THE KING'S MIRROR 191 



that the words are not addressed to the king alone, but 

 also to all those who sit in his councils as his advisers/] 



In my last speech I also mentioned that you must 

 have care never to use the plural in expressions referring 

 to yourself, lest you seem to regard yourself as on an 

 equality with the one to whom you are speaking, if he 

 is of higher rank than you areJAnd even when you " 

 talk with an equal or with a humbler man than you/ 

 are, it is not, fitting for you to honor yourself with?^ 

 plural termsT^ou must also beware when in the presence/ _ fc/b \ 

 of princes, lest you become too verbose in your talk; for / 

 great lords and all discreet men are displeased with v? 

 prolixity and regard it as tedious and worthless folly^) f*l, *e 

 ^Further, if you have a matter to present, whether it 1 

 concerns yourself or others, present it clearly but with ^ 

 quick utterance and in the fewest possible wordsjTforx 

 constantly there comes before kings and other lords 

 such a great mass of business respecting the manifold 

 needs of their subjects, that they have neither time nor 

 inclination to hear a case discussed in a long, detailed 

 speech.) And it is very evident that, if a man is clever 

 and fluent in speech, he will find it easy to state his case 

 in a few rapidly spoken words, so that the one who is 

 to reply will grasp it readily. Then, too, if one is not an 

 orator and, even more, is awkward in speech, the briefer 

 the errand on his tongue, the better it is; for a man can 

 somehow manage to get through with a few words and 

 thus conceal his awkwardness from those to whom it is 

 unknown. But when a man makes an elaborate effort, 

 he will surely seem the more unskilful the longer he 

 talks. 



