However, the king treated him with tenderness, as a well-meaning man, but of a low
contemptible understanding.
It makes him contemptible to be considered fickle, frivolous, effeminate, mean-spirited, irresolute, from all of which a prince should guard himself as from a rock; and he should endeavour to show in his actions greatness, courage, gravity, and fortitude; and in his private dealings with his subjects let him show that his judgments are irrevocable, and maintain himself in such reputation that no one can hope either to deceive him or to get round him.
I do not wish to discuss Heliogabalus, Macrinus, or Julian, who, being thoroughly contemptible, were quickly wiped out; but I will bring this discourse to a conclusion by saying that princes in our times have this difficulty of giving inordinate satisfaction to their soldiers in a far less degree, because, notwithstanding one has to give them some indulgence, that is soon done; none of these princes have armies that are veterans in the governance and administration of provinces, as were the armies of the Roman Empire; and whereas it was then more necessary to give satisfaction to the soldiers than to the people, it is now more necessary to all princes, except the Turk and the Soldan, to satisfy the people rather the soldiers, because the people are the more powerful.
But against his taking this step, which he still felt to be a
contemptible relinquishment of present work, a guilty turning aside from what was a real and might be a widening channel for worthy activity, to start again without any justified destination, there was this obstacle, that the purchaser, if procurable at all, might not be quickly forthcoming.
"Well, of all the mean,
contemptible tricks of a human skunk this is the limit!"
I do not mean that they ought to leave them to make a choice of what is
contemptible and bad, but that they should place before them what is good and then allow them to make a good choice as they please.
But when all that is explained and worked out on paper (which is perfectly possible, for it is
contemptible and senseless to suppose that some laws of nature man will never understand), then certainly so-called desires will no longer exist.
At this period of their Quarrel I entered the Library and was as you may imagine equally offended as Sophia at the ill-grounded accusations of the malevolent and
contemptible Macdonald.
Lemarrois had just arrived at a gallop with Bonaparte's stern letter, and Murat, humiliated and anxious to expiate his fault, had at once moved his forces to attack the center and outflank both the Russian wings, hoping before evening and before the arrival of the Emperor to crush the
contemptible detachment that stood before him.
Defendant Jill Rheade, 58, was told her behaviour was
contemptible.
"The attack is
contemptible and a further worrying development in the Libyan crisis," said Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for EU High Representative Federica Mogheirni, in a statement.
'The terrorist will not succeed in their
contemptible tactics as the nation is standing united against terrorists and enemies of the country,' he added.