Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/409

 THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE COURTIER 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 tfueTuler. Therefore, following these principles ' tl 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,*'' 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 can- not 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 per- nicious 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 horseman- ship, 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 govern- ment 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. 249