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

286 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
of the Church in its head and in its members had been sub-
stantially accomplished.
If we attempt to form a general idea of the reforming
activities of Pius V. we can only wonder that he should have
been able to accomplish so much in his comparatively short
pontificate. In versatility and zeal he surpasses all the reforming
Popes of the XVIth century. It was characteristic of him
that he was never satisfied with what he had done. The
Imperial ambassador wrote that when the Pope was entering
upon the second year of his pontificate, it seemed that his
Holiness had become " terrible," and was stricter and more
fixed in his purpose, and without consideration for any of the
princes. Only now, so he himself said, was he beginning to be
Pope and to understand all that that implied. ^ A year later
the Pope declared in consistory that he had not done his duty
completely, that he begged God to pardon him for his neglect,
and promised that he would be more full of zeal henceforward.
At the beginning of March, 1571, the Romans were expecting
in terror from hour to hour a reform which, as a news-sheet
that was secretly passed from hand to hand put it, would be
" terrible."^
Yet how unfavourably had the secular ambassadors,
especially those of the King of Spain, expressed themselves
as to the goodwill of the Roman court in the matter of the
carrying out of the decrees of the Council !
It is the special
glory of Pius V. that he gave the lie to these doubts and fears.
By his unflagging zeal the dead letter of the Council graduall\^
became a livmg force and changed the whole appearance of
^ *" che sia divenuta [S. 8'^''^] terribile e piu dura e pertinace
nelle sue oppinioni senza haver rispetto a principe alcuno et ha
detto c' hora comincia a esser papa e a conoscerlo." Strozzi,
January 25, 1567, State Archives, Vienna.
^ *" conoscer di non haver fatto tutto quelle gli conveniva con
tutto cio ch' haveva fatto molte riforme, per6 pregava Dio a
perdonarci, perche da qui innanzi sarebbe piu diligente." Arco,
January 24, 1568, ibid.
3 *Avviso di Roma of March i, 1571, Urb. 1041, p. 23b, Vatican
Library.