[134] It is not out of fear that I refrain from giving the names of the German princes who appear in this work, but because, having discovered the secret springs of their actions, I should too often have to contradict their lying, flattering, ignorant historians; and men who willingly allow themselves to be deceived, might perhaps doubt the truth of my assertions. Hercules himself could not clear away all the ordure which these historians have heaped up.—Original.[249] See TaxÆ CancellariÆ ApostolicÆ, &c., printed at Rome and Paris.