the spiritual, thus giving it great authority.
Camoens mentions the Church with honor appropriate for a Christian nation, but he places the King and the country on at least an equal footing with religious powers. He writes of the explorer who is
sent by God to strike terror into Moslem hearts and to win for the faith vast new regions of earth. You are sprung from a royal line more dear to God than any other in the West, even though it may not be styled 'Imperial' or 'Most Christian'" the proof is in your coat-of-arms, recalling his appearance in the victorious field of Ourique.
In analyzing the two books, then, we must read with awareness of the religious requirements under which Camoens wrote, requirements which Machiavelli was under no obligation to follow. Machiavelli's book was written with one purpose in mind--giving Italian leaders or would-be leaders the most practical steps possible for achieving and maintaining power, with no other consideration but that power.
Camoens, on the other hand, was writing of explorers who were hardly hampered in their exploits by any connection with the Church. To the contrary, their claims of faith meant that they would be sponsored and supported by the King of such a Christian country. There was no need, therefore, for Camoens to denigrate or ignore the role of
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