The Book of the Courtier
and by hope of praise. And since this splendour of nobility does not
illumine the deeds of the humbly born, they lack that stimulus and fear
of shame, nor do they feel any obligation to advance beyond what their
predecessors have done; while to the nobly born it seems a reproach not
to reach at least the goal set them by their ancestors. And thus it
nearly always happens that both in the profession of arms and in other
worthy pursuits the most famous men have been of noble birth, because
nature has implanted in everything that hidden seed which gives a
certain force and quality of its own essence to all things that are
derived from it, and makes them like itself: as we see not only in the
breeds of horses and of other animals, but also in trees, the shoots of
which nearly always resemble the trunk; and if they sometimes
degenerate, it arises from poor cultivation. And so it is with men, who
if rightly trained are nearly always like those from whom they spring,
and often better; but if there be no one to give them proper care, they
become like savages and never reach perfection.
“It is true that, by favour of the stars or of nature, some men are
endowed at birth with such graces that they seem not to have been born,
but rather as if some god had formed them with his very hands and
adorned them with every excellence of mind and body. So too there are
many men so foolish and rude that one cannot but think that nature
brought them into the world out of contempt or mockery. Just as these
can usually accomplish little even with constant diligence and good
training, so with slight pains those others reach the highest summit of
excellence. And to give you an instance: you see my lord Don Ippolito
d’Este,[64] Cardinal of Ferrara, who has enjoyed such fortune from his
birth, that his person, his aspect, his words and all his movements are
so disposed and imbued with this grace, that—although he is young—he
exhibits among the most aged prelates such weight of character that he
seems fitter to teach than to be taught; likewise in conversation with
men and women of every rank, in games, in pleasantry and in banter, he
has a certain sweetness and manners so gracious, that whoso speaks with
him or even sees him, must needs remain attached to him forever.
Enlarged from a cast, courteously furnished by the Austrian authorities,
of an anonymous medal in the Imperial Museum at Vienna. See Armand’s
_Les Médailleurs Italiens_, iii, 169, G.
“But to return to our subject: I say that there is a middle state
between perfect grace on the one hand and senseless folly on the other;
and those who are not thus perfectly endowed by nature, with study and
toil can in great part polish and amend their natural defects. Besides
his noble birth, then, I would have the Courtier favoured in this regard
also, and endowed by nature not only with talent and beauty of person
and feature, but with a certain grace and (as we say) air that shall
make him at first sight pleasing and agreeable to all who see him; and I
would have this an ornament that should dispose and unite all his
actions, and in his outward aspect give promise of whatever is worthy
the society and favour of every great lord.”
15.—Here, without waiting longer, my lord Gaspar Pallavicino said:
“In order that our game may have the form prescribed, and that we may
not seem to slight the privilege given us to contradict, I say that this
nobility of birth does not appear to me so essential in the Courtier;
and if I thought I were saying what was new to any of us, I should cite
instances of many men born of the noblest blood who have been full of
vices; and on the other hand, of many men among the humbly born who by
their virtue have made their posterity illustrious. And if what you just
said be true, namely that there is in everything this occult influence
of the original seed, then we should all be in the same case, because we
had the same origin, nor would any man be more noble than another. But
as to our differences and grades of eminence and obscurity, I believe
there are many other causes: among which I rate fortune to be chief; for
we see her holding sway in all mundane affairs, often amusing herself by
lifting to heaven whom she pleases (although wholly without merit), and
burying in the depths those most worthy to be exalted.
“I quite agree with what you say as to the good fortune of those endowed
from birth with advantages of mind and body: but this is seen as well
among the humbly born as among the nobly born, since nature has no such
subtle distinctions as these; and often, as I said, the highest gifts of
nature are found among the most obscure. Therefore, since this nobility
of birth is won neither by talent nor by strength nor by craft, and is
rather the merit of our predecessors than our own, it seems to me too
extravagant to maintain that if our Courtier’s parents be humbly born,
all his good qualities are spoiled, and that all those other
qualifications that you mentioned do not avail to raise him to the
summit of perfection; I mean talent, beauty of feature, comeliness of
person, and that grace which makes him always charming to everyone at
first sight.”
16.—Then Count Ludovico replied:
“I do not deny that the same virtues may rule the low-born and the
noble: but (not to repeat what we have said already or the many other
arguments that could be adduced in praise of noble birth, which is
honoured always and by everyone, it being reasonable that good should
beget good), since we have to form a Courtier without flaw and endowed
with every praiseworthy quality, it seems to me necessary to make him
nobly born, as well for many other reasons as for universal opinion,
which is at once disposed in favour of noble birth. For if there be two
Courtiers who have as yet given no impression of themselves by good or
evil acts, as soon as the one is known to have been born a gentleman and
the other not, he who is low-born will be far less esteemed by everyone
than he who is high-born, and will need much effort and time to make
upon men’s minds that good impression which the other will have achieved
in a moment and merely by being a gentleman. And how important these
impressions are, everyone can easily understand: for in our own case we
have seen men present themselves in this house, who, being silly and
awkward in the extreme, yet had throughout Italy the reputation of very
great Courtiers; and although they were detected and recognized at last,
still they imposed upon us for many days, and maintained in our minds
that opinion of them which they first found impressed there, although
they conducted themselves after the slightness of their worth. We have
seen others, held at first in small esteem, then admirably successful at
the last.
“And of these mistakes there are various causes: and among others, the
regard of princes, who in their wish to perform miracles sometimes
undertake to bestow favour on a man who seems to them to merit
disfavour. And often too they are themselves deceived; but since they
always have a host of imitators, their favour begets very great fame,
which chiefly guides our judgments: and if we find anything that seems
contrary to common opinion, we suspect that it is we ourselves who are
wrong, and always seek for something hidden: because it seems that these
universal opinions must after all be founded on fact and spring from
rational causes; and because our minds are very prone to love and hate,
as is seen in battle-shows and games and every other sort of contest,
wherein the spectators without apparent cause become partisans of one
side, with eager wish that it may win and the other lose. In our opinion
of men’s character also, good or evil fame sways our minds to one of
these two passions from the start; and thus it happens that we usually
judge with love or hate. You see then how important this first
impression is, and how he ought to strive to make a good one at the
outset, who thinks to hold the rank and name of good Courtier.
17.—“But to come to some details, I am of opinion that the principal and
true profession of the Courtier ought to be that of arms; which I would
have him follow actively above all else, and be known among others as
bold and strong, and loyal to whomsoever he serves. And he will win a
reputation for these good qualities by exercising them at all times and
in all places, since one may never fail in this without severest
censure. And just as among women, their fair fame once sullied never
recovers its first lustre, so the reputation of a gentleman who bears
arms, if once it be in the least tarnished with cowardice or other
disgrace, remains forever infamous before the world and full of
ignominy. Therefore the more our Courtier excels in this art, the more
he will be worthy of praise; and yet I do not deem essential in him that
perfect knowledge of things and those other qualities that befit a
commander; since this would be too wide a sea, let us be content, as we
have said, with perfect loyalty and unconquered courage, and that he be
always seen to possess them. For the courageous are often recognized
even more in small things than in great; and frequently in perils of
importance and where there are many spectators, some men are to be
found, who, although their hearts be dead within them, yet, moved by
shame or by the presence of others, press forward almost with their eyes
shut, and do their duty God knows how. While on occasions of little
moment, when they think they can avoid putting themselves in danger
without being detected, they are glad to keep safe. But those who, even
when they do not expect to be observed or seen or recognized by anyone,
show their ardour and neglect nothing, however paltry, that may be laid
to their charge,—they have that strength of mind which we seek in our
Courtier.
“Not that we would have him look so fierce, or go about blustering, or
say that he has taken his cuirass to wife, or threaten with those grim
scowls that we have often seen in Berto;[65] because to such men as
this, one might justly say that which a brave lady jestingly said in
gentle company to one whom I will not name at present;[66] who, being
invited by her out of compliment to dance, refused not only that, but to
listen to the music, and many other entertainments proposed to
him,—saying always that such silly trifles were not his business; so
that at last the lady said, ‘What is your business, then?’ He replied
with a sour look, ‘To fight.’ Then the lady at once said, ‘Now that you
are in no war and out of fighting trim, I should think it were a good
thing to have yourself well oiled, and to stow yourself with all your
battle harness in a closet until you be needed, lest you grow more rusty
than you are;’ and so, amid much laughter from the bystanders, she left
the discomfited fellow to his silly presumption.
“Therefore let the man we are seeking, be very bold, stern, and always
among the first, where the enemy are to be seen; and in every other
place, gentle, modest, reserved, above all things avoiding ostentation
and that impudent self-praise by which men ever excite hatred and
disgust in all who hear them.”
18.—Then my lord Gaspar replied:
“As for me, I have known few men excellent in anything whatever, who do
not praise themselves; and it seems to me that this may well be
permitted them; for when anyone who feels himself to be of worth, sees
that he is not known to the ignorant by his works, he is offended that
his worth should lie buried, and needs must in some way hold it up to
view, in order that he may not be cheated of the fame that is the true
reward of worthy effort. Thus among the ancient authors, whoever carries