Men are still the dupes of their simplicity and greed, as they were in the days of Alexander VI.

The cloak of religion still conceals the vices which Machiavelli laid bare in the character of Ferdinand of Aragon.
Men will not look at things as they really are, but as they wish them to be--and are ruined.

In politics there are no perfectly safe courses; prudence consists in choosing the least dangerous ones.

Then--to pass to a higher plane--Machiavelli reiterates that, although crimes may win an empire, they do not win glory.

Necessary wars are just wars, and the arms of a nation are hallowed when it has no other resource but to fight.
It is the cry of a far later day than Machiavelli's that government should be elevated into a living moral force, capable of inspiring the people with a just recognition of the fundamental principles of society; to this "high argument" "The Prince" contributes but little.