Evening star., 1949-07-31

Is no vagueness, and the situation
is developed with deceptive mat
ter-of-factness. The quiet way
in which suspense is built up gives
the denouement greater impact
On Ship for Venezuela.
From the moment you meet the
middle-aged doctor and his young
bride aboard the ship bound for
Venezuela, you feel something i'm
pending, for all the smooth con-
ventionality of the voyage. And
when the doctor takes a sudden
interest in another passenger.
wealthy American expatriate, you
know somehow that it Is some
thing more fateful than curiosity.
When the passenger. no longer a
stranger, invites the honeymoon
ing couple to his sumptuous home
In the Andes, and the three start
up the jungle river. you wait
tensely for events you cannot
guess.
In the subtle sense of impend-
ing doom which pervades it, "A
Man of Taste" recalls Mr..
Freund's unforgettable Easter
Island" a short novel OF mystery
and terror.
1.-THE Goldhunter" is an even
better story in this genre. 1t is
another sinister journey. with the
Panama jungle closing symbolic
cally about the frail craft in which
three men are starting across the
tsthmus river for the Pacific
Ocean and California in 1850. 1t
would not have been hard to-
imagine the perils reaching Tor
such men, who so little realized
the hazards ahead when they left
New York. But the author was
concerned with character. and he
has drawn each man with sharp
distinctneSs. 1t Is remarkable
projection into a colorful moment
in our history.
A Time of Transition.
"Christmas in Wisconsin" is a
striking study of a time OF trans
ition in several tangent lives. Mr..
Freund has written IN The
Harpsichord" strange and beau
tiful story of a composer.
The other stories are less sue
cessfui. Warsaw" is a carefully
developed account Of two half
brothers who become acquainted
after they are grown. but lot OF
words are needed merely to out
line a situation. Romance" is an
attempt to make theme into a
fugue-what romance turns out to
mean to several persons in New
York. The story does not quite
come off. The other stories pre-
sent static situations, more or less
effective, but little more than i'm
pressions.
Mr.. Freund seems surer-footed
in the Latin American mountains
and jungles than in the streets
of Manhattan.
X 4 4 r
PRACTICAL POLITICS
BY Giovanni Botero.
RELIGION AND THE
CHRISTIAN RULER
BY Pedro Ribadeneyra. Trans
lated by George Albert Moore.
Country Dollar Press; 49,
Nicolo Machiavelli. who lived
from 1859 to 1927. and ran the
Florentine Republic for IA years,
thus summed up the practical
politics of his day (of his day
only?):
1T Is not necessary that
prince have all the qualities (vir-
tues) that we have mentioned;
rather it is necessary that he ap-
pear that he has them. And
it has to be understood that a
prince, especially new one. can
not keep to everything by which
men are considered good. For
many times, to conserve their
states, they are obliged to go
against their word. against char
ity, again humanity. against
religion -" : the Prince with great
care should provide that never
from his mouth should fall thing
that would not be filled with
these five virtues. ."
Such doctrines did not go I'M
answered in Machiavelli's day.
Father Pedro Ribadeneyra. a
Spanish Jesuit, wrote in a book
published in 1901:
These are the words of Michia-
velli, come from hell, to destroy
religion and to tear from the
heart of the Christian prince at a
blow all true virtues"
This writer added: "The sum
Of all that which Michiavelli and
the politicians teach concerning
stimulation and the feigned virtues
of the prince . is comprised
in forming and making most
perfect hypocrite, who would say
one thing and do another, and be
like a monster composed of vari-
Gus forms, who would appear as
sheep and be a wolf, with the
face of a man and the heart of
fox; who would have more spots
than a leopard, with a smile
around his mouth and knife in
his hand; the voice OF Jacob and
the hand of Esau ="
Another important anti-Michia-
vellian work was Practical Poll
TICS" by Giovanni Botero, an
Italian priest Of the Oblate Order.
Father Botero was a man Of great
learning, who knew the ways Of
his world.
Col. Moore, Washington's scholar
of medieval and Renaissance
sources, publishes here the first
English translations Of the two
books. Students should find them
a valuable contribution toward a
better understanding Of 18th and
18th century thought. The re-