Page:The Prince.djvu/247

132 Pandolpho belonged at least to the second class; for when a prince knows how to distinguish that which is useful from that which is injurious, he may, without being a man of genius, judge of the conduct of his ministers, and praise or blame it with such discretion, that they; being convinced they cannot deceive him, serve him with zeal and fidelity.

But how are princes to know their ministers? there is oneinfallible method:-it is to observe whether he attends more to his own interest than that of the state. A minister ought to be entirely devoted to the public service, and ought never to address the prince on his particular affairs. It is the part of the prince to attend to the interests of the minister, who, as it were, forgets himself, and to heap fortune and honours upon him: by this means he will remove the idea from the mind of his minister, of seeking riches and honours independent of his prince's bounty; nay, more, he will dread, and endeavour with all his power to prevent, any fatal reverse which may threaten his master. And this is the only method of establishing between a prince and his ministers a confidence equally useful and honourable to both.