A Tale of Two Princes

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Holbein-erasmus.jpg

A few years ago, I had a conversation with a fine young Christian man who was pondering going into politics. He asked me if I had any suggestions for reading on the subject but my answer at the time was not very helpful. 
 
But now I know what book I would recommend without hesitation! 

I have known about Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince (1532) since I was a teenager. It is a book notorious for its cutthroat and pragmatic approach to politics. It is not so much concerned for what is morally right, but rather with what works. The advice Machiavelli gives to the princes of his day makes for fascinating reading, but living under the rule of such a prince would not be a pleasant experience. Nor is it describing a biblically or theologically informed view of serving as a prince (or, to use our language, a politician). Needless to say, this is NOT the book I would recommend.[1]
 
The book I would recommend is by Desiderius Erasmus, a contemporary of Machiavelli. Erasmus wrote The Education of a Prince (1516) to address the same types of social ills Machiavelli was concerned with, but his vision for a Christian prince was radically different and more in line with the medieval genre called Mirrors for Princes, or Mirrors of Princes (specula principum).[2] It was a genre quite common in the Christian (and Muslim) world, one that portrayed an ideal monarch in order to inspire and instruct in the exemplary way to exercise authority and live up to the high calling of political leadership. 
 
Erasmus details the many aspects of a prince, from childhood through to adulthood, noting the key ingredients necessary for serving as a ruler. What is fascinating is how he weaves together biblical injunctions and ancient Greco-Roman sources on how rulers are to act. There is no way to provide a complete summary of the book’s contents in this brief blog, but I hope the following quotations will entice you to read it yourself. [online[3]] The quotes are taken from this version [click here[4]].
 

• “Conduct your own rule as if you were striving to ensure that no successor could be your equal, but all the time prepare your children for their future reign as if to ensure that a better man would indeed succeed you.” (6)

 

• “Just as someone who poisons the public foundation from which everybody drinks deserves the severest punishment, so someone who implants in a prince’s mind perverse ideas, which will eventually be the ruin of a great many people, is the most vicious of men. Given that anyone who debases the prince’s coinage is punished with death, how much more deserving of their punishment is someone who corrupts his mind.” (11)

 

• “A prince’s prestige, his greatness, his regal dignity, must not be established and preserved by noisy displays of privileged rank but by wisdom, integrity, and right action.” (14)

 

• “There is but one death for all, beggars and kings alike. But the judgment after death is not the same for all: none are treated more sternly then than those who were powerful.” (18)

 

• “There is a mutual interchange between the prince and the people. The people owe you their tribute, they owe you obedience and respect; but you in turn own the people a good and vigilant prince.” (43)

 

• “The next lesson is to love the country he rules and to have the same attitude towards it that a good farmer has towards the land he has inherited or that a good man has towards his family, and to be especially concerned that he will hand over to whoever comes next an improvement on what he himself received.” (66)

 
At the heart of the education of a ruler is the intention to inculcate a view of being a godly prince for the purpose of service. Knowing the mechanics of governing are important, something that Machiavelli sought to outline. But a fundamental difference between the two views of princes is that Machiavelli’s prince rules to get, use, and maintain power, whereas Erasmus’ prince rules to serve. It is a tale of two very different princes.


[1] It is worth reading for its insights into how politics often works, but it would be folly for a Christian leader to see Machiavelli’s prince as someone to emulate hook, line, and sinker.

[2] Amber Handy, “The Specula principum in Northwestern Europe, A.D. 650–900: The Evolution of a New Ethical Rule,” PhD dissertation, University of Notre Dame, 2011.

[3] https://archive.org/details/trent_0116300070582/page/n5/mode/2up

[4] https://www.amazon.ca/Erasmus-Education-Christian-Panegyric-Archduke/dp/0521588111/ref=sr_1_2?crid=25TSRACKARY0K&keywords=The+Education+of+a+Christian+Prince&qid=1677552725&sprefix=the+education+of+a+christian+prince%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-2