Diplomacy is "the patriotic art

of lying for one's country" according to the definition in the Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce. 

Like so many other definitions in that dictionary it has more than a grain of truth in it.  No doubt Bierce was aware of the other definition by Henry Wotton -

"An ambassador is an honest gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country." (Wotton was on a mission to Augsburg in 1604 when he said that - and has probably been misquoted ever since.) 

That also has a grain of truth in it.

I have been thinking about both definitions for some days now. The diplomatic service is something I know a little about, not much but I do know a little. I know something about it because one of the Senior Cat's cousins ended his career being responsible for the diplomatic service in Downunder.  His "bible" on what should and should not be done and how it should or should not be done is still in use - and will probably continue to be used for some time to come. B... and his wife often had to entertain diverse groups of people. It wasn't easy.

I saw some of this at first hand on the occasions I was invited  to their home in the nation's capital. I was doing law at the university there at the time. B...'s wife, P.... would phone and say, "Cat, are you free? Do you have time to come and help?"

I knew what she meant. They invited me more than once simply to relax and enjoy myself but on other occasions it would be because there would be people, usually women, who needed to be entertained while the other guests networked. Some of the women, indeed many of them, were highly intelligent and able women in their own right. They often had careers of their own. Even so they expected to meet and talk with other people. B... knew I was not just studying but working on things which might interest them. 

And then there were the, thankfully much smaller, group of women who were much less interested in all of that. They were often bored  by the occasions their husbands had to attend.They did not have careers of their own. Some of them were women who had gone from school to "finishing school" and who had never been expected to work. They had servants to do everything for them in their home countries and regarded the lack of multiple servants in this country as an insult.  

P... could do amazing things with those women. She was able to pretend that their talk about the "difficulty of getting staff" and their children was the most fascinating thing in the world. She was the most convincing of liars as she listened, agreed, asked questions, admired and more.

I know I never succeeded in all that. I was happy to talk with women who were doctors, bankers, linguists, university lecturers, musicians, administrators and more.  I tried to be the same but it was much harder. P... would just smile at me and say, "Ah, but I have been doing this for many years."

I still wonder how she succeeded in doing what she did. How could she lie so successfully? She was a very honest woman in all other respects but she lied absolutely convincingly in those social situations. Apparently patriots learn to lie not just about their country but in support of it.  That really is an art.