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

Charles borromeo. 107
however, the opinion, even of the Venetian ambassadors,
became more favourable. ^ Those who were brought into
closer contact with him could not fail to notice that his intelli-
gence was keen and his judgment clear,- and that what he
lacked in quickness of comprehension or in keenness of per-
ception, he made up by assiduous application. His great
energy enabled him to consider any important question from
every point of view, very often for as much as six hours at a
time, without any feeling of fatigue, before he arrived at a
definite decision.^
His firmness of character, his reliabihty and his deeply
rooted piety were beyond all praise, and he had early given
proofs of these qualities. Charles had been destined for the
Church from his early youth, and educated to that end by
a tutor at home, and hardly had he attained the age of fourteen
in 1552,'* when this young scion of the ancient noble family
of Arona proceeded to the University of Pavia to study law.
His father had given him a majordomo, but Chailes soon had to
dismiss him as being unsuitable,^ and he was therefore thrown
on his own resources immediately after leaving his father's
home, and had to follow his own way independently. Filled
with the thought that he owed it to his family, and especially
to his two uncles, the commander-in-chief and the Cardinal,
to distinguish himself, he applied himself with the greatest
energy to his studies. In 1559, after many interruptions,
partly caused by overwork, he passed his examinations as
doctor of law with great distinction.^ He attended to his
^ Cf. Wymann, 97 seq.
^ ut erat acri ingenio iudicioque ; Bascape, 182a.
^ Ibid., 182b.
* Concerning the date, see Sylvain, I., 19 ; Girol. Soranzo, 90.
^ His second steward was hardly better (Sylvain, I., 21, 25).
The opinion which he formed of this steward is characteristic of
the future administrator ; he
writes to his father : " This man
does not understand how to command." San Carlo, 25.
® Sylvain, I., 20 ; Bascape, 5a. Cf. L. Gramatica, Diploma
di laurea in diritto canonico e civile di S. Carlo Borromeo, Milan,
1917.