§ XXXIV
The Household's Extravagance
The king is asked whether he has trained his household servants to live beyond their station, elevating them above true nobles and authorizing luxury under the guise of adorning the court.
Haven't you trained your household servants to spend beyond their station, and to expect rewards that burden the State? Your chamber valets, your wardrobe valets, and the rest— Don't they live like lords, while the true lords languish in your anteroom without any favor, and while many others from the most illustrious houses are deep in the provinces, reduced to hiding their poverty? Haven't you, under the pretext of adorning your court, authorized the luxury of clothes, furniture, carriages, and houses for all these subordinate officers who have neither birth nor solid merit, and who think themselves above people of quality because they speak familiarly with you and easily obtain favors?12
Fear and Flattery
The king is questioned about his fear of displeasing his servants, his susceptibility to their flattery, and the false hopes he has given them, leading to their misery.
Aren't you too afraid of their importunity?3 Haven't you been more afraid of angering them than of failing in justice? Haven't you been too taken with the empty shows of zeal and tender attachment to your person that they rush to display in order to please you and advance their fortunes? Haven't you made them miserable by letting them form hopes out of proportion both to their station and to your affection for them?
The Cycle of Ruin
The king is confronted with the ruin he has caused: his servants die without solid reward, their families are left destitute, and the entire court system drains the kingdom while destroying itself, all because of the king's gathering of wasteful men.
Haven't you ruined their families by letting them die without any solid reward left for their children, after you've let them live in a ridiculous show of luxury that has eaten up the great favors they drew from you during their lives?4 Hasn't it been the same with the other courtiers, each according to his rank?5 While they live, they suck the whole kingdom dry; whenever they die, they leave their families ruined.6 You give them too much, and you make them spend even more. So those who ruin the State ruin themselves as well. You're the one responsible for this, by gathering around you so many useless, showy, wasteful men who turn their wildest extravagance into a claim on you, so they can ask you for still more wealth they can squander again.
Read the original French
N'avez- vous point accoutumé vos domestiques à une dépense au - dessus de leur condition, et à des récompenses qui chargent l'Etat? Vos valets de chambre, vos valets de garde-robe, etc. , ne vivent - ils pas comme des seigneurs, pendant que les vrais seigneurs languissent dans votre antichambre sans aucun bienfait; et que beaucoup d'autres d'entre les plus illustres maisons, sont dans le fond des provinces, réduits à cacher leur misère ? N'avez-vous point autorisé, sôus prétexte d'orner votre cour, le luxe d'habits, de meubles, d'équipages et de maisons, de tous ces officiers subalternes, qui n'ont ni naissance, ni mérite solide, et qui se croient au-dessus des gens de qualité, parce qu'ils vous parlent familièrement, et qu'ils obtiennent facilement des grâces ? Ne craignez - vous pas trop leur iraportunité ? N'avez - vous point craint de les fâcher, plus que de manquer à la justice? N'avez -vous pas été trop sensible aux vaines marques de zèle et d'attachement tendre pour votre personne, qu'ils s'empressent de vous témoigner pour vous plaire et pour avancer leur fortune ? Ne les avez-vous pas rendus malheureux, en leur laissant concevoir des espérances disproportionnées à leur état et à votre affection pour eux ?
N'avez-vous pas ruiné leurs familles, en les laissant mourir sans récompense solide qui reste à leurs enfants, après que vous les avez laissé vivre dans un faste ridicule, qtd a consumé les grands bienfaits qu'ils ont tirés de vous pendant leur vie ? N'en a - 1 - il pas été de même des autres courtisans, chacun selon son degré? Us sucent, pendant qu'ils vivent, le royaume entier : en quelque temps qu'ils meurent, ils laissent leurs familles ruinées. Vous leur donnez trop, et vous leur faites encore plus dépenser. Ainsi ceux qui ruinent l'Etat, se ruinent euxmêmes. C'est vous qui en êtes cause, en assemblant autour de vous tant d'hommes inutiles, fastueux, dissipateurs, et qui se font de leurs plus folles dissipations un titre auprès de vous, pour vous demander de nouveaux biens qu'ils puissent encore dissiper.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source reads 'sôus'; translated as 'sous' (under).
- 2 ↩'grâces' here means court favors/preferments, not theological grace.
- 3 ↩Source reads 'iraportunité'; translated as 'importunité' (importunity / insistent pestering).
- 4 ↩Source has 'qtd a consumé'; translated as 'qui a consumé' (which consumed).
- 5 ↩Source has 'N'en a - 1 - il'; translated as standard French 'N'en a-t-il'.
- 6 ↩Source opens with 'Us sucent'; translated as 'Ils sucent' (They suck).
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