Essays, or discourses, vol. 1 (of 4)

by Benito Jerónimo Feijoo

XXXVII. Nor can I perceive such profundity or acuteness, in these so much applauded maxims, either of Aristotle, or Machiavel, as may render it worth the while of a politician of special perspicuity, to bestow much time in reading or studying them; as a moderate understanding, without their help, will enable a man to acquire all they teach; nor is there any thing necessary to carry them into execution, but a hardened and a perverted heart.

XXXVIII. The maxim, that a tyrant must be supported by making himself feared, and not trust to the love of his subjects, is as clear as day-light; for how can those, whom he is continually oppressing with a hard slavery, have any love for him? And it follows of course, that he must treat them as he would enemies, and endeavour to keep them poor, as every one knows, that the more you impoverish your enemy, the more you deprive him of the means of injuring you.

XXXIX. It is also an immediate consequence deducible from the same principle, that it will be proper for him to put more confidence in strangers, than his own subjects; for who but a stupid person, would confide in one, who he knows is fired with indignation against him? The necessity of keeping a number of emissaries in such a situation, to inform him of the words and actions of those whom he suspects are not his friends, would occur to every rustic, and is what is daily practised by rustics in their way; for if one of these suspects any man to be his enemy, he is continually observing his conduct, watching his motions, and as far as he is able, prying into his designs. The advantages of religious and virtuous appearances, to command respect, are manifest to every young girl; and the art of fomenting discords, and encouraging opposite factions in a state, in order to preserve the balance of power equal between them, may be learned from the tumblers and rope-dancers, who support themselves, by keeping the weights at the opposite ends of their poles in equilibrio.

XL. It was said of Catherine of Medicis, who with the nicest caution, and greatest vigilance, continued to put this contrivance in practice for a long time, that she studied Machiavel every day, and that she had always his book in her hand, or else laying by her, which occasioned a satyrical writer to call it the New Testament of the queen; but perhaps this was said of her, on account of her being obliged to have recourse to the before-named arts. But in order to do this, what necessity was there for her having such a master at her elbow? The posture and situation of affairs, pointed out sufficiently to a person of the abilities and penetration of that queen, the utility of dispensing some favours to the heretics, and by conciliating their good-will, causing their weight to serve as a counterpoize to the power of the catholics, of whom she was jealous and apprehensive, but always taking care at the same time to declare and profess, that in point of faith she was a catholic, to prevent the affections of that party from being weaned and estranged from her.

XLI. There have not been wanting those, who have attributed the same policy to Constantine the Great, who, at the same time that he was favouring Christianity, kept Gentiles in his ministry, and filled posts of importance with them. But this we should suppose was an act of necessity, because it was incumbent on him to proceed with caution, in so great and arduous a work, as that of the conversion of the whole Roman empire. If he had endeavoured to beat down Paganism at a blow, and by open force and violence, he might possibly never have been able to accomplished it.

SECT. XI.

XLII. I say the same, of all the other rules of practices of tyrannic and deceitful policy. What ability or penetration does it require, to invade with an armed force, the territories of a neighbouring prince or republic, and surprize some of the fortified towns of those, who thinking themselves secure, and relying upon the faith of an established peace, are off their guard, and not prepared to resist the attack? To accomplish this, requires nothing more, than for a man to become compleatly callous to the fear of God, and to have lost all sense of shame of the world. To find a plausible pretence for doing it, is the most easy thing imaginable, for a child of ten years old, is never at a loss for such a one, whenever he is disposed from motives of interest, or through fickleness, to break a little friendship or connexion he has engaged in.

XLIII. The barbarous maxim, of getting rid of brothers or relations, to remove the most dangerous apprehensions of, or incitements to, insurrections, does not require ingenuity to execute it, but cruelty only. We see the Ottoman emperors have practised it in a variety of ways; some have taken away the lives of their brothers and relations, others have deprived them of sight, and others of liberty, by shutting them up in close confinement. They were all equally apprized of the importance of preventing the danger, but they were not all equally fierce and cruel. Thus in proportion to the degrees of their barbarity, or their fears, their rigour in the practice of the maxim, was greater or less. Mahomed the third, when he mounted the throne, not satisfied with putting to death his whole twenty-one brothers, ordered ten Sultanas, likewise, who were then pregnant, to be thrown into the sea and drowned; whereas others, have contented themselves with confining those who were related to them in a prison, with reasonable accommodations appertaining to it. This great difference in their conduct, did not proceed from their distinct political ideas, but from the diversity of their tempers and dispositions.

XLIV. As we are now treating on this subject, this seems a proper occasion, for taking notice of a common error and opinion, which prevails among many people with respect to the Ottoman emperors, viz. that the bloody maxim of sacrificing their own brothers to their safety, in order to their possessing the throne in security, is peculiar to the Ottoman race. This barbarous and atrocious policy, is much more ancient than the stock of Ottoman princes, and was more generally practised by other royal families than by them. Plutarch, speaking of those kings who were the successors of Alexander, and among whom the vast conquests of that hero were divided, says, that cruel maxim was so universally adopted by their descendants, that they considered it as an invariable political axiom, and as a self-evident first principle, indispensably necessary to be adhered to, and which followed of course, with as much certainty as geometrical postulata. Fratrum parricidia, ut petitiones geometræ fumunt, sic concedebantur, habitanturque, communis quædam petitio ad securitatem, & Regia. Plutarch. in Demetrio.

XLV. I do not know whether the soil and climate of Asia is not more naturally adapted for the production of these political monsters, than that of Europe, for we have seen in all times, the princes of the Asiatic regions, more addicted to pursue tyrannic and cruel maxims than those of Europe. By confining one’s attention immediately to the present times, what appears to me is, that the Europeans, who for the most part have some knowledge of Machiavel, commonly found their governments upon principles of justice and moderation; and that the oriental people, who do not know that there ever was such a man as Machiavel in the world, most frequently, practise the very same perverse maxims, which this master of wickedness taught; and I think the Chinese, are the only orientals who are an exception to this general rule.