Pagina 18 van 310

The wish to acquire is in truth very natural and common, and men

always do so when they can, and for this they will be praised not

blamed; but when they cannot do so, yet wish to do so by any

means, then there is folly and blame. Therefore, if France could

have attacked Naples with her own forces she ought to have done

so; if she could not, then she ought not to have divided it. And

if the partition which she made with the Venetians in Lombardy

was justified by the excuse that by it she got a foothold in

Italy, this other partition merited blame, for it had not the

excuse of that necessity.