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Chapter 6RectC.1.6

Quales consiliarios et amicos bonum principem habere decet.

The Need for Prudent Counselors

Governing well is most difficult, yet the commonwealth reaches perfection when a ruler has prudent and excellent counselors, beginning with divine counsel and the counsel of wise, faithful people rather than relying on oneself.

In human affairs no skill is more difficult, as they say, than governing well amid the most turbulent storms of this age and steering the common good with foresight. But this skill then reaches the goal of perfection when the commonwealth itself has prudent and excellent counselors. Now a threefold rule is to be observed in taking counsel. The first is that divine counsels be set before human ones, since it is more fitting to obey God than men. If anyone therefore sets out to guide the ship of state like a good pilot and desires the best counsels of the Lord, which have been made known in the sacred writings, let him guard them with care. The second rule of counsel is that a prudent ruler should rely not so much on his own judgment as on the counsel of the most prudent men around him. Whence that maxim of the emperor Antonius was always foremost in his counsels: 'It is more just that I follow the counsel of so many worthy friends than that so many worthy friends follow the will of one man,' Solomon also attesting this very point, who says, 'Thoughts are scattered where there is no counsel; but where there are many counselors, they are confirmed,' and, 'There will be safety where there are many counsels.'✦✦ For a prudent person calls prudent people into counsel and does nothing without their advice, but a fool thinks within himself and quickly does whatever he wants without the counsel of others.

Rejecting Wicked Counsel and Guarding Secrets

A good ruler must reject deceitful and ruinous counselors, because the wicked cannot be trusted, while prudent rulers sometimes keep their counsels hidden from enemies for the safety of the commonwealth.

The third standard to be upheld in deliberations is that a good ruler should not have deceitful and ruinous counselors. After all, who should trust the advice of the malicious? For just as a hidden pit across the fields, snares in the streets, and traps catch people's feet where they aren't expected, so the schemes of the wicked, mixed with the venom of wickedness, wrongfully obstruct the just and the holy on their paths.1 For just as good counselors raise the commonwealth up, so bad ones rush it down in ruinous calamity. Such counselors, then, are to be rejected and utterly detested in every way, because those who despise God's precepts by their corrupt manner of living will never be faithful to an earthly ruler. For how can those who are bad to themselves be good to anyone? But just as the most wholesome counsels and precepts of almighty God are to be made known, so sometimes the counsels of prudent rulers are to be kept hidden from enemies. Indeed, in the conduct of public affairs no counsels are better than those the adversary has failed to grasp.

Choosing True Friends and Relying on God

Good counsel requires avoiding haste and anger, seeking God's help, and choosing holy and faithful friends rather than cruel or malicious ones, for with such people the commonwealth is preserved and the ruler's glory grows.

And indeed, a journey is made safe and secure when enemies least suspect what needs to be done. Two things especially oppose good counsel: haste and anger — for anger blinds the mind, so that it can't see what counsel is truly useful. And just as plans made at length leave no room for regret, so, on the other hand, rushed plans generally come to nothing.2 Then especially is counsel brought to a successful outcome, when royal confidence is fixed firmly on the help of the Almighty. For where do good plans come from after God, if not from faithful and excellent friends — the kind who are granted heavenly grace to be enlightened, so that they don't go astray in giving counsel? Through their careful deliberation, with divine mercy inspiring it, a wholesome cluster of wise counsel is often gathered in.34 Far be it, indeed, for a good ruler to have cruel tyrants as friends, as though they were dangerous serpents — for the example of the panther is applied to such an animal: since the panther is a four-footed creature and, as naturalists report, the friend of all animals except the dragon.56 Let him therefore have the friendship of those whom he knows to be upright. But who are good friends, except those who are holy and venerable — not malicious, not thievish, not seditious, not crafty, not consenting to evil, not enemies of good people, not lustful or cruel, not schemers against their own ruler — but holy, self-controlled, devout, devoted to their ruler, and who neither laugh at him nor wish to be a laughingstock, who neither lie nor deceive, but are truthful, sober, prudent, and faithful to their ruler in all things?78 With such persons, therefore, the commonwealth is preserved, and the fame and glory of a devout ruler grows.

Beware of Flattering Counsel

Without wise counsel a kingdom collapses, so a ruler must beware of flattering and treacherous advisors and instead seek honest, upright counsel as one gathers a noble pearl or pure honey.

Without a rudder, a ship pitches on the deep, battered by waves and swollen storm-winds — so the glory of a kingdom and its splendid scepters wobble and crash down. Oh! without counsel. For there are some whose tongue grows as sweet as honey, yet beneath it, like the asp's, foul poisons lie hidden. They talk you into anything with soothing words, and their speech rattles on — treacherous as a pit. On their advice the commonwealth appears to stand firm — just as it is about to sink and collapse. Oh, how pitiable! For this reason, it's time for the one who holds high authority to pluck the sweet cluster of wise counsel. As gazelles from a watchful mountain peak scan the view, quickly spotting every danger from every side — so a good leader, by the light of a clear mind, watches against what threatens, using skill and honest, upright counsel. Just as a noble pearl is gathered from drinking shells, as honey is drawn from the sweet-flowing comb, so counsel must be chosen from the pure spring of faithful friends — what is fitting and profitable, wise counsel.

The Character of a True Faithful Friend

A true guardian of friendship is honest, faithful, steadfast in faith, and incorruptible by riches, keeping secrets and remaining firm amid noise and temptation.

A true guardian of friendship is proved without bitterness — one who is pleased with all that is good and displeased with evil, who can say 'yes, yes' or 'no, no' with honesty, whose heart keeps a secret and whose speech is devout.✦ For him, firm faith becomes more precious than life itself; it doesn't know how to weave deceptive snares in the mind. The blare of trumpets doesn't make such a person waver, for the anchor of faith holds firm in the heart. Neither treasures nor the weight of gold can deceive such a person, so that precious faith would not be harmed.

Read the original Latin

In humanis rebus nulla quidem ars, ut dicunt, difficilior est, quam inter turbulentissimas tempestatum huius saeculi procellas bene imperare et provide rem publicam gubernare. Sed haec ars tunc ad finem perfectionis pervenit, cum ipsa res publica prudentes et optimos consiliarios habet. Trina autem regula in consiliis est observanda. Prima quidem, ut divina consilia praeponantur humanis, cum oboedire magis oporteat Deo quam hominibus. Si quis ergo navim rei publicae tamquam bonus gubernator regere feliciter disponit et exoptat, optima Domini consilia, quae in sacris eloquiis sunt propalata, non negligenter custodiat. Secunda vero consiliorum est regula, quatinus providus rector non tam in suo, quam in suorum prudentissimorum innitatur consilio. Unde illa Antonii imperatoris praecipua semper in consiliis fuit sententia: "aequius est, ut ego tot talium amicorum consilium sequar, quam ut tot tales amici meam unius voluntatem sequantur," Salemone quoque hoc ipsum attestante, qui ait: "dissipantur cogitationes, ubi non est consilium; ubi vero plurimi sunt consiliarii, confirmantur", et "erit salus, ubi multa consilia sunt". Nam prudens prudentes in consilium vocat et sine eorum consilio nihil facit, stultus vero in semet ipso cogitat et, quod sine consilio aliorum cito vult, facit.

Porro tertia norma in consiliis est obtinenda, ne bonus rector dolosos et perniciosos habeat consiliarios. Quis enim debet in consiliis malignantium confidere? Nam sicut vallis per campos et laquei in plateis et pedicae ubi non putantur pedes aliorum retinent, ita impiorum consilia felle nequitiae permixta iustis et sanctis in itineribus male impediunt. Sicut enim boni consiliarii sursum rem publicam erigunt, sic mali deorsum ruinosa calamitate praecipitant. Tales ergo repudiandi sunt consiliarii atque omnimodis detestandi, quia numquam circa principem terrenum devoti erunt, qui Dei praecepta male conversando contemnunt. Cui enim possunt esse boni, qui sibi sunt mali? Sed sicut omnipotentis Dei saluberrima devulganda sunt consilia atque praecepta, ita nonnumquam prudentium rectorum ab hostibus sunt occultanda consilia. Siquidem in re publica nulla sunt meliora consilia, quam illa quae ignoraverit adversarius.

Etenim securum iter agitur, quod agendum hostes minime suspicantur. Duo vero maxime contraria sunt consilio, festinatio et ira; nam ira obcaecat animum, ne utile videat consilium, et quomodo longa consilia poenitentiam non habent, sic econtra festinata consilia plerumque labuntur. Tunc autem praecipue consilium ad prosperitatis eventum perducitur, cum regia fiducia in Omnipotentis auxilio figitur. Unde vero post Deum bona prodeunt consilia, nisi a fidelibus et optimis amicis, qui promerentur superna illustrari gratia, ut non errent in consilio, quorum provida deliberatione divina inspirante clementia saepe salubris consilii botrus carpitur? Absit vero ut crudeles tyrannos tamquam infestos dracones bonus habeat princeps amicos, quod pantheris exemplo animalis astruitur: siquidem panther genus quadrupedis est et, ut physici perhibent, omnium animalium amicus, excepto dracone. Illorum itaque amicitiam habeat, quos probos esse cognoscit. Qui sunt autem boni amici, nisi illi qui sunt sancti ac venerabiles, non malitiosi, non furaces, non factiosi, non callidi, non ad malum consentientes, non bonorum inimici, non libidinosi neque crudeles, non circumventores sui principis, sed sancti, continentes, religiosi, amatores principis sui, et qui de illo nec ipsi rident nec risui esse volunt, qui neque mentiuntur nec fingunt, et numquam decipiunt, sed veraces, sobrii, prudentes atque in omnibus suo principi fideles? Talibus itaque personis salva efficitur res publica piique regnatoris fama crescit et gloria.

Absque gubernaclo navis ceu nutat in alto, Fluctibus ac tumidis tunditur illa nothis, Gloria sic regni praeclaraque sceptra labascunt In pessumque cadunt, heu! sine consilio. Nam sunt nonnulli, quorum fit mellea lingua, Aspidis ac subtus tetra venena latent. Qui delenificis persuadent omnia verbis, Quorum sermo strepit subdola ceu fovea. Horum consilio res publica fulta videtur, Cum submersa ruat, o miseranda nimis. Ob hoc consilii praedulcem carpere botrum, Iam decet excelsum qui tenet imperium. Dorcades ut vigili montis de vertice visu, Quo cito transfugiant, cuncta pericla notant, Sic adversa cavet speculari lumine mentis Dux bonus arte bona consiliisque probis. Ceu margaritum bibulis praenobile conchis, Quomodo dulcifluo mel legiturque favo, Sic et amicorum puro de fonte legendum, Quod decet et prodest, utile consilium.

Verus amicitiae custos sine felle probatur, Cui placet omne bonum, displicet atque malum, "Est est" qui vere seu "non non" dicere norit, Cui cor secretum consonat osque pium. Olli firma fides vita fit carior ipsa; Nescit harundineas texere mente strophas. Non illum nutare facit clangorque tubarum, Ancora nam stabilis corde manet fidei. Talem nonque gazae, non auri pondera norunt Fallere, ne laesa sit pretiosa fides.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Prov.11.14 — Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
  2. ↩Prov.11.14;Prov.15.22 — Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. Prov.15.22 — Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
  3. ↩Matt.5.37 — Let your word be 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these comes from the evil one.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩vallis likely denotes a concealed pit or trap rather than a valley in the literal sense; the image is of a hidden danger in open ground.
  2. 2 ↩The quomodo...sic correlative is rendered with 'just as...so, on the other hand' to preserve the contrastive force of econtra while reading naturally in modern English.
  3. 3 ↩The metaphor of the 'botrus' (cluster/bunch) is preserved as 'cluster' to keep the concrete image of fruitfulness in counsel.
  4. 4 ↩The ablative absolute 'divina inspirante clementia' is rendered as 'with divine mercy inspiring it' to keep the participial force while reading naturally.
  5. 5 ↩The rare verb 'astruitur' is rendered as 'is applied to' based on the sense of attributing or building up a characteristic to something; the exact nuance is uncertain.
  6. 6 ↩The ablative absolute 'excepto dracone' is rendered as 'except the dragon' to keep the participial force concise.
  7. 7 ↩The long interrogative with extensive parallel negatives is rendered as a single flowing sentence with em-dash breaks to preserve the rhetorical force while remaining readable.
  8. 8 ↩'nec risui esse volunt' is rendered as 'nor wish to be a laughingstock' to capture the dative of purpose (risui) naturally.

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