He went beyond and outside of them, employing princely alliances as the means to his ends.

Gandia was a duke in Spain; Giuffredo a prince in Naples, and Cesare a duke in France.

For none of these could it be said that territories had been filched from Rome, whilst the alliances made for them were such as tended to strengthen the power of the Pope, and, therefore, of the Church.
The reconsolidation of the States of the Church, the recovery of her full temporal power, which his predecessors had so grievously dissipated, had ever been Alexander's aim; Louis XII afforded him, at last, his opportunity, since with French aid the thing now might be attempted.
His son Cesare was the Hercules to whom was to be given the labour of cleaning out the Augean stable of the Romagna.
That Alexander may have been single-minded in his purpose has never been supposed.

It might, indeed, be to suppose too much; and the general assumption that, from the outset, his chief aim was to found a powerful State for his son may be accepted.

But let us at least remember that such had been the aims of several Popes before him.