The metaphor of the archers
The Principe and the Book of the Courtier are works that, by statute, look to the concept of the exemplary: both texts, that is, aim to define coordinates of reference of absolute value, such that, respectively, to the sovereign and the gentleman of the court they give guidance and orientation. At the beginning of the VI chapter Machiavelli writes: “None should be surprised if [...] I draw upon famous examples. Why must [...] the prudent man always enter by ways taken by great men, and those who were excellent imitate, [...] and do as the prudent archers, who deeming their targets very far, [...] aim higher than their mark [...] so as to be able to pre-empt with such a high shot their design” (N. Machiavelli, The Prince, edited by G. Inglese, Turin 1995, 32). The work thus posits itself, programmatically, as a gallery of models that can give princes ideas and stratagems with which to define their conduct.
The very same image is employed by Castiglione in his letter of dedication to Miguel da Silva, which introduces the Book of the Courtier. The dialogue aims to construct the image of the “perfect courtier”, so as to give gentlemen an objective, an ideal goal to which they can, with the utmost of effort, “approximate”. “And if with all this they are unable to achieve that, whatever it may be, which I have tried to express, he who gets closest will be the most perfect: such as is the case with many archers shooting at a target, when none hits the bull’s-eye then he who shoots nearest is better than the rest” (B. Castiglione, The Courtier, edited by A. Quondam, Milan 2002, I, 9-10).
The two texts are based on the same concept: they are, from the point of view of how they state their case, similar. But there is a radical difference, or almost, at the level of content: because Machiavelli’s concept of greatness is measured only in terms of political success, whilst the perfection Castiglione speaks of concerns, first and foremost, the achievement of a harmonic balance between interior qualities and extrinsic behaviours.
