Free Valperga by Mary Shelley

honour. Frankness played on his lips;
ingenuousness nestled in his heart; shame was ever ready to check
him on the brink of folly; and the tenderness of his nature seemed
to render it impossible for him to perpetrate a deed of harshness
or inhumanity. The court of England had infused some laxity into
his moral creed; but at least he had not learned there hypocrisy,
and the wily arts of a hoary politician. Still the strait path of
honour and a single mind had ever engaged his choice. But nineteen
is a dangerous age; and ill betides the youth who confides himself
to a crafty instructor. If Castruccio listened at first with an
inattentive ear to the counsels of Scoto, yet their frequent
repetition, and wax- like docility of his mind, quickly gave them
power over him.
    "You, my dear Castruccio," said Scoto, "will soon
return to your native country, where your talents and valour will
open for you a brilliant career. A soldier, if he join wisdom of
counsel to soldiership, must for a while succeed in Italy; and if
he be prudent, he need not fall as I did. A chief in Italy ought to
pay strict attention to the discipline and equipment of his
followers, and to the spreading the terror of his name among his
enemies. This must be his first step; and without that the
foundations of his power are as sand; for to have many cities
subject to his command is as nothing in the hour of danger, since
if he control them not with iron, gold will ever find its way into
the councils of the citizens; and woe and defeat are to that chief,
who reigns only by the choice of the people; a choice more fickle
and deceitful than the famed faithlessness of woman.
    "But, having once formed an army, disciplined it, and shewn
its temper by success, then is the time to change the arts of war
for those of counsel, and to work your way as the mole, shewing no
sign of your path, until your triumphant power comes forth where it
is least expected. Nor be lavish of gold; for that is power while
you possess it, weakness when surrendered into the hands of
another. But alliances, marriages, nominal honours and promises are
the fit allurements to be used among our countrymen. By one or
other of these means, of such motley materials are Italian
confederacies composed, one single chieftain may ever introduce
dissention and treason into the enemy's camp. It was thus that
I fell; for I did not trust to my own strength, but to that of my
allies.
    "There are two classes of men in Italy, which indeed often
cut like a two-edged sword, and turn upon their master, yet which
with proper management are of infinite use in the accomplishment of
secret treaties, and the carrying on of correspondence in the very
heart of the enemy's councils: these are the priests, and the
Uomini di Corte. The priests are the least trust-worthy and the
most expensive: yet sometimes I have seen them stand by their
employer, if he yielded them much respect and apparent submission,
and betray him who has paid them well, yet who had neglected the
arts of flattery. In their youth men are often led to trust to
their actions and their sword; but every day is another page of
experience, to shew us that men are governed by words alone, words
light as air, yet which have often been found capable of
overturning empires: witness the triumphs of the Popes, who
dissipated the armies of their enemies, and despoiled them of rank,
possessions and life, by excommunications, and anathemas--words.
But, in discovering this infinite power in words, let it make you
prudent in their use; be not chary in their quantity, but look well
to their quality. But to return to our instruments,--priests, and
Uomini di Corte.
    "These latter are poor dogs, often faithful, easily
satisfied, and who can penetrate every where, see every thing, hear
every thing, and if you acquire but the art of getting their
knowledge from them, they become of infinite utility; this is done
by many words, much good humour, and a little gold. When Della
Torre and