Страница 16 из 310

Then could the Venetians realize the rashness of the course taken

by them, which, in order that they might secure two towns in

Lombardy, had made the king master of two-thirds of Italy.

Let any one now consider with what little difficulty the king

could have maintained his position in Italy had he observed the

rules above laid down, and kept all his friends secure and

protected; for although they were numerous they were both weak

and timid, some afraid of the Church, some of the Venetians, and

thus they would always have been forced to stand in with him, and

by their means he could easily have made himself secure against

those who remained powerful. But he was no sooner in Milan than

he did the contrary by assisting Pope Alexander to occupy the

Romagna. It never occurred to him that by this action he was

weakening himself, depriving himself of friends and of those who

had thrown themselves into his lap, whilst he aggrandized the

Church by adding much temporal power to the spiritual, thus

giving it greater authority.