Article II. De l'exemple qu'un prince doit à ses sujets — § X
The King's Private Vices Are Public Catastrophes
Fénelon argues that a king's private faults are infinitely consequential, and that his subjects will imitate his vices, especially scandalous ones like dishonorable love, which corrupts the entire nation.
People usually tell kings that they have less to fear from the vices of private individuals than from the faults they give themselves over to in their royal duties.1 For my part, I boldly say the opposite, and I maintain that all their faults, even in their most private life, have infinite consequences for the kingship. So examine your morals in detail. Subjects are servile imitators of their princes, especially in the things that flatter their passions. Have you given them the bad example of a dishonorable and criminal love?2 If you have done so, your authority has put infamy in a place of honor; you have broken down the barrier of modesty and decency; you have made vice and shamelessness triumph; you have taught all your subjects to no longer blush at what is shameful—a fatal lesson they will never forget!3 It would be better, says Jesus Christ, to be thrown into the depths of the sea with a millstone around your neck than to have scandalized the least of these little ones.4 What, then, is the scandal of a king who displays vice seated with him on his throne—not only to all his subjects, but also to every court and every nation of the known world!
The Contagion of Royal Example
Vice is a contagious poison that spreads easily through a king's example, and even secret disorders are guessed by the public, who scrutinize every appearance and are quick to believe the worst.
Vice is, in itself, a contagious poison. The human race is always ready to catch this contagion: by its own inclinations, it tends only to throw off the yoke of all modesty. A spark starts a fire; one action of a king often multiplies and chains together crimes that spread across several nations and several centuries. Haven't you given any of these deadly examples? Perhaps you think your disorders have been secret. No: evil is never secret in princes. Good may be secret in them; for people have great trouble believing it is genuine in them: but as for evil, they guess it, and they believe it on the slightest suspicions. The public penetrates everything; and often, while the prince flatters himself that his weaknesses go unnoticed, he is the only one who doesn't know how thoroughly they are the object of the most malicious criticism.5
Every Appearance Corrupts the Nation
A king's every questionable association, every appearance of gallantry or passion, becomes a scandal that corrupts the morals of the entire nation.
In him, every questionable association is open to interpretation: every appearance of gallantry, every air of passion or of amusement, causes a scandal and strikes a blow that corrupts the morals of an entire nation.
Read the original French
On dit d'ordinaire aux Rais, qu'ils ont moins à craindre les vices de particuliers, que les défauts auxquels ils s'abandonnent dans les fonctions royales. Pour moi, je dis hardiment le contraire, et je soutiens que toutes leurs fautes dans la vie la plus privée sont d 'une conséquence infinie pour la royauté. Examinez donc vos mœurs en détail. Les sujets sont de serviles imitateurs de leurs princes, surtout dans les choses qui flattent leurs passions. Leur avez-vous donné le mauvais exemple d'un amour déshonnéte et criminel ? Si vous l'avez fait, votre autorité a mis en honneur l'infamie ; vous avez rompu la barrière de la pudeur et de l'honnêteté : vous avez fait triompher le vice et l'impudence : vous avez appris à tous vos sujets à ne rougir plus de ce qui est honteux : leçon funeste qu'ils n'oublieront jamais ! Il vaudroit mieux, dit Jésus- Christ, être jeté avec une meule de moulin au cou, au fond des abîmes delà mer que d'avoir scandalisé le moindre des petits. Quel est donc le scandale d'un Roi qui montre le vice assis avec lui sur son trône, non-seulement à tous ses sujets, mais encore à toutes les cours et à toutes les nations du monde connu!
Le vice est par lui-même un poison contagieux. Le genre humain est toujours prêt à recevoir cette contagion : il ne tend, par ses inclinations, qu'à secouer le joug de toute pudeur. Une étincelle cause un incendie ; une action d'un Roi fait souvent une multiplication et un enchaînement de crimes, qui s'étendent jusqu'à plusieurs nations et à plusieurs siècles. N'avez- vous point donné de ces mortels exemples? Peut-être croyez-vous que vos désordres ont été secrets. Non : le mal n'est jamais secret dans les princes. Le bien y peut être secret ; car on a grande peine à le croire véritable en eux : mais pour le mal, on le devine, on le croit sur les moindres soupçons. Le public pénètre tout ; et souvent, pendant que le prince se flatte que ses foiblesses sont ignorées, il est le seul qui ignore combien elles sont l'objet de la plus maligne critique.
En lui, tout commerce équivoque est sujet à explication : toute apparence de galanterie, tout air passionné ou amusé, cause un scandale, et porte coup pour altérer les mœurs de toute une nation.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source prints 'Rais' for 'Rois' (kings); translated from that corrected reading.
- 2 ↩Source 'déshonnéte' is the older spelling of 'déshonnête' (dishonorable/indecent); rendered 'dishonorable'.
- 3 ↩'honnêteté' here is classical moral propriety/decency, not mere truth-telling; rendered 'decency'.
- 4 ↩Source 'vaudroit' and 'delà mer' read as older orthography for 'vaudrait' and 'de la mer'; translated from that sense.
- 5 ↩Source spelling foiblesses = faiblesses (weaknesses); rendered as weaknesses.
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