" Whereupon Paul had undertaken
in earnest the work which he conscientiously believed to be the highest
duty of a sovereign pontiff, had recalled all nuncios not in full
sympathy with his views of aggrandizement, and had replaced them with
envoys whose notions of authority were echoes of his own; and, as an
opening move, had made the demand, so resented by Venice, that the new
Patriarch Vendramin should be sent to Rome for examination before he
could be allowed to take possession of his prelacy.
"But what hath Venice to fear from a Pope who is paralyzed for the first
two months of his reign by a reading of a horoscope!" exclaimed one of
the company scornfully.
"Nay, then," said Donato, who had seen much of the world; "it is a petty
superstition of the age; it is not the fault of the man, who hath
sterling qualities. And by that same potency of credulity have his fears
been set at rest. It is a proof of weakness to undervalue the strength
of an adversary--for so at least he hath recently declared himself on
this question of temporal power, by his petty aggressions and triumphs
in Malta, Parma, Lucca, and Genoa.
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