Flatterers fill every court because men are self-complimented and easily deceived about their own affairs. Princes can barely escape this pest. If you try to guard against flattery by letting everyone speak plain truth, you lose respect. Machiavelli's answer is a third course between open door and isolation.
Choose wise men and give only them liberty to tell the truth, and only on the subjects you raise. Question them on everything, listen to their opinions, then decide for yourself. Treat these councillors so that the more freely they speak, the more they are preferred. Outside that circle, listen to no one, execute what you resolved, and hold steady. Otherwise flatterers overturn you or shifting opinions make you contemptible.
Maximilian, the present emperor, shows the opposite failure. Fra Luca, his man of affairs, said he consulted no one yet never got his own way. He kept designs secret and took no counsel, but when actions became visible his courtiers obstructed them and he, being pliant, changed course daily. No one knew what he intended or could rely on his word.
A prince should take counsel when he wishes, not when others wish, and should discourage unsolicited advice. He must inquire constantly and listen patiently, then show anger when he learns someone withheld truth. Do not imagine a prince looks wise only because of good advisers. An unwise prince never takes good advice unless he hands everything to one prudent man, and even then the governor will soon seize the state. Many advisers without judgment produce divided counsel and hidden self interest. Men stay honest only under constraint. Good counsels come from the prince's wisdom, not the other way around.
Coming Up in Chapter 24
In the next chapter, Machiavelli turns to another crucial aspect of power and leadership Machiavelli opens by tying this chapter to everything before it. A new prince is watched more closely than an hereditary one, and capable actions bind men tighter than old blood because people care about the present, not the past..
