Note 194 — Chapter XI
Reading edition
Compare his speech to Caterina (act ii. 5) with his dialogue with Margherita (act iii. 4) and his final discourse on charity and repentance (act iii. 6). The irony of these words, "Certamente, Amerigo, che voi potete vantarvi d'aver la più saggia e casta giovane, non vo' dir di Fiorenza ma di tutto 'l mondo," pronounced before Caterina a couple of hours after her seduction, fixes the measure of Machiavelli's cynicism.