Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/155

 seen;— like good painters, who display and show forth the lights of projecting objects by the use of shadow, and likewise deepen the shadows of flat objects by means of light, and so assemble their divers colours that both the one and the other are better displayed by reason of that diversity, and the placing of figures in opposition one to another aids them to perform that office which is the painter's aim.

"Thus gentleness is very admirable in a man of noble birth who is valiant and strong. And as his boldness seems greater when accompanied by modesty, so his modesty is enhanced and set off by his boldness.153 Hence to speak little, to do much, and not to boast of praiseworthy deeds but to conceal them tactfully,— enhances both these attributes in the case of one who knows how to employ this method with discretion; and so it is with all other good qualities. "Therefore in what our Courtier does or says I would have him follow a few universal rules, which I think comprise briefly all that I have to say. And for the first and most important let him above all avoid affectation, as the Count rightly advised last evening. Next let him consider well what thing it is that he is doings or saying, the place where he is doing it, in whose presence, the cause that impels him, his age, his profession, the object he has in view, and the means that may conduce thereto; and so, with these precautions let him apply himself discreetly to whatever he has a mind to do or say."

8.— After messer Federico had spoken thus, he seemed to pause a little. Whereupon my lord Morello da Ortona at once said: "These rules of yours teach little, it seems to me; and for my part I know as much about it now, as I did before you propounded them. Still I remember having heard them several times before also from the friars to whom I made confession, and who called them 'the circumstances,' I think." Then messer Federico laughed and said: "If you remember rightly, the Count declared last evening that the Courtier's chief business should be that of arms, and spoke at length about the way in which he ought to practise it; therefore we will not repeat this. Yet among our rules we may also lay it down that when our Courtier finds himself in a