishes him, regardless of any of the good deeds he has done" . ... In consonance with the strict observance of the rule of law, Machiavelli stresses that the administration of justice and punishment must b...
