DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36839#0170
142 COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
him to impress on the said Don Juan how important
it is for His Csesarean Majesty that V. E. should
be able to defend the States of the Church. He
promised me to do this, and will, I am sure, keep his
word.'i
But with the best will in the world it was impossible
to find the necessary money, and the three Cardinals,
Carvajal, Schinner, and Cornaro, who were entrusted
with the management of affairs, were reduced to
pawn the priceless tapestries designed by Raphael,
and the silver apostles which adorned the altar of the
Sistine Chapel. Cardinal de' Medici left by sea for
Florence, fearing to fall into the Duke of Urbino's
hands if he travelled by land. Cardinal Gonzaga
returned to Mantua, and all the Cardinals and
prelates who could find an excuse left Rome to
seek shelter in their dioceses. Others went to
Spain to wait on the new Pope, who was as
much surprised at his own election as anyone ; and
during the next fortnight so many thousands took
their departure that the Cardinals issued a proclama-
tion forbidding anyone else to leave the city. In
fact, this election, wrote Cavalier Zorzi, has had the
same effect as a violent hurricane in a field of wheat,
and Rome is left stricken and desolated
That winter was a dismal one for Castiglione. Few
of his friends remained in Rome. Canossa was in
France, Sadoleto left Rome for his diocese of Car-
pentras, and Bembo thanked his stars that he had
retired to his Paduan villa in the previous summer.
There were no carnival fetes, no musical evenings
at the palace, no pleasant suppers and literary dis-
cussions at Colocci's villa or in Sadoletos rooms.
* Serassi, 'Neg.,' i. 6, 7. 2 ganuto, xxxii. 383, 417.
him to impress on the said Don Juan how important
it is for His Csesarean Majesty that V. E. should
be able to defend the States of the Church. He
promised me to do this, and will, I am sure, keep his
word.'i
But with the best will in the world it was impossible
to find the necessary money, and the three Cardinals,
Carvajal, Schinner, and Cornaro, who were entrusted
with the management of affairs, were reduced to
pawn the priceless tapestries designed by Raphael,
and the silver apostles which adorned the altar of the
Sistine Chapel. Cardinal de' Medici left by sea for
Florence, fearing to fall into the Duke of Urbino's
hands if he travelled by land. Cardinal Gonzaga
returned to Mantua, and all the Cardinals and
prelates who could find an excuse left Rome to
seek shelter in their dioceses. Others went to
Spain to wait on the new Pope, who was as
much surprised at his own election as anyone ; and
during the next fortnight so many thousands took
their departure that the Cardinals issued a proclama-
tion forbidding anyone else to leave the city. In
fact, this election, wrote Cavalier Zorzi, has had the
same effect as a violent hurricane in a field of wheat,
and Rome is left stricken and desolated
That winter was a dismal one for Castiglione. Few
of his friends remained in Rome. Canossa was in
France, Sadoleto left Rome for his diocese of Car-
pentras, and Bembo thanked his stars that he had
retired to his Paduan villa in the previous summer.
There were no carnival fetes, no musical evenings
at the palace, no pleasant suppers and literary dis-
cussions at Colocci's villa or in Sadoletos rooms.
* Serassi, 'Neg.,' i. 6, 7. 2 ganuto, xxxii. 383, 417.