Then Frisio said: ‘Now say no more. We shall pray God that we see your hope fulfilled.’
And then signor Magnifico turned to the Duchess with an air of having finished all he had to say and remarked:
‘There, madam, you have all that I can think to say concerning the end at which the courtier should aim; and if in this matter I haven’t given complete satisfaction, at least it will be enough to have demonstrated that he is capable of further perfections beyond those given to him by these gentlemen, who might, I think, have left out this and whatever else I could say, not because they did not know it better than I but in order to save themselves trouble. So now I shall allow them to continue, if they have anything more to add.’
Then the Duchess said: ‘Not only is it now so late that soon it will be time to stop for this evening, but also I do not think it fitting that we should mingle any other discussion with your remarks, in which you have gathered together so many varied and beautiful things that it can be said, as far as the purpose of courtier-ship is concerned, not only that you are the perfect courtier whom we are seeking and capable of educating your prince correctly, but also that, if Fortune smiles on you in future, you ought to prove a most excellent prince as well, and this would be of great advantage to your country.’
Signor Ottaviano smiled and replied: ‘Perhaps, madam, if I were to attain such rank, then I would be like so many others, who know better how to speak than to act.’
Then, after a hubbub of conversation, during which some contradicted and others praised what had been said, it was pointed out that it was not yet time for sleep, and the Magnifico Giuliano said with a smile:
‘Madam, I am so great an enemy to deception that I am bound to contradict signor Ottaviano who for having, as I fear, secretly conspired against women with signor Gaspare, has fallen into two errors which, in my opinion, are very serious. First, in order to give this courtier precedence over the Court lady and make him pass beyond what she can achieve, he has set him above even the prince, and this is quite wrong. Secondly, he has given him objectives that are always difficult and sometimes impossible for him to attain and such that if he did so he ought not to be called a courtier.’
‘I do not understand,’ said signora Emilia, ‘how it is so difficult or impossible for the courtier to attain these objectives, or in what way signor Ottaviano has set him above the prince.’
‘Do not grant him these things,’ added signor Ottaviano, ‘for I have not set the courtier above the prince and, as far as the end of courtiership is concerned, I do not think I have fallen into any error.’
The Magnifico Giuliano said: ‘Signor Ottaviano, you cannot maintain that the cause which produces an effect with certain characteristics may never have more of those characteristics than its effect. So it follows that the courtier, whose instruction is to make the prince so excellent, must be more excellent than the prince himself. Likewise, he would also be of greater dignity than the prince, and this is quite wrong. Then, regarding the end at which the courtier should aim, what you have said is valid when the prince is about the same age as the courtier (though even so there are difficulties) because where there is little difference in age it is reasonable to expect that there should be little difference in knowledge. But if the prince is old and the courtier young, it is natural that the former should be more knowledgeable. If this is not always the case it does happen sometimes; and then the objective you have set the courtier is impossible. On the other hand, if the prince is young and the courtier old, it will be difficult for the courtier to influence him by means of those accomplishments you have attributed to him; for it goes without saying that sports such as jousting are for the young and of no use to the old, and that at that time of life music, dancing, merrymaking, games and love affairs are simply ridiculous; and it seems to me that these would be most unsuitable activities for one who is to mould the life and behaviour of the prince, who ought to be a man of considerable dignity and authority, mature in years and experience, and, if possible, a good philosopher, a good commander and knowing almost all there is to know. Therefore, the man who instructs the prince should not, I think, have the name of courtier but deserves a greater and more honoured name. So you must forgive me, signor Ottaviano, if I have pointed out this mistake of yours, because it seems to me that I am obliged to do so for the honour of my Court lady, whom you wish to be ofless dignity than this courtier of yours, and this I will not allow.’
Signor Ottaviano smiled and said: ‘Signor Magnifico, it would be more in her praise to lift her up to the same level as the courtier than it is to lower the courtier to hers. For surely she would also be allowed to instruct her mistress and to aspire with her to the same end of courtiership as I have said the courtier should aim at with his prince. But you are more concerned to criticize the courtier than to praise the Court lady; so I must be allowed to continue to take his part. In answer to your objections, therefore, I say that I did not maintain that the courtier’s instruction should be the sole cause of what the prince is to be; for if the prince were not naturally inclined and suited to his role, all the courtier’s care and teaching would be useless, just as would be all the endeavours of a good farmer if he set out with the finest seed to sow and cultivate the barren sand of the sea, because the latter is naturally sterile. But when to good seed in a fertile soil and to a temperate climate and seasonable rains, there is added also the diligence of man’s cultivation, almost everywhere a rich harvest results. The farmer is not by himself responsible for the harvest, but without him all the other things would be of little or no use. Thus there are many princes who would be good if their minds were properly cultivated, and it is of these I am speaking and not of those who are like barren soil and by nature so alien to good conduct that they can never be taught to follow the right path.
‘And since, as we have said already, our character is formed by our actions and virtue is expressed through what we do, it is neither impossible nor surprising that the courtier should introduce the prince to many virtues, such as justice, generosity and magnanimity, which his own greatness will then enable him to practice easily until they become habitual to him. This the courtier himself cannot do, since he lacks the necessary means; and thus the prince can become more virtuous than the courtier, although he has been instructed in the virtues by him. Moreover, you well know that the whetstone is used to sharpen iron, though it cuts nothing itself; so it seems to me that although the courtier teaches the prince it cannot be said to follow that he is of greater dignity than the prince. As for your saying that the end at which the courtier aims is difficult and sometimes impossible, and that when the courtier does achieve it he should not be called a courtier but deserves a greater name still, I do not deny the problem, for it is no less difficult to find such an understanding courtier than it is to attain the end we have stated. But I am convinced that there is no impossibility, even in the example you have cited. For if the courtier is so young that he does not know what we said he should know, then we have no need to speak of him, seeing that he is not the kind of courtier we have in mind; and indeed it is impossible for one who has to know so many things to be very young. Then again, if the prince is so wise and good in himself that he has no need of precepts or advice from anyone else (though everyone knows how unusual this is) it would be enough if the courtier were such that he could make the prince virtuous were he called upon to do so. And then in what he does he will be able to fulfil his other function of not allowing his prince to be deceived, of ensuring that he always has the truth about every-thing, and of standing in the path of flatterers and slanderers and all those who might scheme to corrupt the soul of the prince through shameful pleasures. In this way the courtier will largely attain his end, even though he will not realize it completely. And it would be unreasonable to criticize him because of this, since he is acting from a good motive. After all, if an excellent doctor happened to live in a place where everyone was in the best of health, we could hardly accuse him of failing to fulfil
his function simply because he wasn’t curing the sick. And just as the aim of a doctor should be to make men healthy, so the aim of the courtier is to make his prince virtuous. For both of them it is enough to have the capacity to achieve their ends, even if circumstances are such that they are not called upon to do so in practice.17 Then if the courtier should be so old that it is unbecoming to him to indulge in music, merrymaking, games, arms and similar recreations, even so one cannot say that it is impossible for him to win his prince’s favour in this way. For even if he is too old to take part in these things himself, he can still understand them; and, given that he has practised them when young, seeing that years and experience bring with them so much more knowledge of everything, age does not prevent his having a more perfect judgement, and a more perfect understanding of how to teach them to his prince. So in this way, although the courtier who has grown old does not practise the accomplishments we have ascribed to him, he will still attain his aim of giving good instruction to his prince.
‘Then if you do not wish to give him the name of courtier, that does not offend me. For Nature has not set such limits on human dignities that a man may not ascend from one to another. Thus common soldiers often become captains; private persons, kings; priests, popes; and pupils, masters. And when they achieve the dignity, they acquire the name along with it. So we can perhaps say that the courtier’s final aim is to become his prince’s instructor. And yet I do not know who would refuse the name of perfect courtier, which in my opinion is worthy of the highest praise. And it seems to me that just as Homer created two most excellent men as models of human life, namely for deeds, Achilles, and for suffering and endurance, Ulysses, so he also wished to create a perfect courtier, who was Phoenix.18 For after describing his love affairs and other things that happened to him in his youth, he says that Phoenix was sent to Achilles by his father Peleus to be his companion and to teach him how to speak and behave; and this is precisely the purpose we have attributed to our courtier. Nor do I think that Aristotle and Plato would have scorned the name of perfect courtier, because it is perfectly clear that they themselves carried out the functions of courtiership to the same end, the former with Alexander the Great and the latter with the Kings of Sicily.19 And as the duty of a good courtier is to know the character and inclinations of his prince and according to the needs and opportunities these present skilfully win his favour, as we have said, by ways that are certain of success, and then introduce him to virtue, so Aristotle knew so well the character of Alexander and encouraged it so skilfully that Alexander loved and honoured him more than a father. And among many other demonstrations of his affection for Aristotle, Alexander ordered the rebuilding of his native city of Stagira, which had been destroyed. For his part, besides directing Alexander to the noble objective of wishing to make the whole world into one single country, in which men would live as one people, in friendship and peace among themselves under one government and one law shining equally on all like the light of the sun, Aristotle educated him so well in the natural sciences and in virtue that he became extremely wise, brave and continent, and a true moral philosopher in deeds as well as words. It is indeed impossible to imagine a nobler philosophy than the one by which he lived. For it brought civilization to peoples as savage as those of Bactria, Caucasia, India and Scythia, giving them knowledge of marriage and agriculture and teaching them to honour their parents and refrain from rapine, murder and other evil customs; it led to the building of so many magnificent cities in distant lands; and so, through the laws it imposed, men without number were led from a brutish to a human way of life. And the author of these deeds of Alexander was no other than Aristotle, employing the method of a good courtier. This was something that Callisthenes20 did not know how to do, even though Aristotle showed him. For he wished to be a pure philosopher and an austere minister of the naked truth, unalloyed by courtiership, and so he lost his life and instead of helping Alexander won him nothing but infamy. The same method of courtiership was used by Plato to educate Dion of Syracuse. And subsequently when Plato found the tyrant Dionysius to be like a book full of lies and errors, and so in need of complete erasure rather than any change or correction, he decided that it would be useless to use the method of courtiership in this instance, because Dionysius was so soaked in tyrannical habits that there was no remedy for it. This example should be followed by our courtier too, if he happens to find himself in the service of a prince whose nature is so degraded that he is completely sapped by evil, like consumptives by their disease. In such a case he should withdraw his allegiance in order to escape blame for the misdeeds of his master and not experience the anguish felt by all good men who serve the wicked.’
After signor Ottaviano had fallen silent at this point, signor Gaspare said:
‘I certainly did not expect to see our courtier honoured so highly; but since Aristotle and Plato are his companions, I think that no one from now on ought to despise the name. All the same, I’m not yet certain that I believe that Aristotle and Plato ever danced or made music at any time during their lives, or performed any acts of chivalry.’
Signor Ottaviano replied: ‘It is hardly permissible to imagine that there was anything these two inspired men did not know, and so we may well believe that they practised what belongs to courtiership; for when they come to write about the subject they do so in such a way that those who are the greatest experts in what they are discussing can see that they understand the very pith and essence of it. So it is wrong to say that for the prince’s courtier or instructor (as you wish to call him) who aims at the excellent end we have described, the accomplishments ascribed to him by these gentlemen are inappropriate, even though he may be an austere philosopher of the most saintly life; for these accomplishments are not inconsistent with goodness, discretion, wisdom or merit at any age or in any circumstances of time and place.’
Then signor Gaspare continued: ‘I remember that when these gentlemen were discussing the accomplishments of the courtier yesterday evening they wished him to be in love. However, when we sum up what has been said so far we could come to the conclusion that the courtier who must introduce the prince to virtue through his own merits and authority must of necessity be an elderly man, for only rarely does wisdom not wait upon age, and especially as regards what we learn from experience. So I do not see how if he is advanced in years it is fitting for the courtier to be in love, seeing that, as has already been said this evening, in old men love is futile and what women take for agreeable courtesies, pleasantries and elegance in the young are in the old inept and ridiculous follies which will cause some women to detest and everyone to deride whoever indulges in them. So if this Aristotle of yours, as an elderly courtier, were to be in love and to do the things that young lovers do (like some we have seen in our own times) I fear he would forget to instruct his prince and doubtless the children would make fun of him behind his back and the ladies would hardly derive any pleasure from him other than to mock him.’
Then signor Ottaviano answered: ‘As all the other qualities attributed to the courtier are suitable to him, even when he is old, I don’t think it right to deprive him of the happiness of being in love.’
‘On the contrary,’ retorted signor Gaspare, ‘to deprive him of it adds another perfection to him and enables him to live happily, free of all calamity and misery.’
Then Pietro Bembo added: ‘Do you not remember, signor Gaspare, that although he is untutored in love in the game he suggested the other evening signor Ottaviano evidently knew that there are some lovers who regard as pleasurable all the storms of indignation, the outbursts of temper, the wars and the torments that they experience with their ladies? And he asked to be taught the cause of this pleasure. Therefore if our courtier were to be inflamed with the kind of love that is agreeable and without bitterness, even if elderly he would not experience any misery or suffering. And then again as a wise man, which we suppose him to be, he would not deceive himself in thinking that everything suitable for a yo
ung man to do was likewise suitable in his case. If in love, he would doubtless love in a way that would not only bring him no blame but earn him great praise and complete happiness, free of all vexation, which rarely if ever happens with younger men. And so he would not neglect to instruct his prince nor would he do anything to cause children to make fun of him.’
Then the Duchess remarked: ‘I am glad, Pietro, that you have had to make little effort in our discussion this evening, because now we can have all the more confidence in giving you the task of speaking, and of teaching us about this kind of love which is so felicitous that it brings with it neither blame nor displeasure; for doubtless it would be one of the most useful and important of the endowments yet attributed to the courtier. So please, I beg you, tell us all you know about it.’
Pietro smiled and replied: ‘Madam, I wouldn’t wish my having said that it is permissible for old men to love to cause these ladies to suppose that I am old myself. So please give this task to someone else.’
The Duchess replied: ‘You should not run away from being reputed old in wisdom, even if you are young in years. So please go on, and don’t make any more excuses.’
Then Pietro Bembo answered: ‘Truly, madam, if I do have to talk on this subject I shall have to go for advice to my Lavinello’s friend, the hermit.21
At this, as if annoyed, signora Emilia exclaimed:
‘Pietro, no one among us is more disobedient than you. So it would be only right if the Duchess were to punish you.’
Pietro, who was still smiling, answered:
‘Don’t be annoyed with me, madam, for pity’s sake. For I shall tell you what you want.’
‘Then please do so,’ replied signora Emilia.
Thereupon, Pietro Bembo remained quiet for a little while. Then, having composed himself for a moment as if to speak of important things, he began as follows:
The Book of the Courtier Page 36