CHAPTER I

What most harms the fortunate

Among all of those things that important men are used to confronting, none of them may be thought more pernicious than that delightful allurement of fortune which turns one aside from the vision of truth. In so far as the world showers its riches and delights – those which renew and inflame the vicious eagerness for sensuous pleasure – the soul is tricked by a multiplicity of allurements into a captivity in which, alienated from itself, inner goodness decays as the desires are extended to the deceptions of various external things. If indeed virtue is hostile to prosperity, then wealth applauds its own in order to injure them; and this unhappy success follows in the path of fortune, so that in the end catastrophe occurs. Initially they accept a drink at the banquet and, when they have become inebriated, a lethal venom or something worse is intermixed. The more their appearance is illuminated, the denser is the fog that spreads across their stupefied eyes; the prevalence of darkness is therefore the disappearance of truth, and the virtues are cut down at the root, the vices yield a crop, the light of reason is extinguished, and the whole man is carried headlong into miserable misfortune.

In this way the rational creature is rendered brutish; the image of the Creator is distorted into something resembling the character of a beast; and man degenerates from his condition of dignity, acts in a conceited fashion, puffs up because of the honours collected, and by arrogance destroys understanding.

Prologue

Inasmuch as I follow closely the footsteps of Plutarch in the ‘Instruction of Trajan’, I think that this image addresses my own situation, and I will be ridiculed by everyone unless I diligently complete what is started. For I am acknowledged to be dependent upon him at the present moment. Therefore, I follow him and descend with him from the head of the republic all the way to the feet, yet on the condition that, if in this section I appear too caustic to those who are permitted to be ignorant of legal right, then it will be ascribed not to me but to Plutarch, or preferably to those themselves who refuse to discern the rules which they follow and according to which they are living. For what is said about fellow countrymen has been added with the single intention that they will return to the path of virtue, even unwillingly.

Prologue

Those empowered by anointment are not inclined to survey their realms without delay, nor is it easy to traverse the length and breadth of the provinces in a short period. Yet this great deed is summarily toasted on occasion by the wise, and by no means may this toast be explained completely by the excessive pressures of stylistic expression. For what in human affairs is greater than princely government, whose duties in a certain manner encircle, complete and penetrate everything and which bears the troubles of the whole republic with its immovable strength? And as a result, the prince has scrutiny over his territory and he avoids delay in surveying it not only on account of his rank but also because of the composure with which the frivolities of all are to be scrutinised by the head of the republic. We will therefore concentrate upon the inspection of his body with moderate brevity, and we will moreover heed what Plutarch proposes about this matter. Subtracting the superstitions of the gentiles, there is validity in the judgments, in the excellent words and the sacred morals of so great a ruler as can readily be perceived in the commands of Trajan. Yet if anyone disputes Trajan's faith or morals, these could be ascribed to the times rather than to the man. If Virgil was permitted to acquire the gold of wisdom from the clay of Ennius, in what way is it hateful for us to share in our own learning from what is written by the gentiles?

Prologue

Those who sail upon the sea are in the habit of feeling grateful and of conveying their thanks to those by whose help hazards have been avoided. Fires are lit, cries are sent out, and signals are erected by which the swirling Scylla, the whirling Charybdis, concealed rocks, and the pulling and gripping of Syrtes can be safely avoided by sailors. So also thanks are most properly owed to those who by their service warn of threats which endanger human salvation; and he who does not repay his debts is deservedly to suffer the loss of his salvation for his ingratitude towards kindness. Moreover, there is no one who does not know that salvation is impeded by the vices and it is important that out of love the vices of our neighbours are publicly singled out for avoidance. Indeed human life is more turbulent than any sea you please, and its dangers cannot be evaded unless their signs are made known. To this work, however, I am driven by the stimulus of the public utility and your commands, although I am aware of nothing within me that might rouse the attention of readers, being in any case a defenceless and weak man whose life is adequate as an example neither of moral sense nor of learned knowledge nor of good works. For this reason it is complained against me by many that I should keep still; it is said that nothing, even the praise of virtue, is splendid in the mouths of sinners.

Although pleasurable in many ways, the pursuit of letters is especially fruitful because it excludes all annoyances stemming from differences of time and place, it draws friends into each other's presence, and it abolishes the situation in which things worth knowing are not experienced. Arts would have perished, laws would have disappeared, faith and all religious duties whatsoever would have shattered, and even the correct use of eloquence would have declined, save that divine compassion granted to mortals the use of letters as a remedy for human infirmity. The examples of our ancestors, which are incitements and inducements to virtue, never would have encouraged and been heeded by everyone, unless, through devotion, care and diligence, writers triumphed over idleness and transmitted these things to posterity.

If indeed the shortness of life and the obtuseness of understanding, the negligence of inactivity and the uselessness of occupation, permit us to know little, then even this is constantly banished and torn from the soul by forgetfulness which deceives knowledge through perpetual hostility and infidelity to its stepmother, memory. Who would know of Alexander or Caesar, or would respect the Stoics or the Peripatetics, unless they had been distinguished by the memorials of writers? Whoever would have followed the footsteps of the cherished apostles and prophets, unless they had been consecrated for posterity in the Holy Scriptures? Triumphal arches advance the glory of illustrious men whenever inscriptions explain for what cause and for whom they have been erected.

Prologue

I have become the enemy of the multitude in so far as I examine the follies of the frivolous. For this reason I might disappear into retirement or keep silent; but my tumultuous affairs prevent the first option while the impulses of my soul destroy the other. Whoever is placed beneath some authority, if he is wise, ought to comply with the commands of the governor. Yet when one is moved by the stimulus of deep feeling, one cannot dissimulate, but instead will be inspired to express one's passions. Thus, exultation is stroked by the gentle breeze of what is joyful, hope induces cheerfulness, fear yields anxiety, and grief plunges the soul into confusion. Such alternation between good and bad fortune is experienced by every particular person. In truth, the misery of bad fortune is more pronounced and more often assails everyone. Who is not more often favoured with the annoyance of bad fortune than stroked by the consolation of good fortune? Rare is someone who can protect himself totally from the full onslaught of fortune. Whoever prevails due to his own qualities of strength will be impeded by the health or fate of a friend or a relative. Although he who is not stirred by the loss of his own material goods is not very human, neither is one in a human condition who is not moved by the loss of that which belongs to another.

Prologue

I would have turned away from the company of the frivolous, leaving the palace of the courtier, except that the authority of your precepts has detained my departure on the threshold itself. For when I revealed to you the distress of my heart and complained about the loss of time and of life, you always advised me to carry on with strong heart until God reveals Himself to others and transforms my circumstances for the better, persuading me that, in the manner of the labourer who averts or diminishes the tedium of his labours by old songs and sweet voices, I might be compensated for the waste of time and material goods. For the path seems easier and more brief for travellers if they are refreshed by a story pleasant to the senses or by the melodies of a sweet voice. So also you told me to pursue a devotion to reading or some other activity and, if nothing else is granted, to lament about my situation and the fickle forms of fortune, at least to myself and to the Muses. For in aspiring to philosophy, it is an important step to bewail the lack of virtue in oneself.

John of Salisbury's Policraticus: Of the Frivolities of Courtiers and the Footprints of Philosophers is commonly acclaimed as the first extended work of political theory written during the Latin Middle Ages. At approximately 250,000 words in length, the Policraticus is however far more than a theoretical treatise on politics. It is equally a work of moral theology, satire, speculative philosophy, legal procedure, self-consolation, biblical commentary and deeply personal meditation. In sum, the Policraticus is the philosophical memoir of one of the most learned courtier-bureaucrats of twelfth-century Europe. The title Policraticus, a pseudo-Greek neologism, itself seems to have been invented by John in order to convey the implication of classical learning and erudition as well as to capture the political content of the work.

Because of the diversity of John's interests, the reader must take care to approach the Policraticus without reference to current disciplinary boundaries. It is anachronistic to ignore or exclude from consideration those sections of the Policraticus which do not meet strict contemporary criteria for political theory. Indeed, even John's conception of what constitutes the realm of the political was different from a modern one, a fact which is reflected in the substance of his writing. Yet if we acknowledge the distance of his fundamental assumptions from our own, we can learn much about the political attitudes and beliefs of medieval Europe as well as about the origins of many of our own cherished political and social values.