Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/455

THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE COURTIER Courtier. Moreover you must know that the whetstone, although it cuts nothing, yet makes iron sharp. Hence it seems to me that although the Courtier instructs the prince, he need not on that account be said to be of more dignity than the prince. " That the aim of this Courtiership is difficult and sometimes impossible, and that even when the Courtier attains it, he ought not to be called a Courtier, but deserves a greater name, — I say that I do not deny this difficulty, since it is not less difficult to find so excellent a Courtier than to attain such an end. Yet me- thinks there is no impossibility, even in the case that you cited: for if the Courtier is too young to know that which we have said he ought to know, we need not speak of him, since he is not the Courtier we are presupposing, nor is it possible that one who has to know so many things should be very young. " And if, indeed, the prince shall chance to be so wise and good by nature that he has no need of precepts and counsel from others (although everyone knows how difficult this is), it will be enough for the Courtier to be such a man as could make the prince virtuous if he had need of it. And then the Courtier will be at least able to perform the other part of his duty, — not to allow his prince to be deceived, always to make known the truth about everything, and to set himself against flatterers and slan- derers and all those who plot to debase his prince's mind with unworthy pleasures. And in this way he will also attain his end in great part, although he cannot put everything in practice: which will not be a reason for finding fault with him, since he refrains therefrom for so good a cause. For if an excellent phy- sician were to find himself in a place where everyone was in health, it would not for that reason be right to say that this phy- sician failed in his aim, although he healed no sick. Thus, just as the physician's aim ought to be men's health, so the Courtier's ought to be his prince's virtue; and it is enough for them both to have their aim latent within their power, if their failure to attain it openly in acts arises from the subject to which the aim is directed. " But if the Courtier were so old that it would not become him to practise music, festivals, games, arms, and the other personal accomplishments, still we cannot say that it is impossible for him 283