I. The center of all the political doctrine of Machiavel, is placed
in that cursed maxim of his, that in the application of temporal
means, the semblance or appearance of virtue is useful; real virtue,
or virtue itself, is an obstacle. From this point issues forth, in
right lines, the poison, to the whole circumference of that pernicious
system. All the world abominates the name of Machiavel, and almost
all the world are his followers. Although, to speak the truth, the
practice of the world is not taken from the doctrine of Machiavel; but
the doctrine of Machiavel, is rather taken from the practice of the
world. This depraved genius taught, in his writings, that which he had
studied in men. The world was the same before Machiavel, which it is
at present, and they deceive themselves greatly, who think, that the
ages continued to grow worse, as they continued to succeed one another.
The golden age never existed but in the imaginations of the poets; the
happiness they feign to have prevailed in it, was enjoyed by only one
man, and one woman, Adam and Eve; and continued so short a space of
time, that so far from lasting an age, according to many fathers, it
did not endure an entire day.
II. You need only examine history, both sacred and profane, to be
informed, that the policy of the antients was not better than that of
the moderns; and I for my part, am inclined to think it was worse; for
they scarce knew any other road to the temple of Fortune, than that
which was either laid open by violence, or fabricated by deceit. Good
faith and friendship, lasted as long as people found it their interest
to preserve them. Religion and justice, served as footstools to the
idol of convenience. Ovid and Aulus Gellius relate, that when Tarquin
resolved to build the great temple of the capitol to the honour of
Jupiter, he demolished, in order to make room for it, the temples of
many inferior Gods, who were all obliged to give way to Jupiter; but
the God Terminus, or the patron of interest and convenience, refused to
cede or make way for Jupiter himself, so he maintained his ground, and
his statue kept its place in the capitol, jointly with that of Jupiter:
_Terminus, ut veteres memorant, conventus in urbe_
_Restitit, & magno cum Jove templa tenet._
III. This fiction discovers to us the following truth, that the object
of men’s pursuits is their own convenience, which they are ever
strenuous and anxious to promote; and this is the deity, who never
cared to cede or give place to Jupiter himself, for from the most
antient times, _ut veteres memorant_, interest has ever disputed the
precedence with religion.
IV. Polybius lived a great while ago, and in his time they had not only
one, but many Machiavels, who taught, that the management of public
affairs was impracticable, without the aid of deceit and treachery:
_Non desunt, qui in tam crebro usu doli mali necessarium eum esse
dicant ad publicarum rerum administrationem_ (Lib. 13. Histor.)
Although you may see in Lucan, the fundamental doctrine of Machiavel
more strongly expressed than it is in the above sentence, by the
abandoned Phocion, in the speech he made to Ptolemy King of Egypt,
to prevail with him, in violation of gratitude, and in breach of his
plighted word, to take away the life of the great Pompey;
_Sidera terra_
_Ut distant, & flamma mari sic utile recto._
V. This is precisely saying, that virtue is always in a state of
warfare with private utility, and that to negotiate convenience, it
is necessary to abandon justice. A little after he adds, that he who
resolves to be merciful and just, should banish himself from courts,
for there, vice only is patronized:
_Exeat aula_
_Qui vult esse pius._
VI. This is the creed, not of a few people only, but of the world at
large, and it has been so in all times. What Machiavel, Hobbes, and
other infamous politicians have inserted in their works, is the same
which you hear every day in juntos of people; to wit, that virtue is
neglected, that vice is caressed and exalted; that truth and justice
are banished from courts; and that flattery and lying are the wings,
with which people ascend to high stations. But this I suppose to be
an error, and that it ought to be classed in the catalogue of common
errors, and in my reasoning on this subject, I shall undertake to
demonstrate that it is one, by informing mankind, that contrary to the
opinion of the world, the most refined, and the most safe policy, is
that which is founded in justice and truth.