AMBITION IN SOVEREIGNS.
I. The most unjust adoration the world bestows, is that which is given to, and received by conquering Princes, they being only deserving of the public hatred; while living, mankind pay them a forced obedience, and when dead a courteous applause; the first is necessity, the second folly.
II. What is a conqueror but a scourge, which the divine anger has sent among us for our chastisement?What, but an animated pestilence, both to his own kingdom, and those of the Princes his neighbours also; a malignant star, which rules and influences nought but murders, robberies, desolations, and conflagrations; a comet, which equally threatens the destruction of cottages and of palaces; and, to sum up the whole, a man who is the enemy of all other men, because in the prosecution of his ambitious views, he would deprive all mankind of their liberty, and take from many their lives and fortunes?
III. In this, as in many other things, I admire the superior judgment of the Chinese. Isaac Vossius affirms, that in the annals of those people, they do not celebrate warlike, but pacific Princes; neither do they triumph in future ages, or acquire the applauses of posterity, who have by their arms added new dominions to the state, but those who have governed with justice and moderation the territories which descended to them by inheritance. This is applauding with judgment.
IV. I don’t deny, that valour, military skill, and other endowments peculiar to conquerors, are estimable; but only mean to inculcate, that when they are accompanied with a tyrannic use, they cause those who make such an application of them, to become objects of abhorrence anddetestation. There never was any man eminent for feats of wickedness, who was not endued with great qualities of body and mind; at least, they are rarely deficient in those of robustness, industry, and bravery: but who, on this account, would employ himself in celebrating, or becoming the panegyrist of malefactors?
V. It is not comparison, but identity, which I mean to propound and enforce; for truly those great heroes, who are so celebrated by the trumpets of fame, were in reality nothing better than malefactors in a high form. If I was to set about writing a catalogue of the most famous rogues who have figured on the theatre of the world, I should place at the head of it, Alexander the Great, and Julius Cæsar.
VI. No one had a juster sense of his situation in this respect, nor made a more candid acknowledgment of his profession and occupation, than Antigonus King of Asia. When he was in the zenith of his conquests, a philosopher dedicated a book to him which he had just finished, the subject-matter of which was, an encomium on the virtue of justice. As soon as Antigonus read the title of the book, he smiled, and said, “It is certainly veryà propos, to dedicate a treatise in commemoration of the virtue of justice to me,who am robbing all the world of every thing I can.”
VII. And although, neither Alexander, nor Cæsar, ever made so candid a confession, they manifested sufficiently, that they were stung with the remorse, and affected with the bitings of their own consciences. The first, shewed the influence these feelings had over him, in the instance of the temper and forbearance, with which he suffered the pirate who fell into his hands, to upbraid him with being a greater and more scandalous pirate than himself; for if Alexander had not been conscious that the man spoke truth, the consequence of his boldness would have been very terrible to him. The second displayed it, in his perplexities at the crisis of passing the Rubicon; it being most probable, that intrepid soul was not withheld so much by the contemplation of the dangerous undertaking he was going to engage in, as by the sense of the crime he was about to commit.
VIII. In reality, conquering Princes are so totally bad, that they are not even good to themselves. They are bad neighbours, as is notorious; they are bad to their subjects, who in the end are equal sufferers with the others; because by the excessivecontributions that are extorted from them, they are drained of their property, and in the obstinate wars in which their Princes engage, are deprived of their lives. It is true they conquer; but ten battles gained cost more men to a nation than two or three lost. If we were to add to this, the loss incurred in consequence of the neglect and decay of arts, manufactures, commerce, and agriculture; at winding up the bottom you will find, that with the exception of a few military men, who have been exceedingly fortunate and successful, or whose services have been liberally rewarded, and also with that of a few others, who have enriched themselves by plunder, or the spoils of their own country; the conquerors are left in as bad a situation as the vanquished.
IX. These ambitious spirits bring on their subjects another injury, which is sufficiently serious, though less noticed than the former; and that is, that being totally occupied with the idea of aggrandizing their power by all possible ways and means, they do not only endeavour to augment it externally, and among strangers, but also internally, and among their own subjects. They are not only desirous of ruling over the most vassals they can, but are also anxious to domineer the most they can over their own subjects. It is not so easy to satisfy ambition in this second way, as in the first; forby adopting it, without an addition of subjects, he, who will disembarrass himself of the restriction of laws, may form an empire without limits; and an empire reduced to despotism, if, instead of estimating it by the number of those who are to obey, you make the computation according to the number of things that may be commanded, is an infinite one.
X. Finally, conquering Princes are evils to themselves; for as the dropsical thirst of accumulating new subjects is never satiated, the anxieties of their hearts are never quieted:Plusque cupit, quo plura suam demittit in alvum.Their backs are turned on all they have acquired, and they turn their eyes on what remains for them to acquire. From hence it follows, that this last being always in their view, has more power to inquiet their minds by irritating their appetite, than the other has to calm their souls by insinuating the happiness of possession, and the pleasure of enjoyment; and we may add to this anxiety, the dread of poison or the knife, which are the ordinary finishers of the lives of conquerors.
XI. There only remains to them, as the fruit of all their labours and toils, a single good, which they cannot enjoy, and therefore should not be reckoned to them as a benefit; that is, their namesbeing celebrated in future ages; a tribute, which is paid to their ashes by the folly of mankind, and than which no tribute is more unjust. If the remembrance of conquerors was to be recorded in phrases dictated by the understanding, they would be described in terms of execration, not applause. Whoever sets about celebrating a Nimrod, an Alexander, or a Romulus, may with equal reason, employ himself in celebrating a tiger, a dragon, or a basilisk. I find the same qualities in the three eminent heroes, as in the three furious wild beasts, to wit, a great strength and power to commit mischief, and a great inclination to do it.
XII. I can’t refrain from laughter, when I reflect on the Romans, who were masters of the world, being vain of fixing the origin of their empire in Romulus. There was nothing in the deeds or character of this man, which could reflect lustre on his descendants. If you look to his birth, you will find that his mother was nothing better than a common prostitute. If you consider his life and profession, you will find that he was a daring and enterprising robber, who, being made captain of others like himself, erected his infamous gang into a republic. The rape of the Sabines, if the story is true, proves that Romulus, and all his followers, were looked uponas despicable and vile, and as a nuisance, by all Italy, because no other people chose to give them wives, or to intermarry with them; and it was necessary, in order to have women, that they should steal, and take them by violence. The life of Romulus was taken away by the same ministers he himself had raised, they not being able to bear with, or endure him. But such is the blindness of the world, that the same person who was deemed unworthy to live among men, and who was put to death on that account, is presently afterwards placed among the deities.
XIII. Other great conquerors met with the same lot; they were abhorred while living, and worshipped when dead. Nimrod was the first object of idolatry. They changed the name Nimrod, which signified rebel, into that of Bel, Baal, or Baalim, which signifies Lord. This is the Jupiter Belus of antiquity. Alexander fell a victim to poison, from the resentment of Antipater, and presently there were victims sacrificed on the altars to Alexander. They had scarce murdered Cæsar in the capital, as an enemy to his country, when they venerated him in Heaven, as the tutelar deity of the republic. The raising men to the rank of deities, was a great error in the Gentiles; but the raising those to that rank, who on account of their vices shouldhave been degraded from the rank of men, was a much greater.
XIV. Those who have a just idea of the Deity, cannot fall into so gross an error; but we don’t on that account cease to err. It is true, we do not worship conquerors as deities, but we celebrate them as heroes. What is this, but debasing so noble an epithet? True heroes are wrought and fashioned by virtue, and therefore we should reject all those as spurious and ill-made, which are fabricated in the workshops of ambition. A great and a bad man are contradictions in terms. Agesilaus answered wisely, to one who was extolling the greatness of the King of Persia, and at the same time took occasion to insinuate a remark on the smallness of the kingdom of Sparta, compared to the Persian empire. His reply was:He only can be greater than me, who is better than me.He could not have spoke more to the purpose, if he had read the celebrated saying of St. Austin, in the following words:In his, quæ non mole, sed virtute, præstant, idem est majus esse, quod melius esse. With regard to those things, which are estimated, not by the bulk, but by the virtue or excellence of them, that is greatest, which is best.
XV. Let a Theodosius, a Charles the Great, a Godfrey of Bulloign, a George Castriotus, be celebrated as heroes; and, in fine, all those in whom Fortune assisted Valour, and Valour Justice; those, who only drew their swords in the cause of Heaven, or for the good of the public; those, who in wars take to themselves the toil and the danger only, and leave untouched as the property of others, the fruits and acquisitions; those, who are pacific by inclination, and warriors through necessity; finally, all those, who, as an example to posterity, have by their actions, impressed an idea on the minds of men, that they were just, clement, wise, and animated Princes, in whose sceptres justice reigned, and whose swords never wounded their own consciences.
XVI. But discard from the stock of heroes, those crowned Tigers called conquering Princes, and let them be numbered with the delinquents. Throw down their statues, and translate their images, from the Palace to the dens of wild beasts, that the copies at least may be placed among company, and in such a situation, as suited the characters of the originals. I will in this place give a general trait or description of all conquering Princes, which I find delineated in very lively colours, in the words of a Prince on his death-bed,to whom they gave this epithet, which was William the First of England.
XVII. This prince, in that last stage of life, in which a man finding himself on the verge of eternity, begins to see things in their true light; and at the period of time, when the eyes of the soul open, with the same pace with which those of the body proceed to shut; and when the thoughts of his past victories gnawed his conscience, without feeding his ambition. At this crisis, either from motives of repentance, despair, or from a desire to unburthen himself, after reflecting with horror on the sum of his past actions, in the presence of many nobles who surrounded his bed—He made this confession:I have hated the English, I have dishonoured their Nobility, I have mortified and oppressed the people, and have been the cause of the death of infinite numbers, by famine and the sword; and to sum up the whole, I have desolated this fine and illustrious kingdom, by the murder and destruction of thousands and tens of thousands of its inhabitants.In these few lines, are painted, in their true colours, the exploits of that conqueror; and the same tints, would serve to delineate those of most others who have been dignified with that epithet.
XVIII. I had almost said all; for as I observed before, the dropsical thirst of rule and dominion, which is a disease common to all conquerors, inclines them to aggrandise and extend their empire with respect to foreigners; and also, to enlarge and increase their power among their own subjects. The ambition that agitates them, not only makes them pant to beat down the boundaries of the crown, but those of justice also. Not content to govern by law, they aspire at despotism. They look upon equity as an impediment to, and a restriction of their grandeur, and can only find enlargements proportioned to the views of their souls, in tyranny. That kingdom is in an unhappy state, where he who rules and presides over it, has his head filled with this caprice. The misfortune is, that many are poisoned with these notions and dispositions, who are no conquerors, nor entertain the least thoughts of being such, unless it is in the subjugation of their own subjects.
XIX. This is a species of conquest, the most odious, and the most cheap; for it is not acquired by valour, but by craft and cunning; not by the fatigues of the field, but by the cabals of the cabinet. But notwithstanding they conquer their own subjects, and render them more submissive,and by binding liberty with stronger and heavier chains, convert vassalage to slavery; they should remember, that dominion is only hereditary, for so long as it is conducted with justice; but that when it comes to be exercised with violence, it is usurpation. But that is an unhappy harvest, which ambition reaps by such means. How is a Prince benefited, if, by putting the bodies of his subjects under a hard state of servitude, he loses their souls, and alienates their affections? He loses the best part of his subjects, which is their love, and gets in return for it a small portion more of fear; and he estranges from him their hearts, by oppressing their breasts. He deprives himself of the greatest sweet or pleasure of reigning, which consists in seeing his legal commands obeyed with chearfulness and inclination. What delight can the prospect of a government afford, where you contemplate every vassal, as a fierce animal, who supports with indignation the chain that confines him? What security can a Prince have against the invasions of foreign powers, who has made his subjects disaffected to him? Or what security against the intrigues and resentment of his own people, whom, by his absurd conduct, he has made angry, and weaned of their affections for him? The monarchs of the east can best answer these queries, and tell, how by affecting to be so much the arbiters of the lives of their subjects,the subjects frequently have erected themselves into being the arbiters of the lives of their Princes.
XX. The blame of this abuse, whenever it happens, lies at the doors of ill-intentioned ministers and vile flatterers. These are interested in extending the acts of government beyond their bounds, because they expect to be partakers in the sway and emoluments resulting from a stretch of power; and they endeavour to gain the favour of the Prince, by insinuating to him, that government being all force or seduction, the most easy and eligible method of ruling, is by the King’s pleasure, and that this at the same time, would be the most likely means of raising the King’s authority to the highest pitch of elevation and perfection. With this view, they also are continually representing to him, that total independance is essential to a crown, and that laws and customs are unworthy restrictions upon sovereigns; that a monarch is the more respectable, the more absolute he reigns; and that the just medium of the King’s authority, is the King’s will. That the dignity of the crown is by so much the more exalted, by so much the more the people are depressed and kept under. And to sum up the whole: that a King is a deity upon earth, whichmaxim they enforce so strongly, that as far as it is in their power, they would make him forget there is another superior in Heaven.
XXI. A story related by John Reynaldo de Segrais in his anecdotes, is very applicable to the present purpose. When Louis the XIVth of France was but fifteen years old, some flatterers were one day entertaining him at court, with a recital of, and endeavouring to instill into him, such maxims of tyrannic policy as we have been just mentioning, though I believe if he had been five or six years older, the least punishment he would have inflicted on them for it, would have been banishing them from his presence and court for ever; but the want of experience, joined to his judgment not being then matured, and the ardour of his lively spirit, occasioned him to listen to them with pleasure, as their relations were suited to the grandeur of his heart, and his ideas of unlimited power. Marechal d’Etré, an antient man, of great wisdom and experience, was at the same time standing at a little distance from the King, and listening with the highest indignation, to the language of those flatterers. In the course of their conversation, they came to talk of the Ottoman Emperors, and spoke with great approbation of those monarchs being the despotic masters of the lives and fortunes of theirvassals. This is reigning in the true sense of the word, said Louis; they must certainly be happy Princes; and he spoke this in a manner, which indicated his good liking of that mode of government. His words pierced through the heart of the good Marechal, who, reflecting on the pernicious consequences that would result from his adopting such principles, advanced quickly up to the King, and intrepidly said to him:But, Sir, I must inform your Majesty, that within my remembrance, two or three of these Emperors have been strangled by the hands of their own subjects.Marechal Villeroi, the worthy guardian and governor of the young King, who was at some distance, but had overheard all that passed; in a transport of joy, broke through the crowd to get at d’Etré, whom he publicly embraced, and gave him the most cordial thanks for so opportune and useful a caution. Would to God that there was always ready at the side of Princes, some man of such generous and liberal sentiments, to apply the antidote, when flattery in the alluring gilded cup of grandeur presents to them the poison of tyranny!
XXII. The tender age of Princes is the most susceptible of imbibing salutary or perniciousmaxims, and the impressions of childhood take deep root in the soul, which, according to the cultivation it receives then, produces fruit in future; and it very seldom happens, that this rule is known to fail; for the good or bad images which are impressed at that time, are scarce ever effaced.
XXIII. Therefore the election of guardians, who are to direct and regulate the management of Princes in their infancy, is a matter of the utmost importance to kingdoms; and the choice of proper maxims, wherewith to inspire their pupils, demands the most serious attention of the guardians.
XXIV. The soul then, in the state of nonage, receiving impressions like wax, and retaining them like brass; I repeat once more, that the inspiring young people with wholesome maxims in their tender years, is a thing of the utmost importance. The method of education should be thus laid out: to begin with religion, to proceed next to ethics or morality, and to finish with politics. In these three parts, there is an admirable connection. Religion (which we don’t speak of here as a special virtue, but only with relationto the firm faith contained in it, and the truths it persuades) informs the understanding of the greatness and goodness of God, and disposes the heart to love him. Ethics, or moral instruction, directs all our actions, and causes them to conspire unanimously to promote this end, serving at the same time, as a vehicle to convey, and as an ultimate disposer to the practice of the most sound policy; or, to speak more properly, the morality of a King, with relation to his kingly office, is no other thing but policy itself, taken in general and comprehensive sense; because that consists, in a combination or assemblage of all those virtues, which conduce or lead to the exercise of good government.
XXV. The reading of good books is very useful, to instruct Princes in the maxims of sound policy. But which are the good books? I believe very few. Those which contain sound doctrine are infinite; but what signifies their informing, if they don’t stimulate or move? The most difficult part of morality, does not so much consist in coming at a knowledge of what is right, as in exciting and moving an effectual inclination to practise it. There are books of short sentences, and abounding with affectation, (in the stile of Seneca, which a certain Emperor called sand without lime) which tingle in the ear, but their echonever reaches the heart. There are others, filled with texts and pulpit conceits, which, instead of illustrating, confound, and instead of moving, become tiresome and surfeiting. There are others again, which abound with the sentences of Thucydides, Polybius, Tacitus, Livy, and Sallust, intermixed with a number of historical passages. I shall say of all these, as Apelles said of a pupil of his, who had painted Helen with very little beauty, but in a very costly dress stuck full of jewels:Cum non posses facere pulchram, fecisti divitem. As you was unable to make her handsome, you have made her rich.These forced and unnatural ornaments, with which erudition in the books that treat of it, dress virtue, do not conduce to fire the minds of those who read them, with the love of her. He only will accomplish this end, who has the art of painting in lively colours her native beauty; and who has the address and genius, to impress on the understanding, a clear and agreeable idea, of the magnificence of her charms.
XXVI. But better than the best books, is good conversation. The instruction which is communicated by means of the voice, is natural, that which is conveyed by writing, is artificial; the one is animated, the other dead; consequently, the first will be efficacious and active, the second languidand faint. The tongue writes on the soul, as the hand on paper. That which we hear, is conveyed to us immediately and in the first instance, from the mind of him from whom the instruction proceeds; that which we read, is the copy of a copy. If princes in their childhood, were daily attended by discreet and good-intentioned people, who under the colour of amusing and entertaining them, were to instruct them; any one might venture to be bound, for their future good behaviour and wise conduct. The learning insinuates itself deepest, which is conveyed under the veil of diversion; and as that nourishes the body best, which we eat with desire and an appetite, so that which we listen to with delight, is most improving to the soul. The word instruction is unpleasing to children, therefore it is necessary as far as we are able, to take away the name, and leave or preserve the substance of the thing; and this is much more necessary to be done in the case of Princes, because from their early time of life, either their own vanity, or the flattery of other people, inspires them with a notion, that persons of their rank and station have no need of learning. The rules of equity and civil jurisprudence, conveyed under the disguise of engaging and entertaining relations of the conduct and management of just Princes, who by acting well, attained the accomplishment of all theirwishes with respect to foreign concerns, and acquired the adoration of their own subjects at home, and the admiration of all strangers; I say, if improvement was insinuated into them in this way, by some person whose conversation was pleasing to them, and who had the address to introduce it, not as if he was instructing, but entertaining, them; it would be the best method of ingrafting in their minds, plants of the choicest quality, from whence in time you might expect to gather excellent fruit. For this reason, the wise Bishop of Cambray composed for the education of the Duke of Burgundy, whose preceptor he was, a collection of pleasing fables, in the stile and manner of such tales, with which old women are accustomed to entertain children, and which children for their amusement are used to relate to one another; in these, he in natural and easy language, suited to their capacities and comprehensions, conveyed all the precepts which compose the most Christian policy.
XXVII. All the lessons however, which are given to Princes, should be calculated to train them to, and make them enamoured with those virtues, which may be of the most consequence, and the most useful to them, both as Princes andmen; above all, regard should be had, as a matter of the utmost importance, to implanting in them, the feelings of humanity and moderation of spirit, which virtues, as being diametrically opposite to, are the best counterpoises to the vice of ambition. Other vices may be prejudicial to themselves, or injurious to particular individuals; but ambition, or the inordinate lust of dominion and controul, are pernicious, and evils to a whole kingdom. There is no doubt, but an unjust or a cruel Prince, is extremely abhorrent, though with all this, if you attend to the mischief these vices produce, you will find, that that occasioned by ambition, far exceeds the other; for on account of its being most generally felt, it is by far the greatest. Injustice and cruelty are exercised on determined individuals, but ambition oppresses all. Or we should express it better, by saying, the unjust and cruel, is cruel and unjust to some particular people; but the ambitious is unjust and cruel to the whole community. These are the ordinary steps and progressions of ambition. It begins by injustice, goes on to rigour, and ends with cruelty. The Prince is unjust to a state, who, by extending his demands beyond the limits of right reason, is desirous of burthening his subjects more than the rules of equity permit. But what follows this oppressive mode of conduct? Why that the subjects, as soon as it is introduced,begin to be dissatisfied and complain; and that the Prince, regarding their complaints and applications for redress, though couched in never so submissive terms, as affronts and injuries, begins to direct chastisements. Measures of rigour are now determined on; and what follows the execution of them? Why, that the clamours and complaints grow louder, and that the cries of the oppressed in the ears of the King, sound like the voice of rebellion. Upon this, the rigour, under the colour of law and justice, is augmented, till it ascends to the degree of cruelty; but in case things do not arrive at this extremity, because fear suffocates in the breasts of the afflicted, the voice of murmur; yet what greater torment can a man undergo, than that of supporting a heavy yoke on his shoulders, and having at the same time a cord drawn so tight round his neck, as to obstruct the relief of a sigh? This then being a great martyrdom, the oppression which is the cause of it, can’t fail of being a great cruelty.
XXVIII. I am not surprized that some Princes have gone to this extreme, but rather wonder that all have not proceeded to it. The thirsty desire of domineering, which is never satiated, is natural to the heart of man; and this principle which isborn with us, in Princes, is stimulated and inflamed by flattery. We frequently hear them addressed, in terms which are exquisitely hyperbolical, some to blazon the perfections of their characters, others those of their persons. They represent to them their superiority in a manner, that tends to persuade them, they are more than men, and that other people are less. This ostentatious image of grandeur is very grateful to their feelings, and therefore it is not wonderful, they should set it up as an idol, for the people who are under them to offer as sacrifices to, all they possess which is most valuable. Some politicians have thought it expedient, in order to give Princes a higher idea of their own excellence, and fill them with more exalted notions, to place flatterers about their persons; and I have no doubt but this may be proper, when you perceive them to be very pusillanimous. But in general, the thing of most consequence in their education, ought to be taking care to impress on their minds, such maxims only, as are dictated by religion, virtue, and humanity. And this is the manner in which they should be propounded to them.
XXIX. That a King is a man, as other men are, son like them, of the same common father, equal by nature, and only unequal in fortune.
XXX. That this fortune, imagine it to be great as you will, he owes all to God, who has power to place one of another race on the throne; and no man, if he pleases to do it, has a right to find fault or complain of injustice, even though he should raise to the rank of Majesty a person of the most humble station in the kingdom, and reduce to the lowest class, him, who the day before was seated on a throne.
XXXI. That so much the greater the idea of his own grandeur is, by so much the greater ought his gratitude and thankfulness to be to the Divine Majesty, who has conferred it upon him; and that in proportion to the superiority of his rank, are his obligations to serve and obey God as an example to other men.
XXXII. That God did not make the kingdom for the King, but the King for the kingdom. Therefore the object of his government should not be directed to support his own private interest or convenience, but that of the republic. For this reason, Aristotle points out the essential distinction between a King and a tyrant, that the first only attends to his own convenience, the other to the public good.
XXXIII. That consequently, the expression used in edicts, that such is the King’s pleasure, he having thought fit to order the thing specified to be done for the advancement or good of his service, should be understood to imply, that he is pleased with ordaining such things only as are for the good of the public. It is the duty of the subjects to obey the King; and it is the duty of the King to command such things only, as are for the benefit and advantage of his subjects.
XXXIV. That as the subjects are obliged to obey and execute what the King is pleased to direct, the King is obliged to order such things only as are pleasing to God, and consistent with his laws and commandments.
XXXV. That the power of ordering only what is right and just, does not diminish his authority, but rather aggrandizes it; for although it is impossible for God to do any act which is not right and just, he does not on that account cease to be omnipotent.
XXXVI. That a King, having risen to the summit of human glory, cannot ascend to a superior degree of altitude, but by the arduous pathof virtue; that is, he can only be greater by being better.
XXXVII. That the most difficult and most glorious part of the exercise of the kingly office, consists, not in a Prince’s conquering new kingdoms, but in his good government of that he possesses. A Courtier in the presence of Augustus said, that Alexander, at thirty-two years of age, upon reflecting that in a little time he should subjugate all the world, was at a loss to think how he should employ himself when that was done:Alexander at that rate, replied Augustus,must have been very simple; for the most arduous and difficult part of the work remained still to be executed, which was, governing well the kingdoms he had conquered.
XXXVIII. If we were to take an account of the Princes who were great warriors, and of those who were eminent for their virtue, we should find the number of the last much smaller than that of the first; so that although virtue should not be so much admired in Kings as military glory, its being more scarce, is sufficient to make it more valuable. Flavius Vopiscus relates, that a buffoon, to express the smallness of the number of the good Princes who had been known in he world, said, the effigies of them all might becarved on a ring. As he talked of idolatrous Kings, for he knew no others, he may be supposed to have spoken the truth; but things are quite otherwise at present, although the numbers of the warlike and political ones, may be reckoned in all times to have exceeded those of the pious ones.
XXXIX. That as the subjects owe to their King their obedience and respect, he owes to them his tender care and protection. A King has two sorts of children, some as a man, others as a Prince; those of the one sort are natural, those of the other political; but they are all his subjects, and as such he ought to love them. The inhabitants of Sichem, of whom Hamor was Prince, are called in scripture the children of Hamor.
XL. That this love should not impede, but rather stimulate him to punish delinquents; because the greatest benefit a King can confer on his subjects, is to root out from among them evil-doers.
XLI. That the effects of his love should be more felt by his subjects at large, than by his ministers, and especially those who are nearest his person; for to these, he should dispense thetokens of his regard, in proportion to their merit; and it is of the utmost importance, that he should not extend his esteem for them beyond those limits. It is good that ministers should love their Prince; but I judge it would be more beneficial to the public, that they should fear him. That kingdom is in a most happy state, where the subjects fear the ministers, the ministers the King, and the King God.
XLII. Those above all should experience him terrible, who are found wanting to the truth in any informations they give him relating to important public affairs, or even concerning private ones; for there are few Princes, who would not wish to do what is most for the advantage of their subjects; but it happens, that they fail to attain this end, on account of the indirect and fallacious informations which come to their ears.
XLIII. That in order to insure the receiving them pure, there is no other method to be pursued, but that of admitting easy access to all men; some would then remove the deceptions, which others had imposed; or no one would venture to deceive, for fear that some other should detect him. If any one arrives at the sole possession of the King’s ear, he, without using further industry,becomes the sole master of the King and his kingdom.
XLIV. That he should listen courteously to all who address him, but should be more particularly gracious to those in humble stations of life, because these, as more timorous and bashful, stand in most need of encouragement to enable them to express themselves. Augustus, with a most humane air, asked a man who approached him with fear and trembling to deliver a petition, if he thought he was addressing himself to a lion or a tiger. This courteous manner in a Prince, besides conciliating the love of his subjects, facilitates to those who obtain an audience, a clear and entire exposition of all they have to say; for a tremulous tongue can never articulate plainly, and fear cuts off the communication between the lips and the breast.
XLV. That he should shew himself so zealous a lover of justice, as even for the sake of it, to dispense with his own interest or convenience; and he should give the judges to understand, that whenever his concerns come in question, and that any thing which is supposed to be his is claimed by one of his subjects, if the merits of the case are not on his side, they would not recommend themselves to him, by pronouncingsentence in his favour. This was the great lesson, which, among others, was given on his death-bed by the pious King Louis to his heir and successor Philip. The Senescal Joinville, the beloved minister of that Prince, relates the advice to have been conceived in the following terms:If any one shall have a dispute or litigation with you, shew yourself favourably disposed to the suit of your opponent, till the truth can with certainty be established. By pursuing this method, you will ensure, that your ministers and counsellors will always act in favour of justice.A caution worthy to be written and preserved in letters of gold.
XLVI. That whenever it is evidentally established, that some resolution is necessary to be taken for the good of the public, maugre the compassion, benignity, and love, which are so much recommended; it should not be omitted to be carried into execution, on account of the complaints or injury it may occasion to some particular people; for they sometimes are not aware of the importance of the measure; and sometimes it is also necessary, to suffer a grievance to be born by a small part of a kingdom, for the good of the whole.
XLVII. That when he consults the lawyer, the divine, or the politician, he should concealthe inclinations of his own mind, and hear their answers with perfect indifference. If he does not act thus, but on the contrary rewards him who coincides with his wishes, and frowns on the man who speaks with christian freedom and integrity; the precaution of a consultation will not remove from him the guilt of any miscarriage that may happen; for it is very well known, that a King is never at a loss for politicians, divines, and lawyers, to say that is right and proper, which he is desirous of doing.
XLVIII. That in the end, he must one day die, and that at the instant of his dissolution, he must appear upon a level with the most humble sinner of the earth before the King of Kings, to give an account of all his actions. I contemplate the appearance of a King at that tremendous tribunal, in a terrible light. Private delinquents are charged with here and there a homicide, and here and there a theft; but to the account of an iniquitous King, homicides and robberies are charged by thousands and by millions. In one unjust war which he commences, all those who die on one side and the other have their deaths charged to his account, which although they should be estimated at a few, will always be found to amount to several thousands. All the diminutions which the subjects of both kingdoms sustain in their properties,in order to support the expences of the war, are imputed to him as the author and cause of the mischief; and the number of people injured amounting to millions, the account of his injustices amounts to millions also.
XLIX. It appears just and proper to me, to instill into the minds of Princes in their tender age, these and such like admonitions, taking care not to propound them with that dryness, and in the bald and naked shape, in which they appear in this writing; but observing to combine and interweave them, into such conversations on political subjects, as may naturally present themselves. In the doing this, all odious magisterial affectation should be avoided, and the instruction should be conveyed under the form, and habited in the dress of rational amusement.
L. I am not ignorant, that if Princes are pusillanimous, it will be necessary in various instances, in order to enlarge their minds, to educate them with less severe maxims; but those who are appointed to instruct them in their youth, need not be very attentive to this consideration; for they may naturally conclude, that when their pupils mount the throne, there will always be people enough at their elbows ready to supply this defect.
LI. What we have written in this discourse, if we attend precisely to the present state of Spain, can produce no other benefit to him who reads it, but that of an honest amusement; or at most, can only furnish the people here with a knowledge of some moral truths, the effects of which do not reach them, nor have they any experience of the consequences resulting from them; for neither the royal children of this day, who for the good of this kingdom proceed to grow and increase in virtue, nor those who are appointed to instruct them, stand in need of my advice; but rather, my theory is marked out by their steps, and copied from their practice. Besides, it is the general condition of all cautions and admonitions which are written to warn Princes, that they are only printed when they are not necessary. Nobody writes against tyranny, when a tyrant is seated on the throne; nobody against ambition, while an ambitious Prince reigns; nobody against avarice, while a covetous prince sways the sceptre. All maxims that issue from the press, which are opposite to the existing mode of ruling, are reputed satires upon government, so that the author by publishing them incurs the indignation of the Prince, and fails to benefit the public. Hiswork is suppressed as offensive, and by that means his labour is totally lost, because the fruits of it can never be enjoyed, neither then, nor in any future time.
LII. From hence it follows, that the most opportune time to exhibit to the world treatises upon just and right policy, is that in which such policy is practised. It is then you should sow, for then you have a favourable prospect, that the seed will produce a good crop hereafter; and even then you may enjoy the produce in part; for the reigning Prince being confirmed that the road he pursues is right, is fortified in his good purposes. To him such doctrine serves as a cordial, and to future ages it acts as a preservative.