In discussing the lack of principles in the conduct of international treaties and alliances, Hythloday is indulging in patent irony. His suggestion that Christian nations could serve as sterling examples of adherence to their pledged oaths could not be taken literally by anyone familiar with European politics of the period. The rules by which most governments operated were those set down in Machiavelli’s contemporary work The Prince; in that work, such unedifying principles as these are enunciated: the rule among nations is dog-eat-dog; the end justifies the means; keep your pledge only so long as it suits your purpose to do so; lying, stealing, and murder are sins in the lives of ordinary men, but they are necessary in the conduct of politics.
More abhorred these practices but was honest enough to admit their prevalence. These considerations must have aroused his misgivings when he was deliberating about entering the government.
