"The Gonzaga were a tolerably harmonious family; for a long period of time no murder had been known among them and their dead could be shown to the world without fear…That Francesco, either as a statesmen or a soldier, should adopt a policy of exceptional honesty was what neither the Emperor, nor Venice; nor the King of France could have expected or desired."
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Jacob Burckhardt, The State as a Work of Art, Penguin Great Ideas #90, p. 43.
I LOVE the Italian Renaissance. Note Burckhardt’s nuance w/r/t the relative morality of murder in principle vs. being caught for murder. Oh yah, homeboy was a part of the ‘Holy League’ and lover of Lucrezia Borgia the illegitimate daughter (Q.E.D) of Rodrigo Borgia, AKA Pople Alexander VI, and sister of Ceasar Borgia
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