Counsel for Kings

Be like a noble prince, in love with fame!
Live glorious days, and win a deathless name
Achieving deeds that history shall tell,
Like those of Charles the Great, and Charles Martel.
Let not the nobles wrong the Third Estate;
Let not the populace displease the great.
Manage thy revenues with canny sense;
The Prince who cannot govern his expense,
And rule his wife, his children, his estate,
Will surely fail to govern well the state. . . .
But be more miserly of friends than gold;
Kings without friends were wretched from of old. . . .
Never appear in pompous vesturing;
Virtue alone can fitly clothe a king.
Let all thy body shine with virtues bright,
And not thy raiment with rich pearls bedight. . . .
And, Sire, since no man born may punish kings
For any wrong, with strict examinings
Chastise thyself, in fear lest finally
God's justice, higher than thou, should punish thee. . . .