all Europe as for the City of Rome I promise thee another Work much more worthy thy curiosity and sit for any body that hath a publick Employment which is Il Cardinalismo a Work which speaking in general only of that Dignity doth yet nevertheless now and then descend to particulars In a word I call the Cardinalismo and the Nipotismo Brothers but the Cardinalismo is the eldest because first conceived by me in a moneth it will be Printed if thou wilt have it thou mayest and I can assure you it will please you infinitely Farewell Il Nipotismo di Roma OR THE HISTORY OF THE POPE'S NEPHEWS The First Part. The FIRST BOOK The Contents IN which is treated of the difference that there is between the ancient and New Rome Of the manner of Governing of the ancient Romans And of the manner of the Popes governing Of the murmurs of the Gentiles Hereticks and Catholicks against the Church of Rome and the Popes How to come to the knowledg 〈◊〉 the present state of Rome by the said murmurs Of the time in which people began to talk ill of the Popes and of the cause of this their libertie Of the Popes firâ—t bringing their kindred into Rome Of the Infallibility of the Popes in admitting their kindred to the Government of the State of the Church Of the causes that ruin'd the old Roman Commonwealth and of those that lessen the Honour and Grandeur of the Church of Rome Why Christ chose to be Born in a time of Peace Of the Succession of Peter to Christ. Of the Apostles to Peter and of the Popes to the Apostles Of the Holiness of Church-men in the primitive Church Why the vertue of doing Miracles is failed in the Popes Why for many Ages the Popes Kindred did not much care to own their Relation to him How the Church came first to be so Rich. Of the Court of Rome Of the Politick Wit of Church-men Of the advantage that Politicians gain in frequenting Rome And of some particular maximes of Innocent the Tenth which were of utility to himself ROME alone amongst all the other Cities of the World can brag of the reputation of having been alwayes esteemed the Mother of Nations the whole Universe having almost alwayes taken a pride in paying to her a Tribute of filial Duties in acknowledgment of which she has also opened her breasts and pressed her Duggs for the nourishment of those who desired to encrease by their obedience to Her and be free from those dangers to which they are subject that have not Parents or powerful Protectors The glories of Rome were never equalled no more then Rome it self Rome hath been seen in all the Cities of the World not only commanding but triumphing and in Rome have been seen at divers times not only Cities but whole Provinces nay whole Kingdomes obeying and submitting Rome seems to be born to rule the World and with a great deal of reason since not only it hath done but doth still exerce its Empire over a great part of it It ruled while it was a Commonwealth and not content with that Empire which nature or to say better the valour of its Citizens had purchased for it it proposed to acquire all that it could think on and still the acquisitions seemed small in comparison of that which remained to be acquired It rul'd in the time of the Roman Emperours who made Lawes and domineered over mankind as they pleased nay which was worse tyranny it self came often from Rome to infect the rest of the Universe which was subject to this seat of Tyrants But why should we recall past Ages and renew those wounds which though not healed are nevertheless worn out by the length of time why should we praise Rome for having ruled the World if now at this present it rules it more then ever and domineers over it in a new manner In the time of the Commonwealth in the time of the Emperours Rome never pretended to command consciences and exact from soules that Tribute which now they pay to the Vatican Every City had its Bishop every Village its Curate and every Church its Preacher who in his Sermons did not make it his business to exalt Rome neither did the Bishop nor the Curate expect the rules of governing their flock from Rome But now quite contrary maximes have prevailed for Rome not content with the temporal power hath perverted the order of Government and made the temporal submit to the spiritual contrary to the received custome of so many Ages If the Commonwealth subdued Nations if the Roman Emperours commanded over kingdomes they did it in such a manner that those that obeyed seemed to have had more content then those that commanded for they let them enjoy the liberty of their souls and required only from them a Civil Obedience in compliance with the interest of the State But the Popes having confounded and mingled together the temporal and spiritual power laying the stress upon the spiritual do oblige Princes and people to so exact an obedience that the only mention of it is able to scare our hearts and minds The Popes shutting of Paradise and Heaven when they please their opening of Hell when they think good are things that oblige whole Nations to forget the Obedience due to their natural Princes and to prostrate themselves at his Holinesses his feet The Commonwealth which ruled with so much wisdome and Policie the Emperours who governed with the strength of Arms and the Tyrants who domineered with cruelty had they but known these secret maximes might have humbled Nations and reduced Cities with a great deal less paines and more security The Popes having being armed with the Soveraigne Authority over consciences have so increased the glories of Rome that there is scarce a corner in Europe not a place in Asia not a desart in Africa nor a hidden solitude in America where the name of the Pope hath not penetrated and where there is not some discourse of Rome The Gentiles praise the Popes and despise Rome the Hereticks praise Rome and despise the Popes and the Catholicks despise both Rome and Popes with a greater though secreter disdain then either the Gentiles or the Hereticks of which I shall give the reasons The Pagans attribute all the mischief of Rome to that great number of Church-men with which this City is pestred The Hereticks on the other side lay all the Church-mens disorders upon the Pope and therefore the Hereticks are willing enough to be reconcil'd to Rome but by no means will endure the Pope The Pagans on the contrary are content to be friends with the Pope but not with Rome This proceeds from the distinctions that the Heathens make in the person of the Popes separating the spiritual from the temporal and Religion from Civil Government therefore in the time of Sixtus the V. and Gregory the XV. the Persians and Japponeses sent their Ambassador to Rome taking no small pride in the
Sacristan has drunk some of it before him So that it is evident That the Popes do use many more preventions than any other Prince Now if it be thus with them can they do better than to call about them their proper Kindred into whose hands they may commit their Persons Who will take a greater care of their preservation than they who hope for Riches and Honour to their Family And who will take the pains to contribute to the lasting of any Empire but he that has the greatest share in the enjoyments of it Those Popes who at first seemed averse from their Relations having in a small time come to know the difficulty of their own preservation in the hands of Strangers have immediately called them to Rome and thrown themselves into their Arms as a place of Refuge against so many who had an interest to destroy them and by all sorts of Favours sought to make it their Kindreds Interest to love and take care of them It may be that Urban the Eighth who lived 23 Years Pope had not attained to half that Age if the Barberins had not used all imaginable means to prolong his life which else would have been plotted against by both Princes and private persons But no body durst undertake that which seemed impossible And without doubt the care they took of him did exceed the desire he had of living for old age was become a burden to him at last Innocent the Tenth after the Design of getting the Kingdom of Naples from the Spaniard was discovered stood in perpetual fear lest to be revenged they should plot his death which it may be they had done if Donna Olympia had not taken the care to dress his Meat and feed him with her own hands and in acknowledgment of her kindness he would often say to her Sister do you take care of me and I 'le take care that the Popedom shall be yours Pius the Third of the Family of Picolomini of Siena had not died by poyson procured him by Pandolfo Petruccii Tyrant of the said place if he had had some of his Relations neer him whereupon he was forced to trust his life in Strangers hands and lose it miserably before he could see any of his Kindred about him Buthere some body will say That indeed it would not be amiss that the Pope should resign the care of his Person to his Kindred but not give them an unlimited Power over Church and State That it is fit they do not want necessaries but that he should not go about to content their insatiability To this we will answer in time and Place it is enough for the present to have proved That they are the most necessary Instruments of the Popes preservation And because the obligation of him that receives his life from another is infinite therefore the Popes do think that they cannot repay but by infinite Gifts and Favours Now we will pass to the third Reason which is The Reason of State The State or Politick Government of the Church is the most unfortunate and miserable in the World for it is neither Commonwealth nor Monarchy and as an ingenious Prelate said It is neither from God nor the Devil And the causes of its Misery are divers but particularly one is Because the Supreme Governour always dying without Heirs there is no body left to take pity of the grievances which are continually introduc'd by the Governours of Provinces who rule as they please Many compare all the Ecclesiastick State to a Town taken by an Enemy who being out of hopes to keep it any time falls to plundering and destroying it carrying away all that 's good and leaving to the poor Citizens nothing but the liberty of venting their complaints Just so do the Church-men who are in authority in one Pope's life for foreseeing that their power is like to expire with him and be resigned up to his Successor they make Hay while the Sun shines and use all manner of Extortions and Violences in their respective places for fear else of departing with their hands empty And the people are so far from obtaining redress from those that succeed them that they had rather be under the Government of their old Masters for the new ones come with intention to do as much if not worse than the others In the time of Francesco Maria della Rovere last Duke of Urbin his Creatures seeing him past hopes of having any Heirs and that after his death the Estate was like to fall to the Church as being a Feife of it they applyed themselves to make their advantage by all means that is they plunder'd and ruin'd it that they might leave it bare to the Church-men their Successors Particularly when they saw the Duke languishing in a decrepit Age they then bestirr'd themselves and flew about like so many Bees to suck the rest of the Honey But he hapning to live longer than they expected they were at a loss and had drained all the State so dry that they themselves were fain to sit and look upon the desolate condition of that Dukedom without being able to make it worse It came thus lean and impoverished into the Church-mens hands who for all they have such good Stomachs were fain to forbear eating for the first seven years till it had gathered a little flesh again and then they fell to devouring of it afresh and have since continued to do so no sooner perceiving it to be a little recruited but they extenuate it with Taxes Impositions and Extortions That which hapned once to the Dutchy of Urbin happens often to the whole state of the Church for as soon as the Governours and other subordinate Officers see the Pope drawing to his end and by consequence that their time of getting is also ready to expire every new Pope advancing new Creatures there is no sort of Violence Theft Robbery or Extortion that they do not commit in their respective charges which they no sooner resign to new Officers but that they who come in poor and must maintain the Decorum of their places invent some new way of vexing the poor people and enriching themselves giving afterwards a little respite to the people to breath in and by that time the Pope is a dying and then they fall on a fresh So that it appears that the Popedom being Elective and not Hereditary causes all these misfortunes to the State and people for this makes every body think of the present and none of the future there being no future amongst Church-men But if this inconveniency be great it would without doubt prove much more intolerable if the Popes had no Kindred to help them in the Government of the State and Church For though it seem that a Nipotismo is directly bent upon its own profit and advantage yet for divers reasons and respects they do preserve many places from ruine and many Subjects from oppression Whereas if the Pope were without them he would be forced
our wonted indifference and by saying all the ill and all the good that can be said of the Nipotismo perswade our Reader as it is true That we have no other Design than to relate freely and without interest its concerns Thus doing the Popes will have no reason to complain since the ill that is said will be recompensed by the good and the Romans or my other Readers will not tax the Author of partiality or flattery since he so freely writes all that comes to his knowledge for the instruction of the Publick Therefore we will treat in this Book of all the good and all the mischief that the Nephews of the Popes have done to the Church ever since Sixtus the Fourth Their good actions shall be set out that the Memory of the dead may be revived and due Honour given to the living that deserve it And their ill deeds shall not be forgotten that they may be hated by all Mankind and that the Nephews of the Popes to come hearing the blame they undergo may learn to esteem good actions and avoid ill ones But the greatest difficulty that I find in the execution of this my design will be how to separate the good Corn from the Tares For all that the Nipotismo does is thought good and just by them though never so wicked and the Romans on the contrary will scarce allow of any of their actions though never so virtuous Christ has often compared in his Gospel the Church to a Field and indeed it was a very fit Metaphor for like a Field it has always been either sowed or mowed and it is a hard matter to know whether the number of the Sowers does exceed that of the Mowers though their Employment be very different But certainly we may say That the Popes Nephews have always been the Mowers and the rest of Christian Princes the Sowers And as Princes have made no difficulty of taxing themselves and their Subjects and parting with the dearest fruits of their labours to give to the Church so the Pope's Nephews have made no scruple of dissipating and spending in their Pastimes and Pleasures that which Princes had spared out of their own Treasure for them What would Constantine Pepin Charlemagne the Countess Mathilda and so many other Princes say if they should come into the World again to see those Lands and Revenues which they so charitably gave to the Church divided and cast lots for as his Vestments Truly I think that they would now think it as a pious Work to take from the Church-men by force that which they had before given so willingly and this because they would deliver so many People from the intolerable oppression of these Nipotismo's And indeed their insatiability is such that the Church and the State ruined and spoiled as it is by so many hungry Nipotismo's would scarce suffice for their maintenance if Forreign Princes did not take a pride in enriching the Church by great Revenues which are all devoured by the hungry Nipotismo's who are very justly compared to the Hydra's Heads whereof one was no sooner cut off but there sprung seven worse and more envenomed in the place It is a kind of a Miracle to me to hear Princes murmur at the disorders the Nipotismo's commit in robbing the Church and perverting the use of its Riches And yet to see those very same Princes contribute out of their own Revenues and their Peoples Sweat and Labour towards the enriching of those that they blame I think it would be as great a piece of Justice to punish those that are robb'd as to chastise him that commits the Theft For if so the number of Thieves would diminish infinitely since every body then would take as much care in preserving as the Thief could use Art in stealing Whereas now every one relying upon the surety of the Publick Laws and the punishment that attends those that violate them does as it were give an occasion of offending against them and as the Proverb says The Occasion makes the Thief which is as much as to say That they that are negligent in preserving their own are the cause that others have a mind to it If Princes following this Truth did shut up their Treasures and stop that Stream of Wealth which flows from their States to Rome while they see that it is all ill us'd and employed to the ruine of the Church and True Religion certainly the Pope's Nephews would not commit so many Scandals neither would the World have so much reason to murmur against them But our Complaints are not like to cease while Princes shall think it honourable and pious to oppress their Subjects that they may supply the Court of Rome And on the other side the Nipotismo shall make no scruple of taking any thing from the Church and State and alledge for their excuse That they take nothing but what is the superfluous part of the Churches Revenue What do so many Abbies Pensions and other Revenues which Princes bestow upon Church-men serve for but to weaken so much their own States and strengthen another Princes to make that which is Sacred Profane turn Crosses into Swords and Humility into Pride and Majesty And when they have bestowed thus their Gifts and Presents upon those that do not need them they are not only forsaken in their greatest distress by Church-men but are set upon by them and brought to their ruin that the Church may have the Soveraignty over their People in the Place of the lawful Princes All the disorders and scandals of the Church State and Church-men take their rise from their Riches When the Church was poor Church-men were holy having nothing to employ their minds about but the Rules of a Good Life but since once Riches came amongst them farewell Holiness of Life they have not the leisure they are too much taken up with telling their Money buying and selling Estates and Princedoms they forget those spiritual Riches of the Soul and mind only those that relate to the Pleasures of the Body Riches came in by little and little upon the Church and by the same degrees Sanctity and Holiness of Life went out They that read the History of the Church cannot chuse but have discerned all along the truth of what I say And yet every one knowing this and being so forward to complain and murmur against the Popes avarice and their Nephews prodigality no body thinks of blaming those that by continual Gifts do every day supply and furnish them with these Instruments of Wickedness Christ has declared definitively and pronounced with his own mouth in the sixth Chapter of Saint Matthew That it is impossible to serve God and Mammon Now Mammon being interpreted Riches by most nay by all the conclusion is That it is impossible to serve God and Riches The Popes on the other side do by their continual practice prove to the World in enriching their Families that they are firmly perswaded that one may at the same
If the Walls of Rome could speak and the Fabricks of so many stately Cloysters had mouths to make themselves heard if those vast Palaces of the Nipotismos were animated Oh! How many tender-hearted Christians would be fain to forsake the City and retire into desarts that they might not hear the stones complain for the poor and lament their misfortune Ferdinand Second Duke of Toscany having a great deal of reason to complain of the Barberins proceedings towards him said one day to one who was about to go in Pilgrimage to Rome That the holiest Temple that he should see there would be the Barberins Palace for that it was cemâ—nted and built with the bloud of many Martyrs If any body in Rome should steal but the value of six pence in his greatest necessity from a Priest without doubt the Nipotismo who has the Government of the City in their hands would cause him to be hang'd immediately and yet they that rob and spoyl the Church go off free and without any punishment Every day there comes out some new Order from the Datary-Office for the reformation of the abuses committed by Church-men in their employments and the Popes do give often particular Commissions to This and That Cardinal to enquire into the lives of the Monks and take away those Scandals which do every day encrease And yet for all this the Romans observe that the more the Decrees of Reformation are the more are the Vices multiplied the disease being so stâ—bborn and inveterate that it grows worse when the Physician goes about to apply remedies to it The Pope's subjects curse the Nipotismo for their Tyranny and Extortions Christendom is scandalized to see that they little believe that Religion of which they make so great Profession The Church weeps and sheds tears to see its bowels gnawn and torn by the Nipotismo The State weakned by so many Taxes and Oppressions sends its cries to Heaven against them The Monks exclaim seeing that the Nipotismo's Avarice deprives them of their Profit and makes them contribute towards the maintenance of their Grandeur Princes and Embassadours retire discontented from Rome not being able to endure the Nipotismo's insolence The Altars themselves are often forsaken and stand empty the Nephews refusing to grant Indulgences without money Certainly these abuses these disorders these scandals should drive the Popes out of Rome That Gardener that does only cut the top of the Weeds and not root them out is but an ill Gardener But how can the Popes reform the abuses of the Church if they do not begin with their Nephews For it would also else be a very preposterous Reformation that should begin with the Effect and leave the Cause untouched Some say that the Popes are holy in the Reformations of the Breviary and the chastizing of the Romans for their faults But they are devils in leaving the crimes of their Nephews unpunished for they trusting to their Uncles Indulgence do slack the Reins which should curb the natural inclination which we all have to do ill But it is now time to enter into a particular Narration of the good and hurt the Church has received from the Nipotismo and as we begun their History at Sixtus the fourth and continued it down to Alexander the seventh now reigning So we will now begin at Alexander and trace it backwards up to Sixtus the fourth The first mischief and indeed the most considerable one caused by the Nipotismo of Alexander was the change made by them in the Pope whom from godly pious and inclin'd to mortification they have made sensual and ambitious Alexander in the first months of his elevation to the Popedom had so taken upon him the profession of an Evangelical life that he was wont to season his his meat with ashes to sleep upon a hard Couch to hate Riches Glory and Pomp taking a great pleasure to give audience to Embassadours in a Chamber full of dead mens skuls and in the sight of his Coffin which stood there to put him in mind of his death The Cardinals the Princes the Prelates the Romans were all touched with so pious an Example and did begin to think of reforming their lives The Hereticks themselves did bear that respect to his Holiness as to prostrate themselves in the streets when he went through Rome not so much in fear of his Majesty as in honour of his Vertue Divers French Protestants came on purpose to Rome to know whether his words did answer his reputation and if he did really lead the life he was said to lead The noyse of his Sanctity being so great in France that it was almost impossible to believe all that was said of it Thus lived Alexander while he lived without a Nipotismo But no sooner had they set their feet in Rome but the Pope changed his nature or rather came to himself for instead of Humiiity succeeded Vanity his Mortification vanished and his hard Couch was changed into a soft Feather-bed his dead-mens skuls into so many Jewels and his thoughts of death into eternal designs of Ambition and Grandeur Filling up his empty Coffin with Money as if he had a design to corrupt death and purchase life with Riches Hereupon a publick Minister returning from his Audience the very same day that the Nipotismo came to Rome and having felicitated his Holiness upon their arrival said as soon as he came home to one of his friends these very words He is not of the same humour he was went to be he was us'd to stand with his eyes fixed upon the ground and now he does nothing but fix them upon Don Agostino Heretofore we did hear him sigh often and now he is as inclined to laugh I am afraid the Nipotismo has already spoyled him This is the first harm that they have done the Church I do not know what good they may do hereafter but hitherto they have done so little that it is invisible whereas the mischief they are Authors of is obvious to all eyes Don Mario who is the Pope's Brother and the Head of the Nipotismo does exercise his place of Governour of Rome with so much Tyranny that the City it self is become odious to many Families of quality who have left and removed to other Towns that they might not be any longer subject to one who gives occasion of complaint to the People the Gentry and Strangers For he is not only averse from doing curtesies and inexorable in punishments but he is inclin'd to disgust all those who having to do with him do not appease his angry genius with money Besides assuming to himself in the Government of the Borgo a greater Authority than does belong to him of right he does as it were eclipse and stifle the jurisdiction of the Governour of Rome who often is forced to own those faults of which he is innocent Don Mario laying upon him all the miscarriages and taking to himself all the profit of both places For proof of this I