DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36839#0326
288 COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
memorate the triumph of the Christians over the
Moors, then in all its pristine splendour. As they
rode side by side, Charles conversed freely with his
companion, and the Count made use of this oppor-
tunity to urge His Majesty to lose no time in
executing his kindly intentions towards the Pope
and the Duke of Milan. On New Year's Day the
Emperor sent for him again; but the Count was
in bed with a return of fever, and remained unable
to attend to business for several weeks.
But persistent rumours reached the court that the
Pope and other Italian powers were about to make
war on the Emperor, and deprive him, not only of
Milan, but of Naples. This disturbed Castiglione so
much that he took the bold and unprecedented step
of addressing an appeal to the Pope himself, begging
His Holiness to pause before it was too late, and
consider the awful risk of waging war on so powerful
a monarch :
' MOST HOLY FATHER,
' When Your Holiness deigned to choose me
to serve you in Spain on this important mission, I
ventured to think that you recognised in me, beside
the wish to serve you, greater powers than I pos-
sessed. Encouraged by your confidence, and trust-
ing more to your judgment than to my own, I have
sometimes dared to tell you my opinion of affairs.
And since I have not thought this to be wrong in the
past, I feel it to be much less the case now, when nego-
tiations are in so confused a state that it will be hard
to disentangle them for a very long time. Therefore I
beg Your Holiness humbly to forgive me, and attri-
bute this presumption on my part to pure zeal for your
service, protesting that, after having told you my
opinion, I will never cease to bow my will to that of
memorate the triumph of the Christians over the
Moors, then in all its pristine splendour. As they
rode side by side, Charles conversed freely with his
companion, and the Count made use of this oppor-
tunity to urge His Majesty to lose no time in
executing his kindly intentions towards the Pope
and the Duke of Milan. On New Year's Day the
Emperor sent for him again; but the Count was
in bed with a return of fever, and remained unable
to attend to business for several weeks.
But persistent rumours reached the court that the
Pope and other Italian powers were about to make
war on the Emperor, and deprive him, not only of
Milan, but of Naples. This disturbed Castiglione so
much that he took the bold and unprecedented step
of addressing an appeal to the Pope himself, begging
His Holiness to pause before it was too late, and
consider the awful risk of waging war on so powerful
a monarch :
' MOST HOLY FATHER,
' When Your Holiness deigned to choose me
to serve you in Spain on this important mission, I
ventured to think that you recognised in me, beside
the wish to serve you, greater powers than I pos-
sessed. Encouraged by your confidence, and trust-
ing more to your judgment than to my own, I have
sometimes dared to tell you my opinion of affairs.
And since I have not thought this to be wrong in the
past, I feel it to be much less the case now, when nego-
tiations are in so confused a state that it will be hard
to disentangle them for a very long time. Therefore I
beg Your Holiness humbly to forgive me, and attri-
bute this presumption on my part to pure zeal for your
service, protesting that, after having told you my
opinion, I will never cease to bow my will to that of