In _Macbeth_ (IV., iii., 92-4) he specifically
defined "the king-becoming graces":--
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness,
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude.
But the dramatist's main energies are devoted to exposure of the
hollowness of this counsel of perfection. Temptations to vice beset
rulers of men to a degree that is unknown to their subjects. To
avarice rulers are especially prone. Stanchless avarice constantly
converts kings of ordinary clay into monsters. How often they forge
Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal,
Destroying them for wealth.
(_Macbeth_, IV., iii., 83-4.)
Intemperance in all things--in business and pleasure--is a standing
menace of monarchs.
Boundless intemperance
In Nature is a tyranny: it hath been
Th' untimely emptying of the happy throne
And fail of many kings.
(_Macbeth_, IV., iii., 66-9.)
A leader of men, if he be capable of salvation, must "delight no less
in truth than life." Yet "truth," for the most part, is banished from
the conventional environment of royalty.
Repeatedly does Shakespeare bring into dazzling relief the irony which
governs the being of kings.
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