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

PIUS V. AND SIMONY. 229
case of blasphemy, so did the Pope take action against slander
among the Romans. Defamatory pamphlets against princes,
prelates, officials, and anyone else were prohibited under grave
penalties, as being a source of hatred and feuds, which sometimes
even led to murder. The first beginnings of the Roman
newspapers also fell under this ban, namely, those " Avvisi "
which were spread abroad in manuscript, at least when the
good name of anybody was attacked, or any matter which
was being dealt with by the Pope in private was divulged.^
By the advice of Ormaneto Pius V. contemplated throwing
the statues of Pasquino and Marforio into the Tiber. ^
Just as he sought to strengthen religious feeling everywhere,
and thus renew the life of the Church from within, so did this
zealous reformer who was now seated on the chair of Peter
set himself to remove all those things which hitherto had
done harm to the Church, and had given her enemies cause
for accusations and calumnies. He therefore inaugurated
a ruthless war against every kind of simony. From the first
Pius had displayed an almost morbid fear of soiling his hands
with money, and could hardly bring himself to discuss finan-
cial questions. When Grassi, a cleric in the Apostolic Camera,
wished to lay before him a scheme for adding to the f^apal
revenues without burdening the people, the Pope replied
that he had no wish to amass wealth, and that Grassi v/ould
do better to devise some means of bringing back to the Church
the nations that had broken away from her.^ Pie condoned
in the case of the Archbishop of Trtves the payment of annates,
with the exception of a fifth part, and it would seem
that he would have liked to condone them altogether in the
case of the Archbishop of Cologne, and contrary to all custom
the bulls were issued before the money was paid.* When
the Archbishop of Naples received the pallium the question
was urgently raised as to whether it was lawful in such cases
1 Brief of March 17, 1572, Bull. Rom., VII., 969.
^ *Cusano, July 17, 1568, State Archives, Vienna.
^ *Cusano, July 6, 1566, ibid.
* Br.\unsbergek, Pius V., 12.