"I have already began to sound the cardinals, and, for that purpose, two
or three hundred thousand ducats would be of great service to me, as
their partiality to me is very great. The King of Arragon has ordered
his ambassadors to assure me that he will command the Spanish cardinals
to favor my pretensions to the papacy. I intreat you to keep this matter
secret for the present, though I am afraid it will soon be known, for it
is impossible to carry on a business secretly for which it is necessary
to gain over so many persons, and to have so much money. Adieu. Written
with the hand of your dear father Maximilian, future pope. The pope's
fever has increased, and he can not live long."
It is painful to follow out the windings of intrigue and the labyrinths
of guile, where selfishness seemed to actuate every heart, and where all
alike seem destitute of any principle of Christian integrity. Bad as the
world is now, and selfish as political aspirants are now, humanity has
made immense progress since that dark age of superstition, fraud and
violence. After many victories and many defeats, after innumerable
fluctuations of guile, Maximilian accepted a bribe, and withdrew his
forces, and the King of France was summoned home by the invasion of his
own territories by the King of Arragon and Henry VIII.
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