The ant is a wise creature for itself, but a pest in an orchard or garden. And indeed, people who are great narcissists cause harm to the state. Distinguish self-love from love for society; and be so honest with yourself that you are not dishonest with others, especially not with your king and homeland. It is a pitiful person’s actions if their center is themselves…
Assessing everything according to oneself is more justified when it comes to a ruler; because a ruler does not depend solely on themselves, as their good and evil depend on the common good. But it is a great evil when a ruler’s servant or citizen in the state acts like that. Because whatever matters pass through the hands of such a person, they will always bend them towards their own goals, which often do not coincide with the intentions of their master or the state. Therefore, let the ruler or state choose officials who do not have such a characteristic, unless they plan to take them only as assistants with no independent authority. What makes the matter even more destructive is the loss of all measure. There are already enough inconsistencies in the fact that servants are assumed to serve their masters, but the extreme is even greater when the servant’s small gain comes at the expense of the master’s large profits. Such is the case when unworthy officers, treasurers, envoys, military commanders, and other dishonest and corrupt servants manipulate things to their advantage, ruining the important tasks of their masters for their own petty selfish goals and desires. In general, the gain that such servants see is usually proportional to their wealth, but the harm they have caused to their master is proportional to their position.
Indeed, it is the nature of most self-lovers that they are capable of setting fire to someone else’s house just to cook their eggs. However, such people often enjoy the trust of their masters because they study precisely how to please them and benefit themselves, and in order to achieve that, they will neglect the well-being of their masters.
Selfish wisdom is distorted in many ways. That is the wisdom that The bark, which will surely leave the house just before it collapses. This is the wisdom of the fox that drives the badger out of the burrow he himself dug and made for himself. This is the wisdom of the crocodile that sheds tears when it wants to devour. But what is particularly worth noting is that those who, as Cicero says of Pompey, are sui amantes, sine rivali (selfish lovers, without equal) are often unhappy. And while sacrificing themselves their whole lives, in the end, they themselves become victims of the impermanence of happiness, whose wings they thought they had trimmed with their selfish cunningness.