The Book of the Courtier
pleasantness, and shrewdness and knowledge of letters and many other
things,—the Courtier will in every case be able deftly to show the
prince how much honour and profit accrue to him and his from justice,
liberality, magnanimity, gentleness, and the other virtues that become a
good prince; and on the other hand how much infamy and loss proceed from
the vices opposed to them. Therefore I think that just as music,
festivals, games, and the other pleasant accomplishments are as it were
the flower, in like manner to lead or help one’s prince towards right,
and to frighten him from wrong, are the true fruit of Courtiership.
“And since the merit of well-doing lies chiefly in two things, one of
which is the choice of an end for our intentions that shall be truly
good, and the other ability to find means suitable and fitting to
conduce to that good end marked out,—certain it is that that man’s mind
tends to the best end, who purposes to see to it that his prince shall
be deceived by no one, shall hearken not to flatterers or to slanderers
and liars, and shall distinguish good and evil, and love the one and
hate the other.
6.—“Methinks, too, that the accomplishments ascribed to the Courtier by
these gentlemen may be a good means of arriving at that end; and this
because among the many faults which to-day we see in many of our
princes, the greatest are ignorance and self-esteem. And the root of
these two evils is none other than falsehood: which vice is deservedly
hateful to God and to men, and more injurious to princes than any other;
because they have greatest lack of that whereof they most need to have
abundance—I mean of someone to tell them the truth and to put them in
mind of what is right: for their enemies are not moved by love to
perform these offices, but are well pleased to have them live wickedly
and never correct themselves; on the other hand, their enemies dare not
accuse them openly, for fear of being punished. Then of their friends
there are few who have free access to them, and those few are chary of
censuring them for their errours as freely as in the case of private
persons, and to win grace and favour often think of nothing but how to
suggest things that may delight and please their fancy, although the
same be evil and dishonourable; thus from being friends these men become
flatterers, and to derive profit from their intimacy, always speak and
act complaisantly, and for the most part make their way by means of
falsehoods, which beget ignorance in the prince’s mind, not only of
outward things but of himself; and this may be said to be the greatest
and most monstrous falsehood of all, for the ignorant mind deceives
itself and lies inwardly to itself.
7.—“From this it follows that, besides never hearing the truth about
anything whatever, rulers are intoxicated by that licence which dominion
carries with it, and by the abundance of their enjoyments are drowned in
pleasures, and so deceive themselves and have their minds so
corrupted,—always finding themselves obeyed and almost adored with such
reverence and praise, without the least censure or even
contradiction,—that from this ignorance they pass to boundless
self-esteem, so that they then brook no advice or persuasion from
others. And since they think that to know how to rule is a very easy
thing, and that to succeed therein they need no other art or training
than mere force, they bend their mind and all their thoughts to the
maintenance of that power which they have, esteeming that true felicity
lies in being able to do what one likes.
“Therefore some princes hate reason and justice, thinking that it would
be a kind of bridle and a means of reducing them to bondage, and of
lessening the pleasure and satisfaction which they have in ruling, if
they were willing to follow it; and that their dominion would not be
perfect or complete if they were constrained to obey duty and honour,
because they think that he who obeys is no true ruler. Therefore,
following these principles and allowing themselves to be transported by
self-esteem, they become arrogant, with haughty looks and stern
behaviour, with splendid dress, gold and gems, and by letting themselves
be almost never seen in public they think to win authority among men and
to be held almost as gods. And to my thinking they are like the colossi
that last year were made at Rome the day of the festival in the Piazza
d’Agone,[433] which outwardly showed a likeness to great men and horses
in a triumph, and within were full of tow and rags. But princes of this
sort are much worse, in that the colossi keep upright merely by their
great weight; while the princes, since they are ill balanced within and
placed haphazard on uneven bases, fall to their ruin by reason of their
own weight, and from one errour run into many; for their ignorance,
together with the false belief that they cannot err and that the power
which they have proceeds from their own wisdom, leads them to seize
states boldly by fair means or foul, whenever they can.
8.—“But if they were resolved to know and to do that which they ought,
they would be as set on not ruling as they are set on ruling; for they
would perceive how monstrous and pernicious a thing it is when subjects,
who are to be governed, are wiser than the princes who are to govern.
“You see that ignorance of music, of dancing, of horsemanship, is not
harmful to any man; nevertheless, he who is no musician is ashamed and
dares not sing in the presence of others, or dance if he knows not how,
or ride if he has not a good seat. But from not knowing how to govern
people there spring so many woes, deaths, destructions, burnings,
ruins,—that it may be said to be the deadliest pest that is to be found
on earth. And yet some princes who are very ignorant of government are
not ashamed to undertake to govern, I will not say in the presence of
four or of six men, but before all the world, for their rank is set so
high that all eyes gaze on them, and hence not only their great but
their least defects are always noted. Thus it is written that Cimon was
accused of loving wine, Scipio of loving sleep, Lucullus of loving
feasts.[434] But would to God that the princes of our time might couple
their sins with as many virtues as did those ancients; who, although
they erred in some respects, yet did not avoid the reminders and advice
of anyone who seemed to them competent to correct those errours, but
rather sought with all solicitude to order their lives after the
precepts of excellent men: as Epaminondas after that of Lysis the
Pythagorean,[435] Agesilaus after that of Xenophon, Scipio after that of
Panætius, and countless others.[436]
“But if some of our princes were to happen upon a stern philosopher or
any man who was willing openly and artlessly to show them the frightful
face of true virtue, and to teach them what good behaviour is and what a
good prince’s life ought to be, I am certain that they would loathe him
like an asp, or in sooth deride him as a thing most vile.
9.—“I say, then, that since princes are to-day so corrupted by evil
customs and by ignorance and mistaken self-esteem, and since it is so
difficult to give them knowledge of the truth and lead them on to
virtue, and since men seek to enter into their favour by lies and
flatteries and such vicious means,—the Courtier, by the aid of those
gentle qualities that Count Ludovico and messer Federico have given him,
can with ease and should try to gain the good will and so charm the mind
of his prince, that he shall win free and safe indulgence to speak of
everything without being irksome. And if he be such as has been said, he
will accomplish this with little trouble, and thus be able always to
disclose the truth about all things with ease; and also to instil
goodness into his prince’s mind little by little, and to teach
continence, fortitude, justice, temperance, by giving a taste of how
much sweetness is hidden by the little bitterness that at first sight
appears to him who withstands vice; which is always hurtful and
displeasing, and accompanied by infamy and blame, just as virtue is
profitable, blithe and full of praise. And thereto he will be able to
incite his prince by the example of the famous captains and other
eminent men to whom the ancients were wont to make statues of bronze and
of marble and sometimes of gold, and to erect the same in public places,
both for the honour of these men and as a stimulus to others, so that
they might be led by worthy emulation to strive to reach that glory too.
10.—“In this way the Courtier will be able to lead his prince along the
thorny path of virtue, decking it as with shady leafage and strewing it
with lovely flowers to relieve the tedium of the weary journey to one
whose strength is slight; and now with music, now with arms and horses,
now with verses, now with love talk, and with all those means whereof
these gentlemen have told, to keep his mind continually busied with
worthy pleasures, yet always impressing upon him also, as I have said,
some virtuous practice along with these allurements, and playing upon
him with salutary craft; like cunning doctors, who often anoint the edge
of the cup with a sweet cordial, when they wish to give some
bitter-tasting medicine to sick and over-delicate children.
“If, therefore, the Courtier put the veil of pleasure to such a use, he
will reach his aim in every time and place and exercise, and will
deserve much greater praise and reward than for any other good work that
he could do in the world. For there is no good thing that is of such
universal advantage as a good prince, nor any evil so universally
noxious as a bad prince: hence, too, there is no punishment so harsh and
cruel as to be a sufficient penalty for those wicked courtiers who use
their gentle and pleasant ways and fine accomplishments to a bad end,
and therewith seek their prince’s favour, in order to corrupt him and
entice him from the path of virtue and lead him into vice; for such as
these may be said to taint with deadly poison not a single cup from
which one man alone must drink, but the public fountain used by all
men.”
11.—My lord Ottaviano was silent, as if he did not wish to say more; but
my lord Gaspar said:
“It does not seem to me, my lord Ottaviano, that this right-mindedness
and continence, and the other virtues which you wish the Courtier to
show his lord, can be learned; but I think that the men who have them
are given them by nature and by God. And that this is true, you see that
there is no man in the world so wicked and ill conditioned, or so
intemperate and perverse, as to confess that he is so when he is asked;
nay, everyone, however wicked he be, has pleasure in being deemed just,
continent and good: which would not be the case if these virtues could
be learned; for it is no disgrace not to know that to which one has
given no study, but it seems a reproach indeed not to have that
wherewith we ought to be adorned by nature. Hence everyone tries to hide
his natural defects both of mind and of body too; which is seen in the
blind, the halt and the crooked, and in others who are maimed or ugly;
for although these imperfections may be ascribed to nature, still
everyone dislikes to be sensible of them in himself, because he seems by
nature’s own testimony to have that defect as it were for a seal and
token of his wickedness.
“Moreover my opinion is confirmed by that story which is told of
Epimetheus, who knew so ill how to distribute the gifts of nature among
men that he left them much poorer in everything than all other
creatures: wherefore Prometheus stole from Minerva and from Vulcan that
artful cunning whereby men find the means of living;[437] but still they
did not have the civic cunning to gather together in cities and live