Pagina 193 di 310

But to enable a prince to form an opinion of his servant there is

one test which never fails; when you see the servant thinking

more of his own interests than of yours, and seeking inwardly his

own profit in everything, such a man will never make a good

servant, nor will you ever be able to trust him; because he who

has the state of another in his hands ought never to think of

himself, but always of his prince, and never pay any attention to

matters in which the prince is not concerned.