"That it is important to have a great consideration for religion—The ruin of Italy, through the intrigues of the Court of Rome, in consequence of having neglected this maxim.
"Those princes and republics who wish to maintain themselves free from all corruption, ought, above all things, to preserve religion in its purity, and respect the sanctity of its ceremonies; for there is not so sure a sign of the ruin of a state as the contempt of divine worship. This is easy to. comprehend, when we ascertain the base on which the religion of a country is founded.
"In fact, every form of religion has a principal point on which the whole system turns and is supported. The religion of the Gentiles was founded on the responses of the oracles, and on the sect of augurs and aruspices. On these all their other ceremonies, sacrifices, rites, &c. entirely depended. They readily believed that the
