The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

86 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
Venetian ambassador, Mula, who said that there were senators
in Venice who were twenty years older than His HoHness, 3-et
who directed the affairs of State with as great skill as wisdom.
The Pope himself reminded people that his predecessors had
been twenty years older than he.^
On September 25th, 1560, Pius IV. left the palace of San
Marco at an early hour, and proceeded, accompanied by eleven
Cardinals and the Imperial, Portuguese and Venetian ambassa-
dors, to S. Andrea, outside the Porta del Popolo, where he
heard mass. The adjoining Villa Giulia was then visited, and
the Pope walked about in the burning sun, without a stick, in
animated conversation with the Cardinals, full of interest in
the magnificent fountains and antique statues of the ViHa,
and quoting verses from the Latin poets. The Pope invited
five Cardinals and the three ambassadors to dine with him,
and conversed with them, principally on the subject of the
antiquities of Rome. After dinner the conversation took a
more serious turn, and dealt with current ecclesiastical and
political affairs, and lasting so long that Cardinal Cueva, who
was suffering from gout, had to ask permission to retire. At
last the Pope also had a siesta, and then, partly on foot and
partly on horseback, he visited the hilly part of the Villa,
returning to the Vatican by the Ponte Mo lie. When they
arrived there it was already night, but early the next morning,
he was again going about the Vatican, inspecting the building
operations which he had ordered. ^
In the following year the activity of Pius IV. again aroused
general astonishment, and the Mantuan agent, Francesco
Tonina, reported on March 29th, 1561, that the Pope had
ascended the cupola of St. Peter's and walked round it,
a feat, says Tonina, which a man of twenty might have
hesitated at. This man of sixty-two was, however, so little
fatigued by it, that he returned again on the same day to the
^ See the **report of Mula of August 10, 1560 (State Library,
Vienna). Cf. Corpo dipl. Portug., IX., 351.
2 Cf. the ** Letter of Mula of September 26, 1560 (State Library,
Vienna).