rld of slothful, self-seeking,
supine cowards, Agostino. In the Emperor, at least, I conceived that we
should have found a man who would not be averse to acting boldly where
his interests must be served. More I had not expected of him; but that,
at least. And even in that he fails me. Oh, this Charles V!" he cried.
"This prince upon whose dominions the sun never sets! Fortune has
bestowed upon him all the favours in her gift, yet for himself he can do
nothing.

"He is crafty, cruel, irresolute, and mistrustful of all. He is without
greatness of any sort, and he is all but Emperor of the World! Others
must do his work for him; others must compass the conquests which he is
to enjoy.

"Ah, well!" he ended, with a sneer, "perhaps as the world views these
things there is a certain greatness in that--the greatness of the fox."

Naturally there was much in this upon which I needed explanation, and I
made bold to intrude upon his anger to crave it. And it was then that I
learnt the true position of affairs.

Between France and the Empire, the State of Milan had been in contention
until quite lately, when Henri II had abandoned it to Charles V. And
in the State of Milan were the States of Parma and Piacenza, which Pope
Julius II had wrested from it and incorporated in the domain of the
Church. The act, however, was unlawful, and although these States
had ever since been under Pontifical rule, it was to Milan that they
belonged, though Milan never yet had had the power to enforce her
rights. She had that power at last, now that the Emperor's rule there
was a thing determined, and it was in this moment that papal nepotism
was to make a further alienation of them by constituting them into
a duchy for the Farnese bastard, Pier Luigi, who was already Duke of
Castro.

Under papal rule the nobles--more particularly the ghibellines--and
the lesser tyrants of the Val di Taro had suffered rudely, plundered by
Pontifical brigandage, enduring confiscations and extortions until they
were reduced to a miserable condition. It was against the beginnings of
this that my father had raised his standard, to be crushed thorough the
supineness of his peers, who would not support him to save themselves
from being consumed in the capacious maw of Rome.

But what they had suffered hitherto would be as nothing to what they
must suffer if the Pope now had his way and if Pier Luigi Farnese were
to become their duke--an independent prince. He would b