XXVIII. I am not surprized that some Princes have gone to this extreme, but rather wonder that all have not proceeded to it. The thirsty desire of domineering, which is never satiated, is natural to the heart of man; and this principle which is born with us, in Princes, is stimulated and inflamed by flattery. We frequently hear them addressed, in terms which are exquisitely hyperbolical, some to blazon the perfections of their characters, others those of their persons. They represent to them their superiority in a manner, that tends to persuade them, they are more than men, and that other people are less. This ostentatious image of grandeur is very grateful to their feelings, and therefore it is not wonderful, they should set it up as an idol, for the people who are under them to offer as sacrifices to, all they possess which is most valuable. Some politicians have thought it expedient, in order to give Princes a higher idea of their own excellence, and fill them with more exalted notions, to place flatterers about their persons; and I have no doubt but this may be proper, when you perceive them to be very pusillanimous. But in general, the thing of most consequence in their education, ought to be taking care to impress on their minds, such maxims only, as are dictated by religion, virtue, and humanity. And this is the manner in which they should be propounded to them. XXIX. That a King is a man, as other men are, son like them, of the same common father, equal by nature, and only unequal in fortune. XXX. That this fortune, imagine it to be great as you will, he owes all to God, who has power to place one of another race on the throne; and no man, if he pleases to do it, has a right to find fault or complain of injustice, even though he should raise to the rank of Majesty a person of the most humble station in the kingdom, and reduce to the lowest class, him, who the day before was seated on a throne. XXXI. That so much the greater the idea of his own grandeur is, by so much the greater ought his gratitude and thankfulness to be to the Divine Majesty, who has conferred it upon him; and that in proportion to the superiority of his rank, are his obligations to serve and obey God as an example to other men. XXXII. That God did not make the kingdom for the King, but the King for the kingdom. Therefore the object of his government should not be directed to support his own private interest or convenience, but that of the republic. For this reason, Aristotle points out the essential distinction between a King and a tyrant, that the first only attends to his own convenience, the other to the public good.