Capítulo VIII: QUE EN LAS CORTES DE LOS PRINCIPES TIENEN POR ESTILO HABLAR DE DIOS Y BIVIR DEL MUNDO
The Lawless Environment of the Court
The court is depicted as a place devoid of moral oversight where vice is easily facilitated.
At court, because there’s no justice to take up arms, no bell to ring the curfew, no father to punish his son, no friend to correct his neighbor, no neighbor to report someone living in open sin, no prosecutor to charge the usurer, no church official to compel anyone to confess, and no parish priest to call people to Communion, anyone who isn't good by nature has plenty of freedom to be bad. At court, if you want to commit adultery, there are agents to arrange it; if you want to avenge insults, there’s someone who will strike for you; if you want to feast, you’ll find gluttons at every turn; if you want to lie in public, you won't lack someone to approve it; if you want to stir up a faction, you’ll find plenty of hotheads; if you want to gamble away what you have, you’ll find public gaming tables; if you want to start stealing, you’ll find men of great cunning; if you want to swear a false oath, you’ll find someone who’ll pay you for it; if you don't want to go to church, there won't be anyone to accuse you of it; finally, I say that if you want to give yourself over to vice, you’ll find some very famous teachers at court.
The Vanity of Courtly Ambition
Court life is characterized by fickle fortune, superficial social climbing, and the tragic pursuit of empty promises.
At court, men from all sorts of places are always thronging there to do business, to litigate, to serve, or to show themselves off; and because they're newcomers and still a bit green, chamber boys, pipers who play, singers who sing, chain porters, chamber musicians, court jesters, palace buffoons, and poor gentlemen are soon with them, asking them for New Year gifts, fair gifts, good-news tips, and holiday presents—and if the lords give them anything, it isn't to help them out, but so they'll broadcast at court that the lords are magnificent.1 At court, because fortune is fickle in what she gives and very uncertain in what she promises, from one hour to the next one man falls and another rises; this one dies and that one takes his place; they cast down the favorite and lift up the lowly; they refuse the man who arrives and plead with the one who leaves; they believe the simple and contradict the wise; they suspect the courageous and trust the cowards; they believe the lie and attack the truth. In short, I say they follow opinion and flee from reason. With these and other similar things you see at princes' courts, everyone keeps hoping that at any moment fortune will walk through their doors—though it’s true that many courtiers find their graves before fortune ever finds them.2 At court there are many sons of lords who, when they first came there, were better suited for getting married than for service; for they're very careless, and they talk like greenhorns.3 .4
The Mockery of the Inexperienced
Newcomers to the court are subjected to ridicule and exploitation as they struggle to navigate the complex web of courtly intrigue.
They're total greenhorns: completely unpolished, they go about without proper company, tell dull jokes, are terribly tedious when they visit, eat like country folk, are awkward with the ladies, a bit wild in the court dances, and act like complete fools when it comes to palace talk.5 The good that comes of their arrival is that the court has something to laugh at for a few days and something to mock for a few nights. At court, unexpected things happen every day—misfortunes no one ever foresaw—such as: a gallant riding out poorly dressed, his horse falling, missing a tilt, stopping short on the course, showing up in poor livery, striking an ugly blow, telling a cold joke, being mocked by his lady, slipping during a dance, or saying something stupid. As a result, there's always plenty to recount in the palace and plenty to say at the lords' tables.6 At court, since there's never a shortage of passions among knights, quarrels among servants, envy among favorites, rivalries among officials, enmities among the high-born, unrest among the ambitious, or squabbles among the malicious, there are always instigators to stir them up and plenty of go-betweens. As for how they all make a living, I'd say it's like this: some by pleading cases, others by judging, others by writing, others by serving, others by flattering, others by gambling, others by lying, others by clowning, others by stealing, others by swindling, others by taking bribes, and some even by pimping.7
The Inversion of Values
The court is a place where vices are renamed as virtues and where people claim to serve God while living entirely for the world.
At court, extremes run into other extremes — namely: the furious man finds someone to quarrel with, the troublemaker someone to knife-fight with, the well-read man someone to argue with, the adulterer someone to sin with, the malicious man someone to gossip with, the glutton someone to feast with, the gambler someone to lose with, the greedy man someone to swindle with, the pest someone to wear down, the fool someone to compete with, the sharp man someone to tire himself out against — and even the simpleton finds someone to take him in, and the shrewd man someone to mock him. At court every courtier prides himself on holy purposes and heroic thoughts, because each of those who go about there means to withdraw to his own house, cast off his cares, forget his vices, build chapels, marry off orphan girls, settle feuds, go to the Hours, found confraternities, and repair hermitages — and where their desires end is that they stay right there, talking about God and living off the world. At court no one keeps such close account with anyone else that anyone would dare call him to account; and from this it follows that the knight goes about without arms, the prelate without his habit, the cleric without a breviary, the friar without leave, the nun without obedience, the daughter without a mother, the wife without a husband, the man of letters without books, the thief without lookouts, the young man without discipline, the old man without shame, the innkeeper without a posted rate, the huckster without a true weight, the gambler from house to house, the glutton from table to table, the vagrant from square to square — and even the bawd from girl to girl. At court, everyone acts as a bishop confirming or a priest baptizing—renaming everything: they call the proud man honorable; the spendthrift, magnificent; the coward, cautious; the brave man, rash; the scowling man, grave; the withdrawn man, a hypocrite; the malicious man, sharp; the loose-tongued man, eloquent; the indecisive man, prudent; the adulterer, a lover; the madman, merry; the meddler, diligent; the buffoon, witty; the miser, temperate; the suspicious man, a soothsayer; and the silent man, a simpleton and a fool.✦
Read the original Latin
En la corte, como no ay justizia que tome las armas no ay campana que taña a queda , no ay padre que castigue al hijo, no ay amigo que corrija al próximo, no ay vezino que denuncie al amancebado, no ay fiscal que acuse al usurero, no ay provisor que compela a confessar, no ay cura que llame a comulgar; el que de su natural no es bueno, gran libertad tiene para ser malo. En la corte, si quiere uno adulterar, ay factores que lo negocien; si quiere vengar injurias, ay quien tcme por él la mano; si quiere banquetear, a cada paeso hallará glotones; si quiere públicamente mentir, no le falta con quien lo apruebe; si se quiere amotinar, assaz hallará de apassionados; si quiere jugar lo que tiene, hallará tableros públicos; si quiere darse a hurtar, hallará hombres de gran sutileza; si quiere jurar falso, hallará quien se lo pague; si quiere no ir a la iglesia, no avrá quien dello le acusse; finalmente, digo que si quiere darse a los vicios halla en la corte muy famosos maestros.
En la corte siempre acuden a ella hombres de muy diversas partes a negociar, a pleytear, a servir o a se mostrar, los quales, como son primerizos y biven un poco bisoños, luego son con ellos moços de cámara, ministriles que tañen, cantores que cantan, porteros de cadena , músicos de cámara, juglares de corte, truhanes de palacio y hidalgos pobres, a los quales piden estrenas, ferias, albricias y aguinaldos, y si les dan los señores algo, no es a fin de socorrerlos, sino por que publiquen en la corte que son magníficos. En la corte, como la fortuna es inconstante en lo que da y muy incierta en lo que promete, de una hora a otra cae uno y sube otro, muérese éste y sucédele aquél, abaten al privado y subliman al abatido, no admiten al que viene y ruegan al que se va, creen a los simples y desmienten a los sabios, de los animosos tienen sospecha y fianse de los cobardes, creen la mentira e impugnan la verdad; finalmente, digo que siguen la opinión y huyen de la razón. Con estas y con otras semejantes cosas que se veen en las cortes de los principes, cada uno tiene esperança que agora más agora vendrá por sus puertas fortuna; aunque es verdad que muchos cortesanos hallan primero la sepultura que no a ellos halle fortuna. En la corte ay muchos hijos de señores que quando vinieron a ella eran más para se casar que no para servir; porque son muy descuydados, hablan como biso. .
ños, no son nada polidos, andan desacompañados, cuentan dona yres muy frios, son en el visitar muy pesados, comen como aldeanos, son con las damas muy cortos, son en las mesuras un poco locos y en el hablar de palacio muy grandes nescios. El bien que de su venida se sigue es que ay en la corte para algunos días de que burlar y para algunas noches de que mofar. En la corte cada día acontescen cosas repentinas, desgracias nunca penea das, es a saber: que el galán salió mal enjaezado, cayó el cavallo, erró el encuentro, paró en la carrera, sacó pobre librea, dió algún golpe feo, contó alguna frialdad, burlóle su dama, descuydóse en alguna mesura o dixo alguna pachochada, por manera que tienen dél en palacio que contar y por las mesas de señores que dezir. En la corte, como nunca faltan passiones entre cavalleros, enojos entre criados, embidia entre privados, competencias entre oficiales, enemistades entre generosos, dessasosiegos entre ambiciosos y rencillas entre maliciosos, nunca faltan allí muñidores que las mueven, farautes Y si todos biven, digo que es: unos de abogar, otros de juzgar, otros de escrevir, otros de servir, otros de lisongear, otros de jugar, otros de mentir, otros de chocarrear, otros de hurtar, otros de trampear, otros de cohechar y aun otros de alcahuetear.
En la corte, los que son extremados topan con otros extremados, es a saber: el que es furioso halla con quien reñir, el traviesso con quien se acuchillar, el leído con quien disputar, el adúltero con quien pecar, el malicioso con quien murmurar, el goloso con quien gustar, el tahur con quien perder, el codicioso con quien trampear, el importuno a quien moler, el loco con quien competir, el agudo con quien se desaminar , y aun el nescio quien le engañar y el bivo quien le mofar. En la cortetodos los cortesanos se prescian de sanctos propósitos y de heroycos pensamientos, porque cada uno de los que andan allí proponen de retraerse a su casa, desechar los cuydados, olvidar los vicios, hazer capillas, casar huérfanas, atajar enemistades, irse a las horas, ordenar confradías y reparar ermitas, y en lo que paran sus deseos es que se quedan allí hablando de Dios y biviendo del mundo. En la corte ninguno con otro tiene tanta cuenta, para que nadie lé osse pedir cuenta; y de aquí viene que el cavallero se anda sin armas, 'el perlado sin hábito, el clérigo sin breviario, el fraile sin licencia, la monja sin obediencia, la hija sin nadre, la muger sin marido, el letrado sin libros, el ladrón sin espías, el moço sin disciplina, el viejo sin vergüença, el mesonero sin arancel, el regatón sin peso, el tahur de casa en casa, el goloso de mesa en mesa, el vagabundo de plaza en plaza, y aun la alcahueta de moça en moça. En la corte todos son obispos para crismar y curas para baptizar y mudar nombres, es a saber: que al sobervio llaman honrado; al pródigo, magnífico; al cobarde, atentado ; al esforçado, atrevido; al encapotado , grave; al recogido, hipócrita; al malicioso, agudo; al deslenguado, eloquente; al indeterminado, prudente; al adúltero, enamorado; al loco, regocijado; al entremetido, solícito; al chocarrero, donoso; al avaro, templado; al sospechoso, adevino, y aun al callado, bovo y nescio.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.5.20 — Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Notes
- 1 ↩estrenas, ferias, albricias, and aguinaldos are traditional tip/gift categories (first gifts, fair-day presents, rewards for good news, and holiday gifts); rendered as a plain English list rather than as unglossed Spanish terms.
- 2 ↩agora más agora is idiomatic for 'any moment now' / 'sooner or later at any time'; rendered for natural contemporary cadence while keeping the restless expectancy.
- 3 ↩Source ends mid-word at 'biso.'; neighboring next section begins 'ños...', so the intended reading is bisoños ('greenhorns' / 'raw newcomers'). Translated from that corrected reading.
- 4 ↩Source text is only a bare period ('.'), almost certainly a section-split artifact after the truncated s4 and before the next section's continuation beginning with 'ños...'.
- 5 ↩Opening 'ños' is the severed end of 'bisoños' continued from MenosprAldea.1.9.2.s4 ('hablan como biso.'); rendered as 'greenhorns' to complete the sense. 'dona yres' read as 'donaires' (witticisms).
- 6 ↩'desgracias nunca penea das' read as 'desgracias nunca pensadas' (misfortunes never thought of/foreseen).
- 7 ↩'farautes Y si todos biven' is punctuationally awkward in the source; read as close of the muñidores/farautes clause, then a new turn: 'And as for how they all live…' (common Golden Age catalogue of court trades).
Menosprecio de Corte y Alabanza de Aldea (Contempt of Court and Praise of Village) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit