of the faith of a prince, and how far he ought to keep it.
King Lewis therefore lost Lombardy by not having observed any of the precautions taken by those who have seized upon any sovereignty in which they wished to maintain themselves. Nothing is less miraculous than this event; on the contrary, nothing is more natural, more common, or more likely to happen. It was thus that I explained myself on this point to Cardinal D'Ambọise when Valentino (as the son of Pope Alexander was commonly called) occupied Romania. This Cardinal telling me that the Italians did not. know how to make war, I answered him, that the French knew nothing of politics, because if they. had, they would never have suffered the church to arrive at that state of greatness. Experience had proved that the increase of that power and that of Spain in Italy had been entirely owing to France, and that her ruin in that country was solely to be attribuțed to the same cause. From whence we may draw this general rule, which will never or very rarely fail, that the prince who procures the elevation of another power ruins his own. This new power is the offspring of address or force, and both those means mușt be viewed with, suspicion by him who has become powerful.
