§ 1. The strength of the state consists in piety and the virtues; next, in those things which follow the virtues in government. The first of these is authority, or reputation and majesty; next, the love of the citizens; third, resources, arms, men, citadels, and cities—for the most prudent kings established these things as defenses of their subjects. Let us now treat of authority.
§ 2. When auctoritas is taken in its strict sense among the Romans, it is a judgment of the Senate made when, either because of the small number of senators, or because of tribunician intercession, or for some other cause, a senatus-consult could not be made. They deny that it has a Greek name, for αὐθεντία is something greater, and αὐθέντης is more than an author. For both in civil law and in common speech those things are called αὐθεντικὰ which possess no half-complete authority, or which have been confirmed and ratified by the supreme magistrate. For in truth αὐθεντία in law, unless it is ἐκ τῆς αὐτεξουσίας, from plenary power, is empty. Written authority, if I may so speak, has no authority today.
Majesty is akin to authority. For we are not treating strictly of majesty, which embraces five heads: the right of enacting and repealing laws, of war and peace, of tributes, of coinage, and of conferring magistracies. Rather, we take the authority and majesty of a prince for the esteem in which he is held, his reputation, and, as they now say, his good repute. This indeed is opposed to contempt, but nevertheless embraces many things: love, reputation, praise, fear, reverence, and the goods by which these are produced. That prince is most powerful who holds his subjects devoted to him by paternal power, and foreigners by reputation and esteem.
§ 3. Even a private man who neglects his reputation is cruel; but a prince is the guardian alike of his reputation and of his safety. It was truly said to this effect: “The resources of a ruler then become richer when he remits and acquires treasures of reputation, neglecting the utility of money.” And Augustine says, “He who, trusting in his conscience, neglects his reputation is cruel.” For in truth to attack a person’s reputation is a kind of homicide; but he who corrupts the reputation of the state is held guilty of a crime against majesty. You must therefore be solicitous for reputation if you delight to act as prince. “Praise is not to be blamed, but acting for its sake,” says the Bishop of Hippo. But I shall remove this scruple for you, O prince. A prince ought to act even for the sake of praise—not so that he may stop at an empty thing, for why would so great a man grasp at a shadow?—but so that he may use good reputation for the salvation of the people. For if we can gather money and kill men for the public good, why should the prince not seek reputation for that use? A field does not become better by being praised, and a shadow, the companion of the body, does not make it safer; but reputation alone nevertheless often makes a prince safe and the state secure.
More things are accomplished by opinion than by reality. What if there is so great an opinion of you that you disperse present battles, that an enemy does not dare provoke you, and that by terror alone you bring wars to an end? When Curios and popular agitators undermine and overthrow the state by disparaging the lives of kings and nobles, why will you not preserve it by your praise? Nor is it secret that the reputation of princes is burned by the flames of hatred and obscured by the cloud of envy. For there are always some whom a prince necessarily offends, and those men are not accustomed to speak well of one against whom they think themselves rightly angry. A prince must therefore labor so that public reputation overwhelms the little voices of private men. It is most quickly acquired; once lost, it is not rekindled; once firmly established, it endures even against vices. Solomon, already degenerate, nevertheless retained his kingdom through his reputation for wisdom; and if Rehoboam had wished to learn the first precepts of ruling, he would have handed it intact to his son also. Reputation is the companion of virtue, a benefit of God, with regard to which kingdoms are generally given and taken away. For the care of majesty belongs as much to virtue as does political order, which cannot exist without majesty.
§ 4. Therefore let the prince protect and increase his own greatness and loftiness, which the Greeks are accustomed to call σεμνότητα, so that in very fact he may be σεβάσιος, venerable. For this dignity of the state is not removed without loss to its safety. Unless a veneration of majesty, and an opinion that the prince is worthy of it, has been implanted in the minds of those who obey, the city has already received a wound greater than opinion; for soon those voices will resound: “Can this man save us?” Thus they neither desire him to be safe, since they hope their own affairs will be better through his death, nor undergo dangers for him, since they prefer themselves to him. By every means let him be so approachable that he nevertheless preserves dignity, provided that swelling does not pass under the name of dignity. Such swelling is in those who stride toward empty glory through their own and others’ disasters—men of whom I have spoken elsewhere—who do not shudder to destroy entire nations for a few laurel leaves.
§ 5. You will acquire the reputation for power—which is almost as necessary as power itself—by the method which I shall transmit in this book: namely, that the things which you acquire for the public be known. Conscience will make you tranquil; virtue, good; reputation, known as excellent and venerable. The first thing, therefore, is that your life be such as the reputation you desire; for it is difficult in a prince, who stands in the sight of many, to wish to appear one thing and to be another. Although he may perhaps deceive some at some time, he will never deceive all. Hence no wicked man has long possessed a good reputation. Reputation is a great bridle upon those about to act badly when laws are neglected.
Alexander valued reputation more highly than his deeds, yet he obtained a reputation as bad as it was great. What did Augustus not do for reputation? He fostered the talents of his age in every way, though he was offended if anything was composed about him except seriously and by the most excellent writers, as Tranquillus relates. Yet what was accomplished? Those encomia of Augustus by the most excellent writers have perished; more survives concerning his vices and disgraces. Therefore, even this part of reputation belongs to the prince: to cultivate virtue and not court reputation except insofar as it is salutary to the fatherland. For it is as dishonorable for virtue to be the slave of glory as of pleasures, unless through glory it serves the fatherland or God.
Nor do I approve Themistocles, whom the trophy of Miltiades roused. I would prefer that the love of his citizens had done it; but because he was far from a vain heart, he was incited to dangers by a tree trunk when he could not be incited by Athens, the nurse of virtues. This very substance of glory also must be avoided, as a mark of a petty spirit. By it Trajan, an emperor otherwise not numbered among the bad, made himself contemptible; for he inscribed his own name upon the buildings of the ancients whenever they had been restored, so that, not without reason, by the judgment of a great emperor he was called wall-pellitory. This, therefore, is the foundation of reputation, as it is of command: to follow virtue without the reward of reputation, and to pursue reputation only as an instrument of the public safety.
§ 6. Divine providence conciliates this esteem among subjects and foreigners. For it is a gift of God, like every kind of power; so too is this part which consists in another’s opinion. With it God fortified his servant Abraham amid the fiercest and strongest nations, for the people of Heth said to him, “You are a prince of God among us.” Thus he protected Israel after the slaughter of the Shechemites, Genesis 35: “And when they had departed, the terror of God invaded all the cities round about, and they did not dare pursue those who were departing.” Thus Joshua also grew strong, chapter 5:1: “Therefore, after all the kings of the Amorites who dwelt beyond the Jordan toward the western region, and all the kings of Canaan who possessed the places bordering the great sea, heard that the Lord had dried the streams of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until they crossed, their heart was dissolved and no spirit remained in them because they feared the entry of the sons of Israel.” Thus Jehoshaphat too was safe, 2 Chronicles 20:29: “And the dread of the Lord rushed upon all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was quiet, and God gave him peace round about.”
On the contrary, the greatest kingdoms, when deprived of God’s protection, and their kings lived in perpetual fear. Consider the Roman Empire: plots at home, wars abroad; the most wretched peoples—the Triballi, Thracians, and others—plucked at it. Now the Turkish Empire is ravaged by Hajduks, Cossacks, Arabs, Cilicians, and pirates. The Persian Empire, and indeed its national capital, Babylon, the wonder of the world, was attacked by the Persians, a people hitherto servile and rustic. The Macedonians, a foul nation known only through contempt except insofar as it had grown under King Philip by brigandage and fraud, cast down the Persians after they had been placed at the summit.
§ 7. In order that the prince may also protect his own esteem, it will greatly contribute that he judge and enact laws in such a manner that he retracts nothing. In this matter Justinian, however much he benefited others, greatly harmed himself, since his jurists set up and took down laws. Next, in public let him always act gravely and in accordance with his dignity. For it contributes greatly to authority when magnates, whom the people admire and regard with awe, serve the prince so humbly. Third, whether in public, in the senate, or even in private council, let him rarely speak unless after reflection, but in such a way that he does not incur a reputation for pride or stupidity. Let them not imitate Pallas, who from the basest slave became the proudest master and did not deign to speak to any of his household. At home he never signified anything except by a nod or his hand, or, if more things had to be indicated, in writing, lest he associate his voice with theirs. Fourth, if his countenance is not venerable, let him nevertheless contrive always to be serious and never readily moved to laughter. Fifth, let his voice be grave, his jest nonexistent unless sharp, and his clothing without fastidiousness, costly beneath the measure of his dignity. Let his gait be grave and slow; his riding attended by austere dignity, so that even among his ministers the manner of doing all things may be deliberate, without disorderly running about.
Sixth, let him have few intimate familiars, joke with some, and reveal secrets—and this cautiously; for most such men either disclose them to others and boast of their familiarity with the prince, thus procuring envy for themselves and a reputation for imprudence for the prince, especially if they are not good men. Rare is the good fortune by which princes have many good men around them. King Attalus said that images must be viewed from a distance; and surely rarity produces admiration, while satiety with familiarity makes men less revered. Seventh, let him take the greatest care—something few even good princes have taken care to do—not to seem to be governed by one or two men. For people venerate such a man as prince and hold the prince for a statue. Hence came the hatred of all kings against those kings—Sejanus, Plautianus, and those whom in our own age we see to have paid the penalties of power. For whatever is administered, even rightly, is hateful to the nobles because the author of the counsel is hated. Eighth, in receiving embassies too, let there be splendid modesty, so that he may seem to shun luxury and love dignity. It belongs to petty women to shine with the whole treasury. Augustus was content with his customary clothing and dwelling. Alexander Severus sold his gems because he said that command was situated in virtue, not adornment. Let him in no way display his treasures to visiting ambassadors, for they interpret it as pride and conceive envy if it is immense; if moderate, they despise it. And they judge the prince a fool who values small things greatly.