The moral qualities of the man, the base foundations upon which he raised his power, the unutterable scandals of his private life, and the hatred of all Christendom were as nothing in the balance.

Such considerations had, according to the conditions of his subject, to be eliminated before he weighed the intellectual qualities of the adventurer.

'If all the achievements of the Duke are considered'-- it is Machiavelli speaking--'it will be found that he built up a great substructure for his future power; nor do I know what precepts I could furnish to a prince in his commencement better than such as are to be derived from his example.' It is thus that Machiavelli, the citizen, addresses Lorenzo, the tyrant of Florence.

He says to him: Go thou and do likewise.

And what, then, is this likewise?
Cesare, being a Pope's son, had nothing to look to but the influence of his father.