“Hum!” said the Theatin.
“That is a first sin, father; for I have allowed myself made
to descend from two old Roman consuls, S. Geganius Macerinus
1st, Macerinus 2d, and Proculus Macerinus 3d, of whom the
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Chronicle of Haolander speaks. From Macerinus to Mazarin the
proximity was tempting. Macerinus, a diminutive, means
leanish, poorish, out of case. Oh! reverend father! Mazarini
may now be carried to the augmentative Maigre, thin as
Lazarus. Look! ‘ and he showed his fleshless arms.
“In your having been born of a family of fishermen I see
nothing injurious to you; for — St. Peter was a fisherman;
and if you are a prince of the church, my lord, he was the
supreme head of it. Pass on, if you please.”
“So much the more for my having threatened with the Bastile
a certain Bounet, a priest of Avignon, who wanted to publish
a genealogy of the Casa Mazarini much too marvelous.”
“To be probable?” replied the Theatin.
“Oh! if I had acted up to his idea, father, that would have
been the vice of pride — another sin.”
“It was excess of wit, and a person is not to be reproached
with such sorts of abuses. Pass on, pass on!”
“I was all pride. Look you, father, I will endeavor to
divide that into capital sins.”
“I like divisions, when well made.”
“I am glad of that. You must know that in 1630 — alas! that
is thirty-one years ago —- ”
“You were then twenty-nine years old, monseigneur.”
“A hot-headed age. I was then something of a soldier, and I
threw myself at Casal into the arquebuscades, to show that I
rode on horseback as well as an officer. It is true, I
restored peace between the French and the Spaniards. That
redeems my sin a little.”
“I see no sin in being able to ride well on horseback,” said
the Theatin; “that is in perfect good taste, and does honor
to our gown. As a Christian, I approve of your having
prevented the effusion of blood; as a monk I am proud of the
bravery a monk has exhibited.”
Mazarin bowed his head humbly. “Yes,” said he, “but the
consequences?”
“What consequences?”
“Eh! that damned sin of pride has roots without end. From
the time that I threw myself in that manner between two
armies, that I had smelt powder and faced lines of soldiers,
I have held generals a little in contempt.”
“Ah!” said the father.
“There is the evil; so that I have not found one endurable
since that time.”
“The fact is,” said the Theatin, “that the generals we have
had have not been remarkable.”
“Oh!” cried Mazarin, “there was Monsieur le Prince. I have
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tormented him thoroughly.”
“He is not much to be pitied: he has acquired sufficient
glory, and sufficient wealth.”
“That may be, for Monsieur le Prince; but M. Beaufort, for
example — whom I held suffering so long in the dungeon of
Vincennes?”
“Ah! but he was a rebel, and the safety of the state
required that you should make a sacrifice. Pass on!”
“I believe I have exhausted pride. There is another sin
which I am afraid to qualify.”
“I can qualify it myself. Tell it.”
“A great sin, reverend father!”
“We shall judge, monseigneur.”
“You cannot fail to have heard of certain relations which I
have had — with her majesty the queen-mother; — the
malevolent —- ”
“The malevolent, my lord, are fools. Was it not necessary
for the good of the state and the interests of the young
king, that you should live in good intelligence with the
queen? Pass on, pass on!”
“I assure you,” said Mazarin, “you remove a terrible weight
from my breast.”
“These are all trifles! — look for something serious.”
“I have had much ambition, father.”
“That is the march of great minds and things, my lord.”
“Even the longing for the tiara?”
“To be pope is to be the first of Christians. Why should you
not desire that?”
“It has been printed that, to gain that object, I had sold