The Book of the Courtier
with eager expectation for the debate appointed.
6.—Then messer Federico turned to the Unico, and said:
“So, my lord Unico, you do not think that a laborious part and a great
burden are imposed on me this evening, having to show in what way,
manner and time the Courtier ought to employ his good accomplishments
and practise those things that have been said to befit him?”
“It seems to me no great matter,” replied the Unico; “and I think it is
quite enough to say that the Courtier should have good judgment, as the
Count last evening rightly said he must; and this being so, I think that
without other precepts he ought to be able to use what he knows
seasonably and in a well bred way. To try to reduce this to more exact
rules would be too difficult and perhaps superfluous. For I know no man
so stupid as to wish to fence when others are intent on dancing; or to
go through the street dancing a morris-dance, however admirably he might
know how; or in trying to comfort a mother whose child has died, to
begin with pleasantries and witticism. Surely methinks no gentleman
would do this, who was not altogether a fool.”
Then messer Federico said:
“It seems to me, my lord Unico, that you run too much to extremes. For
one may sometimes be silly in a way that is not so easily seen, and
faults are not always of the same degree: and it may be that a man will
refrain from public and too patent folly,—such as that would be of which
you tell, to dance a morris-dance about the piazza,—and yet cannot
refrain from praising himself out of season, from displaying a tiresome
conceit, from occasionally saying something to cause laughter, which
falls cold and wholly flat from being said inopportunely. And these
faults are often covered by a kind of veil that does not suffer them to
be seen by him who commits them, unless he searches for them with care;
and although our eyes see little for many reasons, they most of all are
clouded by conceit, since everyone likes to make a show in that wherein
he believes himself proficient, whether his belief be true or false.
“Therefore it seems to me that the right course in this regard lies in a
certain prudent and judicious choice, and in discerning the more or less
which all things gain or lose by being done opportunely or out of
season. And although the Courtier may possess good enough judgment to
perceive these distinctions, yet I think it would surely be easier for
him to attain what he is seeking, if we were to broaden his mind by a
few precepts, and show him the way and as it were the foundations upon
which he must build,—than if he were to follow generalities only.
7.—“Last evening the Count spoke about Courtiership so fully and so
beautifully, that he has aroused in me no little fear and doubt whether
I shall be able to satisfy this noble company so well in what I have to
say, as he did in what it fell to him to say. Yet to make myself a
sharer in his fame as far as I can, and to be sure of avoiding this one
mistake at least, I shall contradict him in nothing.
“Accepting his opinions then, and among others his opinion as to the
Courtier’s noble birth, capacities, bodily form and grace of feature,—I
say that to win praise justly and good opinion from everyone and favour
from the princes whom he serves, I deem it necessary for the Courtier to
know how to dispose his whole life, and to make the most of his good
qualities in intercourse with all men everywhere, without exciting envy
thereby. And how difficult this in itself is, we may infer from the
fewness of those who are seen to reach the goal; for by nature we all
are more ready to censure mistakes than to praise things well done, and
many men, from a kind of innate malignity and although they clearly see
the good, seem to strive with every effort and pains to find either some
hidden fault in us or at least some semblance of fault.
“Thus it is needful for our Courtier to be cautious in his every action,
and always to mingle good sense with what he says or does. And let him
not only take care that his separate parts and qualities are excellent,
but let him order the tenour of his life in such fashion, that the whole
may be in keeping with these parts and be seen to be always and in
everything accordant with his own self and form one single body of all
these good qualities; so that his every act may be the result and
compound of all his faculties, as the Stoics say is the duty of him who
is wise.
“Still, although in every action one faculty is always chief, yet all
are so enlinked together, that they make for one end and may all further
and serve every purpose. Hence he must know how to make the most of
them, and by means of contrast and as it were foil to the one, he must
make the other more clearly seen;—like good painters, who display and
show forth the lights of projecting objects by the use of shadow, and
likewise deepen the shadows of flat objects by means of light, and so
assemble their divers colours that both the one and the other are better
displayed by reason of that diversity, and the placing of figures in
opposition one to another aids them to perform that office which is the
painter’s aim.
“Thus gentleness is very admirable in a man of noble birth who is
valiant and strong. And as his boldness seems greater when accompanied
by modesty, so his modesty is enhanced and set off by his boldness.[153]
Hence to speak little, to do much, and not to boast of praiseworthy
deeds but to conceal them tactfully,—enhances both these attributes in
the case of one who knows how to employ this method with discretion; and
so it is with all other good qualities.
“Therefore in what our Courtier does or says I would have him follow a
few universal rules, which I think comprise briefly all that I have to
say. And for the first and most important let him above all avoid
affectation, as the Count rightly advised last evening. Next let him
consider well what thing it is that he is doing or saying, the place
where he is doing it, in whose presence, the cause that impels him, his
age, his profession, the object he has in view, and the means that may
conduce thereto; and so, with these precautions let him apply himself
discreetly to whatever he has a mind to do or say.”
8.—After messer Federico had spoken thus, he seemed to pause a little.
Whereupon my lord Morello da Ortona at once said:
“These rules of yours teach little, it seems to me; and for my part I
know as much about it now, as I did before you propounded them. Still I
remember having heard them several times before also from the friars to
whom I made confession, and who called them ‘the circumstances,’ I
think.”
Then messer Federico laughed and said:
“If you remember rightly, the Count declared last evening that the
Courtier’s chief business should be that of arms, and spoke at length
about the way in which he ought to practise it; therefore we will not
repeat this. Yet among our rules we may also lay it down that when our
Courtier finds himself in a skirmish or action or battle, or in other
such affairs, he ought to arrange discreetly to withdraw from the crowd,
and to perform those glorious and brave deeds that he has to do, with as
little company as he can, and in sight of all the noblest and most
respected men in the army, and especially in the presence and (if it is
possible) before the very eyes of his king or of the prince whom he
serves; for in truth it is very proper to make the most of one’s good
deeds. And I think that just as it is wrong to seek false and unmerited
renown, so it is wrong also to defraud oneself of the honour that is
one’s due, and not to seek that praise which alone is the true reward of
worthy effort.
“And I remember having in my time known some men who were very stupid in
this regard, although valiant, and who put their lives as much in danger
to capture a flock of sheep, as to be the first to scale the walls of a
beleaguered town; which our Courtier will not do if he bears in mind the
motive that leads him into war, which should be honour only. And again
if he happens to be playing at arms in public shows,—such as jousts,
tourneys, stick-throwing, or any other bodily exercise,—mindful of the
place and presence in which he is, he will contrive to be not less
elegant and graceful than unerring with his weapons, and to feast the
spectators’ eyes with all those things which he thinks may give him an
added grace. He will take care that his horse is bravely caparisoned,
that his attire becomes him, that his mottoes are appropriate and his
devices clever, so that they may attract the eyes of the bystanders as
the loadstone attracts iron. He will never be among the last to show
themselves, knowing that the crowd and especially women gaze much more
attentively upon the first than upon the last; for their eyes and minds,
which at the start are eager for novelty and observe and are impressed
by every trifle, are afterwards not only sated by repetition but even
grow weary. Thus there was an excellent actor of ancient times, who for
this reason always wished to be the first to perform his part in the
play.
“So too, even in speaking of arms, our Courtier will have regard to the
profession of those with whom he converses, and will govern himself
accordingly,—speaking in one way with men and in another way with women.
And if he wishes to touch on something that is to his credit, he will do
so covertly, as if by chance in passing, and with the discreetness and
caution that Count Ludovico expounded to us yesterday.
9.—“Does it not seem to you now, my lord Morello, that our rules may
teach something? Does it not seem to you that our friend, of whom I was
telling you a few days since, quite forgot with whom and why he was
speaking, when to entertain a lady he had never seen before, he began
his talk by telling her that he had slain so many men, and that he was a
terrible fellow and knew how to handle a sword with both hands? Nor did
he leave her until he had tried to explain to her how certain blows of
the battle-axe ought to be parried when one is armed and how when
unarmed, and to show the different ways of grasping the handle; so that
the poor soul was on the rack, and thought the hour seemed a thousand
years before she could send him off, almost fearing that he would slay
her like the others. Such are the mistakes committed by those who pay no
regard to the ‘circumstances,’ of which you say you heard from the
friars.
“Next I say that of bodily exercises there are some that are almost
never practised except in public,—such as jousts, tourneys,
stick-throwing, and all the rest that have to do with arms. Hence when
our Courtier has to take part in these, he must first contrive to be so
well equipped in point of horses, weapons and dress, that he lacks
nothing. And if he does not feel himself well provided with everything,
let him on no account engage, for if he fails to do well, the excuse
cannot be made that these things are not his business. Then he must
carefully consider in whose presence he is seen and of what sort the
company is, for it would not be seemly for a gentleman to honour a
rustic festival with his presence, where the spectators and the company
are of low degree.”
10.—Then my lord Gaspar Pallavicino said:
“In our Lombard country we do not make these distinctions. On the
contrary, there are many young gentlemen who dance all day with peasants
in the sun on holidays, and play with them at throwing the bar,
wrestling, running and leaping. And I do not think it amiss, for there
the rivalry is not of birth, but of strength and agility, wherein
villagers are often quite a match for nobles; and this condescension
seems to have in it a pleasant touch of generosity.”
Messer Federico replied: