صفحة 217 من 310

And it is not to be wondered at if none of the above-named

Italians have been able to accomplish all that is expected from

your illustrious house; and if in so many revolutions in Italy,

and in so many campaigns, it has always appeared as if military

virtue were exhausted, this has happened because the old order of

things was not good, and none of us have known how to find a new

one. And nothing honours a man more than to establish new laws

and new ordinances when he himself was newly risen. Such things

when they are well founded and dignified will make him revered

and admired, and in Italy there are not wanting opportunities to

bring such into use in every form.