《君主论·第二十三章·如何避开谄媚者》第3节
And if there are some who think that a prince who conveys an impression of his wisdom is not so through his own ability, but through the good advisers that he has around him, beyond doubt they are deceived, because this is an axiom which never fails: that a prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice, unless by chance he has yielded his affairs entirely to one person who happens to be a very prudent man. In this case indeed he may be well governed, but it would not be for long, because such a governor would in a short time take away his state from him. But if a prince who is not inexperienced should take counsel from more than one he will never get united counsels, nor will he know how to unite them. Each of the counsellors will think of his own interests, and the prince will not know how to control them or to see through them. And they are not to be found otherwise, because men will always prove untrue to you unless they are kept honest by constraint. Therefore it must be inferred that good counsels, whencesoever they come, are born of the wisdom of the prince, and not the wisdom of the prince from good counsels.
注释摘要
马基雅维利在这里提出了一个看似反常识、实则贯穿全书逻辑核心的公理：好的建议并不造就明智的君主，相反，只有明智的君主才能从顾问那里获得好的建议。这段论证在全书结构中极为关键，因为它回应了一个古老的论题，即君主应当如何运用自己的智慧与他人的智慧之间的关系。 他的推理链条是层层递进的。首先，如果有人以为一个君主看起来英明，并非因为他自己有能力，而只是因为他身边有…