The Book of the Courtier
things to which it is applied. And a very great proof that the prince is
good is when his people are good, because the prince’s life is law and
preceptress to his subjects, and upon his behaviour all the others must
needs depend; nor is it fitting for an ignorant man to teach, nor for an
unordered man to give orders, nor for one who falls to raise up others.
“Hence if the prince would perform these duties rightly, he must devote
every study and diligence to wisdom; then he must set before himself and
follow steadfastly in everything the law of reason (unwritten on paper
or metal, but graven upon his own mind), to the end that it may be not
only familiar to him, but ingrained in him, and abide with him as a part
of himself; so that day and night, in every place and time, it may
admonish him and speak inwardly to his heart, freeing him from those
disturbances that are felt by intemperate minds, which—because they are
oppressed on the one hand as it were by the very deep sleep of
ignorance, and on the other by the travail which they suffer from their
perverse and blind desires—are tossed by relentless fury, as a sleeper
sometimes is by strange and dreadful visions.
24.—“Moreover, by adding greater power to evil wish, greater harm is
added also; and when the prince is able to do that which he wishes, then
there is great danger that he will not wish that which he ought. Hence
Bias well said that office shows what men are:[438] for just as vases
with some crack in them cannot easily be detected so long as they are
empty, yet if liquid be poured in they at once show where the flaw
is;—so corrupt and vicious minds seldom disclose their defects except
when they are filled with authority; because then they do not suffice to
bear the heavy weight of power, and hence run all lengths and scatter on
every side the greeds, the pride, the bad temper, the insolence, and
those tyrannical practices, which they have within them. Thus they
recklessly persecute the good and wise and exalt the wicked, and in
their cities they permit neither friendships nor unions nor
understandings among their subjects, but maintain spies, informers and
murderers, in order that they may frighten and make men cowardly, and
sow discords to keep men disunited and weak. And from these ways there
then ensue countless ruin and losses to the unhappy people, and often
cruel death (or at least continual fear) to the tyrants themselves;
because good princes are not afraid for themselves, but for those whom
they rule, while tyrants fear even those whom they rule; hence the
greater the number of people they rule and the more powerful they are,
so much the more do they fear and so many more enemies do they have.
“How frightened and of what uneasy mind do you think was Clearchus,
tyrant of Pontus,[439] every time he went into the market-place or
theatre, or to a banquet or other public place? who, as it is written,
was wont to sleep shut up in a chest. Or that other tyrant, Aristodemus
the Argive?[440] who made a kind of prison of his bed: for in his palace
he had a little room hung in air, and so high that it could be reached
only by a ladder; and here he slept with one of his women, whose mother
took away the ladder at night and replaced it in the morning.
“A wholly different life from this, then, ought that of the good prince
to be, free and safe and as dear to his subjects as their very own, and
so ordered as to partake both of the active and of the contemplative, as
much as may comport with his people’s weal.”
25.—Then my lord Gaspar said:
“And which of these two lives, my lord Ottaviano, seems to you more
fitting for the prince?”
My lord Ottaviano replied, laughing:
“Perhaps you think I imagine myself to be that excellent Courtier who
ought to know so many things and apply them to that good end which I
have set forth; but remember that these gentlemen have described him
with many accomplishments that are not in me. Therefore let us first
take care to find him, for I leave to him both this and all things else
that belong to a good prince.”
Then my lord Gaspar said:
“I think that if any of the accomplishments ascribed to the Courtier are
lacking in you, they are music and dancing and others of small
importance, rather than those that belong to the moulding of the prince
and to this end of Courtiership.”
My lord Ottaviano replied:
“None of those are of small importance that help to win the prince’s
favour, which is necessary (as we have said) before the Courtier risks
trying to teach him virtue; which I think I have proved can be learned,
and in which there is as much profit as there is loss in ignorance,
whence spring all sins, and especially that false esteem which men
cherish of themselves. But methinks I have said enough, and perhaps more
than I promised.”
Then my lady Duchess said:
“We shall be the more beholden to your courtesy, the more your
performance outstrips your promise; so do not weary of saying what
occurs to you about my lord Gaspar’s question; and by your faith, tell
us also everything that you would teach your prince if he had need of
instruction, and imagine yourself to have won completely his favour, so
that you are allowed to tell him freely what comes into your mind.”
26.—My lord Ottaviano laughed, and said:
“If I had the favour of a certain prince whom I know, and were to tell
him freely what I think, I fear that I should soon lose it; moreover, to
teach him, I myself should first need to learn.
“Yet since it pleases you to have me answer my lord Gaspar further
concerning this, I say that I think princes ought to lead both the two
lives, but more especially the contemplative life, because in their case
this is divided into two parts: one of which consists in perceiving
rightly and in judging; the other in commanding (justly and in those
ways that are fitting) things reasonable and those wherein they have
authority, and in requiring the same of such men as have in reason to
obey, and at appropriate times and places; and of this Duke Federico
spoke when he said that whoever knows how to command is always obeyed.
And as command is always the chief office of princes, they ought often
to see with their own eyes and be present at the execution of their
commands, and ought also sometimes to take part themselves, according to
the time and need; and all this partakes of action: but the aim of the
active life ought to be the contemplative, as peace is that of war,
repose that of toil.
27.—“Therefore it is also the good prince’s office so to establish his
people, and under such laws and ordinances, that they may live at ease
and peace, without danger and with dignity, and may worthily enjoy this
end of their actions, which ought to be tranquillity. For many republics
and princes are often found that have been very prosperous and great in
war, and as soon as they have had peace they have gone to ruin and lost
their greatness and splendour, like iron laid aside. And this has come
about from nothing else but from their not having been well established
for living at peace, and from their not knowing how to enjoy the
blessing of ease. And to be always at war, without seeking to arrive at
the end of peace, is not permitted: albeit some princes think that their
chief aim ought to be to lord it over their neighbours; and therefore
they train their people to a warlike ferocity for spoil, killing and the
like, and give rewards to excite it, and call it virtue.
“Thus it was once a custom among the Scythians that whoever had not
slain an enemy might not drink from the bowl which was handed about to
the company at solemn feasts. In other places they used to set up,
around a tomb, as many obelisks as he who was buried there had slain
enemies; and all these things were done to make men warlike, solely in
order to lord it over others: which was almost impossible, because the
undertaking was endless (until the whole world should be subjugated) and
far from reasonable according to the law of nature, which will not have
us pleased with that in others which is displeasing to us in ourselves.
“Therefore princes ought not to make their people warlike for lust of
rule, but for the sake of being able to defend themselves and their
people against him who would reduce them to bondage or do them wrong in
any wise; or to drive out tyrants and govern those people well who were
ill used, or to reduce to bondage those who are by nature such as to
deserve being made slaves, with the object of governing them well and
giving them ease and rest and peace. To this end also the laws and all
the ordinances of justice ought to be directed, by punishing the wicked,
not from hatred, but in order that they may not be wicked and to the end
that they may not disturb the tranquillity of the good. For in truth it
is a monstrous thing and worthy of blame for men to show themselves
valiant and wise in war (which is bad in itself) and in peace and quiet
(which are good) to show themselves ignorant and of so little worth that
they know not how to enjoy their happiness.
“Hence, just as in war men ought to apply themselves to the qualities
that are useful and necessary to attain its end, which is peace,—so in
peace, to attain its end also, which is tranquillity, they ought to
apply themselves to the righteous qualities that are the end of the
useful. And thus subjects will be good, and the prince will have much
more to praise and reward than to punish; and dominion will be very
happy for the subjects and for the prince—not imperious, like that of
master over slave, but sweet and gentle, like that of a good father over
a good son.”
28.—Then my lord Gaspar said:
“I should much like to know what these virtues are that are useful and
necessary in war, and what ones are righteous in peace.”
My lord Ottaviano replied:
“All virtues are good and helpful, because they tend to a good end; but
of especial utility in war is that true courage which so frees the mind
from the passions that it not only fears not dangers, but even pays no
heed to them; likewise steadfastness, and that enduring patience, with a
mind staunch and undisturbed by all the shocks of fortune. It is also
fitting in war, and always, to have all the virtues that make for
right,—like justice, continence, temperance; but much more in time of
peace and ease, because men placed in prosperity and ease, when good
fortune smiles upon them, often become unjust, intemperate, and allow
themselves to be corrupted by pleasures: hence those who are in such
case have very great need of these virtues, for ease too readily
engenders evil behaviour in human minds. Therefore it was anciently said
as a proverb, slaves should be given no ease; and it is believed that
the pyramids of Egypt were made to keep the people busy, because it is
very good for everyone to be accustomed to bear toil.
“There are still many other virtues that are all helpful, but let it
suffice for the present that I have spoken until now; for if I knew how
to teach my prince and instruct him in this kind of worthy education
such as we have planned, merely by so doing I should deem myself to have
attained sufficiently well the aim of the good Courtier.”
29.—Then my lord Gaspar said:
“My lord Ottaviano, since you have highly praised good education, and
seemed almost to think that it is the chief means of making a man
virtuous and good, I should like to know whether this instruction, which
the Courtier must give his prince, ought to be begun with practice and
with daily behaviour as it were, so as to accustom him to right doing
without his perceiving it; or whether a beginning ought to be made by
demonstrating to his reason the quality of good and evil, and by making