How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
[...] and seek out
foreign friends, glad to know
that they shed blood and sell their souls for money? (60-62)
With friends like these, Petrarch seems to say, who needs enemies? And it works both ways: what kind of people are these Italian nobles, who have no problem betraying their own people and then buying friends that they know will die senseless deaths? It's a lose-lose.
Quote #5
With all the proof are you not yet aware
of the Bavarian treason
which with hand raised makes death into a game? (65-67)
Petrarch reminds the nobility that it's a bad idea to hire Germans to fight their wars, since they have a major grudge against the Italians because of a centuries-old massacre—bad choice of friends.
Quote #6
The shame seems worse to me than the actual loss.
But you let your blood flow
more generously, for other anger whips you. (68-70)
Not only are the nobility willing to spill the blood of foreigners and their neighbors, they're also willing to waste their own lives in the pursuit of strength and money. It's all a game to these guys, who value nothing but power.