eminence that they would have been able to give everyone who knew them
clear proof how worthy the court of Urbino was of praise, and how
adorned with noble cavaliers; which nearly all the others have done who
were reared there. For verily the Trojan Horse did not send forth so
many lords and captains as this court has sent forth men singular in
worth and most highly prized by everyone. Thus, as you know, messer
Federico Fregoso was made Archbishop of Salerno; Count Ludovico, Bishop
of Bayeux; my lord Ottaviano, Doge of Genoa; messer Bernardo Bibbiena,
Cardinal of Santa Maria in Portico; messer Pietro Bembo, secretary to
Pope Leo; my lord Magnifico rose to the dukedom of Nemours and to that
greatness where he now is. My lord Francesco Maria della Rovere also,
Prefect of Rome, was made Duke of Urbino:[431] albeit much higher praise
may be accorded to the court where he was nurtured, because he there
became a rare and excellent lord in every quality of worth, as we now
see, than because he attained the dukedom of Urbino; nor do I believe
that a small cause of this was the noble company in whose daily converse
he always saw and heard laudable behaviour.
However, it seems to me that the cause, whether chance or favour of the
stars, which has so long granted excellent lords to Urbino, still
continues and produces the same results; and hence we may hope that fair
fortune must further so bless these good works, that the welfare of the
house and state shall not only not wane but rather wax from day to day:
and of this many bright auguries are already to be seen, among which I
esteem the chief to be Heaven’s bestowal of such a mistress as is my
lady Eleanora Gonzaga, the new Duchess;[432] for if ever in a single
body there were joined wisdom, grace, beauty, capacity, tact, humanity,
and every other gentle quality,—in her they are so united that they form
a chain which completes and adorns her every movement with all these
qualities at once.
[Illustration:
ELEANORA GONZAGA
DUCHESS OF URBINO
1492-1543
]
Reduced from the central part of Braun’s photograph (no. 34.106) of the
picture _Das Mädchen im Pelz_, in the Imperial Museum at Vienna, by
Titian (1477-1576).
Let us now continue the discussion about our Courtier, in the hope that
after us there ought to be no lack of those who will find bright and
honoured examples of worth in the present court of Urbino, just as we
now do in that of bygone times.
3.—It seemed, then, as my lord Gaspar Pallavicino used to relate, that
the following day after the discussions contained in the preceding Book,
little was seen of my lord Ottaviano; hence many thought that he had
retired in order that he might without hindrance think carefully of what
he had to say. Thus, the company having betaken themselves to my lady
Duchess at the accustomed hour, search had to be made far and wide for
my lord Ottaviano, who did not appear for a good space; so that many
cavaliers and maids of honour of the court began to dance and engage in
other pastimes, thinking that for that evening there would be no more
talk about the Courtier. And indeed all were busied, some with one thing
and some with another, when my lord Ottaviano arrived, after he had
almost been given up; and seeing that messer Cesare Gonzaga and my lord
Gaspar were dancing, he bowed to my lady Duchess and said, laughing:
“I quite expected to hear my lord Gaspar say some evil about women again
this evening; but seeing him dance with one, I think that he has made
his peace with all of them; and I am glad that the dispute (or rather
the discussion) about the Courtier has ended thus.”
“It is by no means ended,” replied my lady Duchess; “for I am no such
enemy of men as you are of women, and therefore I am unwilling that the
Courtier should be deprived of his due honour, and of those ornaments
that you promised him last evening;” and so saying, she directed that as
soon as the dance was finished, everyone should sit down in the usual
order, which was done; and when all were giving close attention, my lord
Ottaviano said:
“My Lady, since my wish to have the Courtier possess many other good
qualities is taken as a promise to tell what they are, I am content to
speak about them, not with any hope of saying all that might be said,
but merely enough to clear your mind of the charge that was made against
me last evening, to wit: that I spoke as I did rather for the purpose of
detracting from the Court Lady’s praises (by raising a false belief that
other excellences can be ascribed to the Courtier, and by thus artfully
making him her superior), than because what I said was true. Wherefore,
to adapt myself to the hour, which is later than it is wont to be when
we begin our discussions, I shall be brief.
4.—“So, to pursue these gentlemen’s discourse, which I wholly approve
and confirm, I say that of the things that we call good, there are some
which simply and in themselves are always good, like temperance,
fortitude, health, and all the virtues that bestow tranquillity upon the
mind; others, which are good in various respects and for the object to
which they tend, like law, liberality, riches, and other like things.
Hence I think that the perfect Courtier, such as Count Ludovico and
messer Federico have described, may be a truly good thing and worthy of
praise, not however simply and in himself, but in respect to the end to
which he may be directed. For indeed if by being nobly born, graceful,
agreeable, and expert in so many exercises, the Courtier brought forth
no other fruit than merely being what he is, I should not deem it right
for a man to devote so much study and pains to acquiring this perfection
of Courtiership, as anyone must who wishes to attain it. Nay, I should
say that many of those accomplishments that have been ascribed to him
(like dancing, merry-making, singing and playing) were follies and
vanities, and in a man of rank worthy rather of censure than of praise:
for these elegances, devices, mottoes, and other like things that
pertain to discourse about women and love, although perhaps many other
men think the contrary, often serve only to effeminate the mind, to
corrupt youth, and to reduce it to great wantonness of living; whence
then it comes to pass that the Italian name is brought into opprobrium,
and but few are to be found who dare, I will not say to die, but even to
run into danger.
“And surely there are countless other things, which, if industry and
study were spent upon them, would be of much greater utility in both
peace and war than this kind of Courtiership in itself merely; but if
the Courtier’s actions are directed to that good end to which they
ought, and which I have in mind, methinks they are not only not harmful
or vain, but very useful and deserving of infinite praise.
5.—“I think then that the aim of the perfect Courtier, which has not
been spoken of till now, is so to win for himself, by means of the
accomplishments ascribed to him by these gentlemen, the favour and mind
of the prince whom he serves, that he may be able to say, and always
shall say, the truth about everything which it is fitting for the prince
to know, without fear or risk of giving offence thereby; and that when
he sees his prince’s mind inclined to do something wrong, he may be
quick to oppose, and gently to make use of the favour acquired by his
good accomplishments, so as to banish every bad intent and lead his
prince into the path of virtue. And thus, possessing the goodness which
these gentlemen have described, together with readiness of wit and
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
orderly lives, for this was guarded in Jove’s castle by very watchful
warders, who so frightened Prometheus that he dared not approach them;
wherefore Jove had compassion for the misery of men, who were torn by
wild beasts because they could not stand together for lack of civic
faculty, and sent Mercury to earth to bring them justice and shame, to
the end that these two things might adorn their cities and unite the
citizens. And he saw fit that they should not be given to men like the
other arts, wherein one expert suffices for many ignorant (as in the
case of medicine), but that they should be impressed upon each man; and
he ordained a law that all who were without justice and shame should be
exterminated and put to death like public pests. So you see, my lord
Ottaviano, that these virtues are vouchsafed by God to men, and are not
acquired, but natural.”
12.—Then my lord Ottaviano said, smiling:
“Do you then insist, my lord Gaspar, that men are so unhappy and
perverse, that they have by industry discovered an art to tame the
natures of wild beasts, bears, wolves, lions, and by it are able to
teach a pretty bird to fly whither they like, and to return willingly
from its woods and natural freedom to cages and captivity,—and yet that
they cannot or will not by the same industry find arts to help
themselves and improve their minds with diligence and study? To my
thinking this would be as if physicians were to study with all diligence
to acquire the mere art of healing sore nails and scurf in children, and
were to leave off curing fevers, pleurisy and other serious maladies;
and how out of all reason this would be, everyone can consider.
“Therefore I think that the moral virtues are not in us by nature
wholly, for nothing can ever become used to that which is naturally
contrary to it; as we see in the case of a stone, which although it were
thrown upwards ten thousand times would never become used to move
thither of itself; hence if virtue were as natural to us as weight is to
the stone, we should never become used to vice. Nor, on the other hand,
are the vices natural in this sense, for we should never be able to be
virtuous; and it would be too unfair and foolish to chastise men for
those defects that proceed from nature without our fault; and this
errour would be committed by the law, which does not inflict punishment
upon malefactors on account of their past errour (since what is done can
not be undone), but has regard to the future, to the end that he who has
erred may err no more nor be the cause of others erring through his bad
example. And thus the law presumes that the virtues can be learned,
which is very true; for we are born capable of receiving them and the
vices also, and hence custom creates in us the habit of both the one and
the other, so that we first practise virtue or vice, and then are
virtuous or vicious.
“The contrary is observed in things that are bestowed by nature, which
we first have the power to practise and then do practise: as is the case
with the senses; for first we are able to see, hear and touch, then we
see, hear and touch, although also many of these functions are perfected
by training. Wherefore good masters teach children not only letters, but
also good and seemly manners in eating, drinking, speaking and walking,
with certain appropriate gestures.
13.—“Therefore as in the other arts, so too in virtue it is necessary to
have a master, who by instruction and good reminders shall arouse and
awake in us those moral virtues whereof we have the seed enclosed and
buried in our soul, and like a good husbandman shall cultivate them and
open the way for them by freeing us from the thorns and tares of
appetite, which often so overshadow and choke our minds as not to let
them blossom or bring forth those happy fruits which alone we should
desire to have spring up in the human heart.
“In this sense, then, justice and shame, which you say Jove sent upon
earth to all men, are natural in each one of us. But just as a body
without eyes, however strong it be, often fails if it moves towards any
object, so the root of these virtues potentially engendered in our minds
often comes to naught if it be not helped by cultivation. For if it is
to ripen into action and perfect character, nature alone is not enough,
as has been said, but there is need of studied practice and of reason,
to purify and clear the soul by lifting the dark veil of ignorance, from
which nearly all the errours of men proceed,—because if good and evil
were well perceived and understood, everyone would always prefer good
and shun evil. Thus virtue may almost be said to be a kind of prudence
and wit to prefer the good, and vice a kind of imprudence and ignorance
which lead us to judge falsely; for men never prefer evil deeming it to
be evil, but are deceived by a certain likeness that it bears to good.”
14.—Then my lord Gaspar replied:
“There are, however, many who know well that they are doing evil, and
yet do it; and this because they have more thought for the present
pleasure which they feel, than for the chastisement which they fear must
come upon them: like thieves, homicides, and other such men.”
My lord Ottaviano said:
“True pleasure is always good, and true suffering always evil; therefore
these men deceive themselves in taking false pleasure for true, and true
suffering for false; hence by false pleasures they often run into true
sufferings. Therefore that art which teaches how to discern the true
from the false, may well be learned; and the faculty whereby we choose
that which is truly good and not that which falsely seems so, may be
called true wisdom and more profitable to human life than any other,
because it dispels the ignorance from which, as I have said, all evils
spring.”
15.—Then messer Pietro Bembo said: