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[4] "Contrary to fidelity" or "faith," "contro alla fede," and

"tutto fede," "altogether faithful," in the next paragraph. It is

noteworthy that these two phrases, "contro alla fede" and "tutto

fede," were omitted in the Testina edition, which was published

with the sanction of the papal authorities. It may be that the

meaning attached to the word "fede" was "the faith," i.e. the

Catholic creed, and not as rendered here "fidelity" and

"faithful." Observe that the word "religione" was suffered to

stand in the text of the Testina, being used to signify

indifferently every shade of belief, as witness "the religion," a

phrase inevitably employed to designate the Huguenot heresy.

South in his Sermon IX, p. 69, ed. 1843, comments on this passage

as follows: "That great patron and Coryphaeus of this tribe,

Nicolo Machiavel, laid down this for a master rule in his

political scheme: 'That the show of religion was helpful to the

politician, but the reality of it hurtful and pernicious.'"