The theme of the Libro del Cortegiano is the definition of the moral and intellectual profile of the perfect gentleman at court. In particular the fourth book of the work underlines how all his qualities are functional to assuring him an important role, next to the prince, in the handling of political power. The highest target, for every courtier, is the role of counsellor of the sovereign, capable in every circumstance of conserving the necessary frankness to not fall into the temptation of adulation, and instead of telling the truth, even when this may seem inopportune or embarrassing.
The same argument, even if from the opposite perspective, is tackled by Machiavelli in chapters XXII and XXIII of the Principe, where he explicitly laments the fact that the courts are full of adulators, who always agree with and blandish the prince leading him to ruin. Machiavelli’s argument about the ministers, secretaries and functionaries closest to the prince, criticises this negative habit and, in terms similar to those used by Castiglione, vindicates the politically constructive function of truth. The prince – says Machiavelli – must never be offended when his counsellors, expressly interrogated, tell him the truth, even if it may seem critical and offensive: “perché non ci è altro modo a guardarsi da le adulazioni, se non che gli uomini intendino che non ti offendino a dirti el vero; ma quando ciascuno ti può dire il vero, ti manca la reverenza” (because there is no other way of protecting oneself from adulation, if not that men intend not to offend you by telling you the truth; but when each one can tell you the truth, he is not respecting you) (N. Machiavelli, Il principe, edited by G. Inglese, Turin 1995, 156).
Castiglione and Machiavelli agree that the counsellor of the prince has the obligation of being a truthful witness, who does not flatter his master but presents him with the true facts. This is, after all, an argument that is common in classical and renaissance political literature, already seen in the works of Plutarch, and then taken up, for example, by Erasmus of Rotterdam. Specific to Machiavelli though, is an original underlining, that brings his work closer to the pages dedicated by Castiglione to the same topic: the prince must not allow everyone, indiscriminately, the right to tell him the truth, because this would expose him to mockery; truth is necessary, but, not to be thought weak, he must rigorously select the people he will trust, and continuously exercise a careful control over them.
The prince's councillors
