Caput decimum: De Principum occupationibus in pace.

The Prince's Wholehearted Love for His People

A Christian prince must love his people as one body, labor for their happiness, and remain ever vigilant — imitating Scipio, Aeneas, and the Homeric ideal of the sleepless guardian.

A prince equipped with the decrees of Christ and the protections of wisdom will hold nothing more dear than the happiness of his people — indeed, he will hold nothing else dear. He must love and care for them as though they were a single body, treating all equally. And he will direct every thought, every effort, every pursuit toward this one goal: that he may govern the province entrusted to him in such a way that he proves himself approved before Christ — who will demand an account — and leaves behind the most honorable memory of himself among all people. Whether the prince is at home or in seclusion, let him imitate that celebrated Scipio, who used to say he was never less alone than when he was alone, and never less idle than when he had leisure — because whenever he was free from the affairs of the republic, he was always turning over in his mind something that bore on the safety or dignity of the state. Let him imitate Virgil's Aeneas, whom the wisest poet frequently portrays turning over many things through the night while others sleep, his mind working within itself — so that he might take better counsel for his own people. And that Homeric line ought to be inscribed on every royal wall — but even more on the minds of kings: 'It is not fitting for a man to whom the people have been entrusted, and who has so many cares, to sleep the whole night through.' The general sense of those lines is this: it is not fitting for this man to surrender to deep, unbroken sleep — this man to whom a people has been entrusted, and who bears so many responsibilities.

The Prince in Public: Presence, Speech, and Noble Use of Peace

A prince must be active in public life rather than secluded, mindful that all eyes are upon him, and must use peacetime for noble deeds rather than idle amusements or barbaric display.

Whether in public or not, he should always be doing something that serves the common good — he should never fail to act as a prince. But it is more fitting for a prince to be engaged in public duties than to live in seclusion. Whenever he appears in public, he should be watchful that his bearing, demeanor, and especially his speech are such as to make the people better, mindful that whatever he does or says is observed and scrutinized by everyone.¹ The custom of the Persians was not approved by wise men: they lived in seclusion at home.² And by this single path they sought to be admired by their own people: that they were never seen, and very rarely made themselves available to the public. And yet whenever they did appear, they displayed nothing but barbaric pomp and the immoderate wealth of an evil people.³ They spent the rest of their time either in amusements or in mad military campaigns, as though there were nothing for an outstanding prince to do in times of peace — when there is always such a rich harvest of the noblest deeds available, if only there is a spirit in the prince worthy of them.⁴⁵

The Learned and Just Prince: Ancient Models and Modern Failings

Kings like Mithridates, Philip, and Alexander showed that hearing cases and learning languages befit a ruler, while modern princes shun these duties because of corrupt upbringing among flatterers and frivolities.

And there are still some today who think it's too little for a royal calling to do what is alone the most splendid thing for kings: to be engaged in public duties. Just as some bishops consider nothing less their own concern than the one thing that is worthy of a bishop — teaching the people — and by a strange design, what is the particular role of bishops they relegate to others as if it were beneath them, while what is most menial they claim for themselves above all. But it did not shame Mithridates — a king distinguished no less by his learning than by his power — to render justice to the people with his own voice and no interpreter, for which purpose he is said to have thoroughly learned twenty-two languages. Nor did Philip, king of the Macedonians, judge it too little for a king to sit daily hearing cases. Nor did Alexander the Great, his son — though in other respects ambitious to the point of madness — whose custom is recorded to have been that, with one ear stopped up, he would listen, saying that he kept the other one wholly free for the opposing party. But the more some shrink from these very things, the cause is the perverse upbringing of princes. For indeed, according to the old proverb everyone knows — a person willingly practices the skill he has learned, fleeing from those areas where he knows he's not strong enough. How does it happen, then, that someone who was first corrupted among flatterers and women — by their practices and opinions, then by their pleasures — and who spent his earliest years in dice, dancing, and hunting, should afterward delight in being engaged in duties whose exercise required the most careful preparation?

The Vast Harvest of Peacetime Duties

Princes who chase pleasures as if they have nothing to do ignore the countless tasks of governance that would occupy even a diligent head of a single household, let alone a ruler of a vast domain.

Homer says a prince has so much free time on his hands that he sleeps through the whole night, and these men are eager for nothing else but to chase away the weariness of all life with one new pleasure after another, as if princes had absolutely nothing to do. A good head of household never lacks something to tend to in a single home — and does a prince lack something to do in so vast a domain?

The Prince as Builder, Judge, and Steward of the Commonwealth

A good prince must correct bad laws, protect the people from crime, improve cities and infrastructure, manage land and water wisely, and spend publicly with splendor but privately with frugality.

Good laws must be met with bad customs; corrupted ones need to be corrected, bad ones removed. Upright magistrates must be provided, and the corrupt must be punished or restrained. Means must be found by which he burdens the humble common people as little as possible, frees his own territory from robberies and crimes — and that too with as little bloodshed as he can — and nourishes and establishes lasting harmony among his people. There are certain things more trivial than these, yet not unworthy of however great a prince — to survey the cities, but with this intention: that he may make all things better. What is insufficiently secure, he is to fortify; he is to adorn public buildings, and likewise bridges, porticoes, temples, riverbanks, and aqueducts; he is to cleanse places exposed to pestilence, whether by altering buildings or draining marshes. Rivers flowing inconveniently, he is to divert elsewhere. The sea, for the public good, he is either to admit or to keep off. Neglected fields he is to have cultivated, so that the grain supply may be more abundant, and where they have been poorly farmed, he is to order them to be tilled differently — for instance, so that there may be no vineyards where wine-growing is an unworthy use of the land, and where grain could be grown instead. Of this kind there are six thousand tasks which it would be most excellent for a prince to attend to, and even pleasant for a good prince, so that he would never need to seek out war out of boredom with peace, or while away the night with dice. In matters that pertain to the republic, it makes the prince not luxurious or wasteful, but splendid — as in public buildings or games, or in receiving embassies that conduct the business of the people.

Frugality in Private, Splendor in Public

The prince should live privately with restraint so as not to burden the public or teach his citizens luxury, while spending magnificently on matters that serve the republic.

In matters that concern him privately, the prince should be more frugal and restrained — partly so he doesn't appear to live at public expense, and partly so he doesn't teach his citizens luxury, the parent of many evils.⁶

Adorn Your Own Domain Rather Than Enlarge It

Many rulers err by seeking to expand their territory rather than improve it; the wise saying of Theopompus and the Spartan proverb both teach that a prince should adorn what fate has given him.

I see that very many of the ancients were caught in this error — and would that no one today were gripped by the same mistake — of directing all their efforts toward this one end: not to make their domain better, but to make it larger. And because of this, we very often see that while they strive to extend their power, they also lose what they already possessed. Not without good reason was that saying of Theopompus so highly praised: he declared it didn't matter to him how vast an empire he would leave to his children, provided only that it be better and more stable. And that Spartan proverb seems to me worthy of being inscribed on the standards of all rulers: 'Sparta — elaches — tautehn — kosmei' — that is, 'You have drawn Sparta by lot; adorn her.'

The Prince Who Dignifies His Office

Nothing is more magnificent than making one's portion of the kingdom more flourishing, as Epaminondas showed that a man of virtue dignifies even the lowliest magistracy.

Let a good ruler hold this conviction deep in his bones: nothing he could do is more magnificent than to make whatever portion of a kingdom fate has given him more flourishing, and in every way more splendid.⁷⁸ The spirit of Epaminondas the general has been praised by the most learned men. Although through envy he was assigned a lowly magistracy, one despised by the common people, he conducted himself so well that afterward he was regarded as among the most honorable and was sought after by the greatest men — on the grounds that a magistracy brings dignity to a man, but a man brings dignity to the magistracy.⁹¹⁰¹¹

Strengthening the Commonwealth and Uprooting Its Evils

A good prince strengthens the commonwealth through wise magistrates, holy priests, good schoolmasters, just laws, and virtuous pursuits, while diligently removing the roots of corruption — this is the philosophy of a Christian ruler.

This will be achieved if, just as we have shown in part, he takes special care of those things through which the commonwealth is established and strengthened, and on the other hand excludes and keeps at bay those things that make the condition of the commonwealth worse. For a good prince is helped especially by the example, wisdom, and vigilance of magistrates and offices, by the holiness of priests, by the careful selection of schoolmasters, by just laws, and by pursuits that lead toward virtue.¹² In increasing and strengthening these things, therefore, let the whole care of a good prince consist. It is harmed, however, by various things that will be more easily excluded from the commonwealth if we try first to remove the very roots and sources from which we perceive these things to arise. In matters of this kind, to be both diligent and resourceful is the philosophy of a Christian prince.¹³ To work together salutarily toward these ends, to bring his own plans together to serve these purposes — this is at last what is worthy of Christian princes.¹⁴

The Cosmic Weight of a Prince's Moral Failure

Just as a slight disturbance in the heavenly bodies brings great destruction, so the moral failure of the highest rulers brings enormous harm upon the whole world, as witnessed in the grievous quarrel of Pope Julius and Louis of France.

Just as the heavenly bodies, if they are disturbed even slightly or stray from their proper course, bring about no small destruction of human lives — something we plainly observe in the eclipses of the sun and moon. So it is with the highest rulers: if they stray in any way from what is honorable, or if through ambition, anger, or folly they commit any wrong, they at once bring enormous harm upon the whole world. For no eclipse ever struck the human race as grievously as the quarrel between Pope Julius and Louis, King of France — a discord we have both witnessed and wept over.

Read the original Latin

Princeps igitur Christi decretis, et sapientiae praesidiis instructus, nihil omnium habebit carius, immo nihil aliud habebit carum, quam populi sui felicitatem, quem oportet uelut unicum corpus ex aequo, tum diligere, tum curare. Et in hoc unum omneis cogitationes, omneis conatus, omnia studia destinabit, ut ad eum modum administre prouinciam sibi creditam, ut et Christo rationem exacturo probetur, et apud mortales omnes honestissimam sui memoriam relinquat. Siue domi sit Princeps siue in secessu, laudatum illum Scipionem imitetur, qui negabat se umquam minus esse solum, quam cum solus esset, aut minus otiosum esse, quam cum esset in otio: quod is quoties uacaret a Reipublicae negotiis, semper animo secum agitabat aliquid, quod ad ciuitatis salutem aut dignitatem pertineret. Imitetur Aeneam Virgilianum, quem prudentissimus Poeta frequenter, aliis dormientibus, multa per noctem suo cum animo uoluentem facit, quo rectius suis consuleret. Et Homericum illud omnibus Regiae parietibus, sed magis Regum animis inscribi decet: g-Ou g-chreh g-pannuchion g-eudein g-boulehphoron g-andra, g-hoh g-laoi g-t' g-epitetraphatai, g-kai g-tossa g-memehle. Quorum carminum haec ferme sententia est: Haud decet hunc solidam noctem indulgere sopori, Cui populi commissi, et tanta negotia curae.

Siue uersetur in publico, semper aliquid agat, quod ad rem communem faciat, hoc est, nusquam non Principem agat. At magis decet Principem in publicis uersari functionibus, quam abditum agere. Quoties autem prodit, aduigilet, ut ipse uultus, incessus, et praecipue sermo talis sit, ut populum reddat meliorem, memor, quidquid fecerit aut dixerit, ab omnibus obseruari cognoscique. Nec enim probatum est sapientibus uiris Persarum institutum, apud quos domi abditi uitam exigebant. Et hac una uia studebant a suis magnifieri, quod numquam conspicerentur, et rarissime sui copiam facerent populo. Quod si quando prodibant, nihil aliud quam fastum barbaricum et opes malo populi immodicas ostentabant. Reliquum aeuum aut lusibus, aut furiosis expeditionibus transigebant, perinde quasi deesset quod pacis temporibus agat egregius Princeps, cum tanta semper pateat pulcerrimorum facinorum seges, si modo adsit Principe dignus animus.

Et sunt hodieque nonnulli, qui putent id esse parum Regium, quod solum est Regibus pulcerrimum, in publicis functionibus uersari. Quemadmodum et Episcopi nonnulli, nihil minus suum esse ducunt, quam id quod unum Episcopo dignum est, docere populum: ac miro consilio, quod peculiare est Episcoporum, id ueluti indignum in alios relegant, quod sordidissimum, id sibi potissimum uindicant. At non puduit Mithridatem, non minus eruditione quam imperio nobilem Regem, suo ore, nulloque interprete populo ius reddere, quod ut faceret, uiginti duas linguas ad plenum legitur perdidicisse. Nec Philippus Macedonum Rex parum decorum Regi iudicauit, quod quotidie cognoscendis causis sederet. Nec Alexander Magnus, huius filius, quamquam alias ad insaniam usque ambitiosus, cui morem hunc fuisse proditum est, ut altera aure manu obturata cognosceret, dicens, sese alteram illam integram seruare diuersae parti. Verum quo magis ab hisce rebus abhorreant nonnulli, peruersa educatio Principum in causa est. Etenim iuxta uetus prouerbium, quam quisque nouit artem, in hac se libenter exercet, refugiens ab iis, in quibus intelligit se parum ualere. Qui fiat igitur, ut qui inter assentatores et mulierculas primum praxis opinionibus, deinde uoluptatibus corruptus, primos illos annos in alea, choreis, et uenatu consumserit, postea gaudeat in his uersari functionibus, quarum usus diligentissimam requirebat meditationem?

Homerus negat Principi tantum esse otii, ut totam noctem edormiat, et isti nihil aliud student, nisi ut nouis subinde uoluptatibus totius uitae taedium fallant, perinde quasi nihil omnino sit quod agant Principes. Bono patrifamilias numquam deest quod curet in una domo, et Principi deest quod agat in tam uasta ditione?

Bonis legibus occurrendum est malis moribus, corrigendae eges deprauatae, tollendae malae, prospiciendi magistratus integri, puniendi aut cohibendi corrupti. Exquirendae rationes, quibus tenuem plebeculam quam minimum grauet, quibus ditionem suam latrociniis ac maleficiis liberet, idque quam potest minimo sanguine, quibus suorum perpetuam concordiam alat ac stabiliat. Sunt his minutiora quaedam, sed non indigna quamuis magno Principe, lustrare ciuitates, sed hoc animo, ut omnia reddat meliora: quae parum tuta sunt, communiat, publicis aedificiis ornet, item pontibus, porticibus, templis, ripis, aquaeductibus, loca pestilentiae obnoxia purget, uel mutatis aedificiis, uel desiccatis paludibus. Amnes incommode fluentes, alio deriuet. Mare pro commoditate publica uel admittat uel arceat. Neglectos agros colendos curet, quo magis suppetat annonae uis, parum utiliter cultos aliter coli iubeat, ueluti ne illic uineta sint, ubi uinum cultura indignum prouenit, et frumenta gigni possunt. Huius generis sex millia sunt, quae curare Principi sit pulcerrimum, bono Principi etiam iucundum, ut nihil umquam sit opus, uel otii taedio bellum quaerere, uel alea fallere noctem. In his quae ad Rempublicam pertinent, conuertit Principem esse non luxuriosum aut profusum, sed splendidum, uelut in publicis aedificiis, aut ludis, in excipiendis legationibus, si quae populi causam agant.

In his quae priuatim ad illum pertinent erit frugalior et contractior, partim ne publico sumtu sibi uiuere uideatur, partim ne ciues suos luxuriem doceat, multorum malorum parentem.

Video ueterum permultos in hoc errore fuisse, et utinam hodie nullos idem habeat error, ut huc omnes conatus suos intenderent, non ut meliorem redderent suam ditionem, sed ut maiorem: quibus illud saepenumero uidemus euenisse, ut dum propagando student imperio, etiam id perderent quod possederant. Non abs re tantopere laudata est illa Theopompi uox, qui negauit sua referre quam ingens relinqueret liberis suis imperium, modo melius ac stabilius. Et Laconicum illud prouerbium dignum mihi uidetur, quod omnium Principum insignibus adscribatur: g-Spartan g-elaches, g-tautehn g-kosmei, hoc est, Spartam sortitus es, hanc orna.

Hoc sibi penitus persuasum habeat bonus Princeps, nihil a se geri posse magnificentius, quam si quidquid est hoc regni, quod sors dederit, florentius reddat, ac modis omnibus ornatius. Laudatus est a doctissimis uiris Epaminondae Ducis animus, cui cum per inuidiam magistratus esset delegatus, humilis ac uulgo contemtus, ita gessit, ut deinceps inter honestissimos habitus a maximis uiris ambiretur, negans magistratum dignitatem adferre uiro, sed uirum magistratui.

Id consequetur, si, quemadmodum ex parte demonstrauimus, eas res curet maxime, per quas Respublica stabilitur et illustratur: eas rursus excludat, et arceat, quae Reipublicae statum reddunt deteriorem. Adiuuatur enim maxime boni Principis exemplo, sapientia, uigilantia: magistratuum et officiorum integritate, Sacerdotum sanctimonia, ludimagistrorum delectu, aequis legibus, et ad uirtutem conducentibus studiis. In his igitur augendis et confirmandis sit omnis boni Principis cura. Laeditur autem diuersis, quae facilius excludentur a Republica, si stirpes ipsas ac fontes conabimur tollere primum, unde haec nasci deprehendimus. In huiusmodi rebus sollicitum et ingeniosum esse, Christiani Principis est Philosophia. In haec salubriter conspirare, in haec sua simul conferre consilia, id demum Christianis dignum Principibus.

Quemadmodum corpora coelestia, si uel paululum tumultuentur, aut recto cursu diuarient, non sine graui humanarum pernicie id faciunt, id quod palam uidemus in defectibus solis ac lunae. Ita summi Principes, si quid aberrent ab honesto, aut si quid ambitione, ira, stultitiaue peccent, id protinus ingenti totius orbis malo faciunt. Nec enim ulla umquam eclipsis sic afflixit hominum genus, ut Iulii Pontificis, et Lodouici Galliarum Regis dissidium, quod nuper et uidimus et fleuimus.

Notes

1 ↩obseruari cognoscique is rendered 'observed and scrutinized' to capture the sense of public accountability and the weight of being watched.
2 ↩Nec enim probatum est sapientibus uiris Persarum institutum is rendered as a passive construction with 'wise men' as the implied judges, preserving the connective 'enim' as explanatory.
3 ↩malo populi is rendered 'of an evil people' rather than 'obtained by the people's wickedness' to preserve the Latin's compressed genitive; alternative reading noted.
4 ↩pulcerrimorum facinorum seges is rendered 'rich harvest of the noblest deeds' to preserve the agricultural metaphor in natural modern English.
5 ↩Principe dignus animus is rendered 'a spirit in the prince worthy of them' — ablative absolute with conditional force, preserving the dignity of the Latin without archaism.
6 ↩parentem (accusative) is predicative: luxury is 'the parent of many evils.' The metaphor is retained as it reads naturally in English.
7 ↩ac (and) links the two comparative results — more flourishing and more adorned — as a single compound purpose.
8 ↩sors rendered as 'fate' preserves the classical personification; no theological claim about providence is intended by the source.
9 ↩cum with subjunctive (esset delegatus) taken concessively: 'although.' ut + subjunctive (ambiretur) rendered as result: 'so that…he was sought after.'
10 ↩sed marks the sharp reversal: not the office dignifies the man, but the man dignifies the office.
11 ↩animus rendered as 'spirit' to capture the sense of character and inner disposition, not merely intellect.
12 ↩The Latin groups magistrates with 'offices' (officiorum) — the distinction is between persons who hold magistracies and the offices themselves as institutions. The translation preserves both.
13 ↩Philosophia is rendered as 'philosophy' in the sense of practical wisdom or governing philosophy, not academic philosophy. The word order is rearranged for natural English flow while preserving the predicate-noun structure (est Philosophia).
14 ↩Conspirare literally means 'to breathe together' and is rendered here as 'work together salutarily' to capture the sense of unified, health-giving concerted action. The double 'in haec' construction is rendered with slight variation ('toward these ends' / 'to serve these purposes') to avoid repetition while preserving the rhetorical emphasis.

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