time of need with
heaven. Yet there were not wanting profound thinkers who traced the
national decay of the Italians to the corruption of the Church. Among
these Machiavelli stands foremost. In a celebrated passage of the
_Discorsi_,[1] after treating the whole subject of the connection
between good government and religion, he breaks forth into this fiery
criticism of the Papacy: 'Had the religion of Christianity been
preserved according to the ordinances of its founder, the states and
commonwealths of Christendom would have been far more united and far
happier than they are. Nor is it possible to form a better estimate of
its decay than by observing that, in proportion as we approach nearer to
the Roman Church, the head of this religion, we find less piety prevail
among the nations. Considering the primitive constitution of that
Church, and noting how diverse are its present customs, we are forced to
judge that without doubt either ruin or a scourge is now impending over
it. And since some men are of opinion that the welfare of Italy depends
upon the Church, I wish to put forth such arguments as occur to my mind
to the contrary; and of these I will adduce two, which, as I think, are
irrefutable. The first is this: that owing to the evil ensample of the
Papal Court, Italy has lost all piety and all religion: whence follow
infinite troubles and disorders; for as religion implies all good, so
its absence implies the contrary. Consequently, to the Church and
priests of Rome we Italians owe this obligation first--that we have
become void of religion and corrupt. But we also owe them another, even
greater, which is the cause of our ruin. I mean that the Church has
maintained and still maintains Italy divided. Of a truth no province
ever was united and prosperous, unless it were reduced beneath the sway
of one republic or one monarch, as is the case with France and Spain.
And the reason why Italy is not in this condition, but has neither
commonwealth nor monarch for her head, is none other than the Church:
for the Church, established in our midst and exercising a temporal
authority, has never had the force or vigor to extend its sway over the
whole country and to become the ruling power in Italy. Nor on the other
hand has it been so feeble as not to be able, when afraid of losing its
temporalities, to call in a foreign potentate, as a counterpoise in its
defense against those powers which threatened to become supreme. Of the