Je lui ai dit que je savais mieux que lui qu’il n’y avait point eu de haute recommandation en faveur de del Dongo, que personne à ma cour ne lui refusait de la capacité, qu’on ne parlait point trop mal de ses mœurs, mais que je craignais qu’il ne fût susceptible d’enthousiasme, et que je m’étais promis de ne jamais élever aux places considérables les fous de cette espèce avec lesquels un prince n’est sûr de rien.
I told him that I knew better than he that there had been no recommendation from any high quarter in favour of this del Dongo, that nobody at my court denied his capacity, that they did not speak at all too badly of his morals, but that I was afraid of his being liable to enthusiasm, and that I had made it a rule never to promote to considerable positions fools of that sort, with whom a Prince can never be sure of anything.