Page:The Prince (translated by William K. Marriott).djvu/297

Rh answers; and as he did not look for any indulgence in this way of speaking from others, so he was not angered when others did not show it to him. It has often happened that he has listened quietly when others have spoken sharply to him, as on the following occasions. He had caused a ducat to be given for a partridge, and was taken to task for doing so by a friend, to whom Castruccio said, "You would not have given more than a penny." "That is true," answered the friend. Then said Castruccio to him, "A ducat is much less to me." Having about him a flatterer on whom he had spat to show that he scorned him, the flatterer said to him, " Fishermen are willing to let the waters of the sea saturate them in order that they may take a few little fishes, and I allow myself to be wetted by spittle that I may catch a whale; "and this was not only heard by Castruccio with patience but rewarded. When told by a priest that it was wicked for him to live so sumptuously, Castruccio said, "If that be a vice then you should not fare so splendidly at the feasts of our saints." Passing through a street he saw a young man as he came out of a house of ill fame blush at being seen by Castruccio, and said to him, "Thoushouldst not be ashamed when thou comest out, but when thou goest into such places." A friend gave him a very curiously tied knot to undo and was told, " Fool, do you think