DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36839#0385
THE PLAGUE IN ROME
348
leaders as a hostage in the following December, and
taken to Naples, where he remained more than a year
in captivity.
The most lamentable accounts of the state of Rome
and of the misery to which the Pope and Cardinals were
reduced, arrived in Spain by every post. Perez him-
self wept at the sight of the pitiable condition in
which he found His Holiness when he went to the
Castello to receive the Pope's capitulation. The
soldiers were masters of the city. They paid no
obedience to their officers and showed no respect of
persons, but treated all with the same insolence.
People died of hunger in the streets by hundreds,
and before the end of June there was a violent out-
break of the plague, to which many of the prisoners
in the Castello fell victims. Among these was the
brave Abbot of Najera, one of the ablest and best of
the Emperor's servants. In his anxiety to help the
Pope, he had gone to and fro between the Castello
and the head-quarters of the generals in the Vatican,
at the imminent risk of his life; but in the midst
of his exertions he was struck down by the plague,
and died at the beginning of July/
The arrival of Castiglione's chaplain early in Sep-
tember.brought the first gleam of hope to the unhappy
Pontiff, who wept tears of joy as he read the nuncio's
letters, and in his gratitude promised Pastorello the
first vacant bishopric.^ Clement now decided to
send one of the Cardinals to Spain. But Farnese,
who was chosen for the office, and allowed to leave
the Castello on this plea, only travelled as far as
Mantua, and pleaded ill-health as an excuse for
abandoning the journey. Salviati, whom the Pope
desired to take his place, also declined the perilous
i Gayangos, iii., part ii., 387. 2 395.
348
leaders as a hostage in the following December, and
taken to Naples, where he remained more than a year
in captivity.
The most lamentable accounts of the state of Rome
and of the misery to which the Pope and Cardinals were
reduced, arrived in Spain by every post. Perez him-
self wept at the sight of the pitiable condition in
which he found His Holiness when he went to the
Castello to receive the Pope's capitulation. The
soldiers were masters of the city. They paid no
obedience to their officers and showed no respect of
persons, but treated all with the same insolence.
People died of hunger in the streets by hundreds,
and before the end of June there was a violent out-
break of the plague, to which many of the prisoners
in the Castello fell victims. Among these was the
brave Abbot of Najera, one of the ablest and best of
the Emperor's servants. In his anxiety to help the
Pope, he had gone to and fro between the Castello
and the head-quarters of the generals in the Vatican,
at the imminent risk of his life; but in the midst
of his exertions he was struck down by the plague,
and died at the beginning of July/
The arrival of Castiglione's chaplain early in Sep-
tember.brought the first gleam of hope to the unhappy
Pontiff, who wept tears of joy as he read the nuncio's
letters, and in his gratitude promised Pastorello the
first vacant bishopric.^ Clement now decided to
send one of the Cardinals to Spain. But Farnese,
who was chosen for the office, and allowed to leave
the Castello on this plea, only travelled as far as
Mantua, and pleaded ill-health as an excuse for
abandoning the journey. Salviati, whom the Pope
desired to take his place, also declined the perilous
i Gayangos, iii., part ii., 387. 2 395.