Machiavelli was not zealous for the doctrines of Christianity so much as for the decencies of an established religion.

In one passage of the _Discorsi_ he even pronounces his opinion that the Christian faith compared with the creeds of antiquity, had enfeebled national spirit.[1] Privately, moreover, he was himself stained with the moral corruption which he publicly condemned.

Guicciardini, again, in the passage before us, openly avows his egotism.

Keen-sighted as they were in theory, these politicians suffered in their own lives from that gangrene which had penetrated the upper classes of Italy to the marrow.
Their patriotism and their desire for righteousness were not strong enough to make them relinquish the pleasure and the profit they derived from the existing state of things.

Nor had they the energy or the opportunity to institute a thorough revolution.