Hätte er nicht den päpstlichen Stuhl so mächtig gemacht, und die Spanier nicht hereingerufen, so war es vernünftig und nothwendig, die Venezianer zu erniedrigen. Aber nachdem in jenes Erstere eingewilligt worden, durfte das Letztere nicht geschehen; denn so lange die Venezianer mächtig waren, hätten sie immer die Andern abgehalten, die Lombardei anzufallen. Sie hätten darin nie unter andrer Bedingung eingewilligt, als daß das Land ihnen selbst überliefert würde; die Andern hätten es aber nie den Franzosen nehmen mögen, um es den Venezianern zu geben, und beide zugleich zu bekriegen, hätte man nicht gewagt.
Which errors, had he lived, were not enough to injure him had he not made a sixth by taking away their dominions from the Venetians; because, had he not aggrandized the Church, nor brought Spain into Italy, it would have been very reasonable and necessary to humble them; but having first taken these steps, he ought never to have consented to their ruin, for they, being powerful, would always have kept off others from designs on Lombardy, to which the Venetians would never have consented except to become masters themselves there; also because the others would not wish to take Lombardy from France in order to give it to the Venetians, and to run counter to both they would not have had the courage.