The first is, that, through the ill example of the Roman Court, the country has lost all religious feeling and devoutness, a loss which draws after it infinite mischiefs and disorders; for as the presence of religion implies every excellence, so the contrary is involved in its absence.

To the Church, therefore, and to the priests, we Italians owe this first debt, that through them we have become wicked and irreligious.

And a still greater debt we owe them for what is the immediate cause of our ruin, namely, that by the Church our country is kept divided.

For no country was ever united or prosperous which did not yield obedience to some one prince or commonwealth, as has been the case with France and Spain.

And the Church is the sole cause why Italy stands on a different footing, and is subject to no one king or commonwealth.