ABSTRACT
Machiavelli was fully aware of the political superiority of rulers who are good in the moral sense. The policy of alliances which he outlines—and the obligation of treaties is a fertile field of Machiavellian statecraft —varies little from that which a follower of Machiavelli might maintain, except that Johannes Althusius would exclude a foedus with infidels. Because Machiavelli noted these forms of interplay between religion and politics, and indeed stressed the vital role of religion for politics, he has been misinterpreted as believing that this political function was the only value of religion. Reason of state is often interpreted as merely the rationality of politics. The notion of rationality may, however, in the sense of reasonableness, be made to cover the other two alternatives; for habit and tradition involve implicit reasoning, while adventure and play have their place in many human situations, where they may be defended as entirely "within reason.".
