Even if he had ever troubled his mind
by plunging so far into the depths of speculation, as to consider,
that in truth the various matters forbidden in the commandments were
in the sight of God, or, what was more within his ken, in the sight
of the Church, equally forbidden to all men, still it would have
been clear to him that there was no reason why such great people as
the Marchese di Castelmare, with Cardinals for his friends, and
wealth enough to pay for any quantity of indulgences and masses he
might require, should not indulge in peccadilloes and vices which
poorer folks cannot afford. Probably, however, he had never reached
any such profundity of speculation. He saw that the Church and its
ministers treated his superiors very differently from their
treatment of him, and expected from him quite different conduct from
that which they expected from them. And the result was an habitual
and practical belief, that the great folks of the world, of whom he
considered that his own master was unquestionably the greatest, were
far above the laws in every sort which were binding on himself and
the like of him.
Nor of all the many acts which honest Niccolo would have scrupled to
do on his own account, would he have hesitated a moment to become
guilty at the command, or on the behoof of, his master.
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