Cesare Borgia played his highest stakes for it.
Leo X.dreamed of it for his family.

Machiavelli, at the end of the _Principe_, when the tragedy of Italy was almost accomplished, invoked it.

But even for this last chance of unification it was now too late.
The great nations of Europe were in movement, and the destinies of Italy depended upon France and Spain.

When Charles V.remained victor in the struggle of the sixteenth century, he stereotyped and petrified the divisions of Italy in the interest of his own dynastic policy.

The only Italian power that remained unchangeable throughout all changes was the Papacy--the first to emerge into prominence after the decay of the old Western Empire, the last to suffer diminution in spite of vicissitudes, humiliations, schisms, and internal transformation.